The PDP Crisis: Why The Party Needs A Jagaban by Bayo Olupohunda

Bayo Olupohunda, Naij.com guest contributor, analyses the situation the PDP has found itself after the 2015 elections and makes a conclusion that the party needs an impetus to revival. What this impetus may be?

The PDP, Nigeria’ political giant, the self-styled largest party in Africa that has boasted of ruling the country for 60 years, has almost been wiped off the electoral map by the opposition APC. Let’s admit it: the PDP has been beaten hands down. Someone has even compared the PDP’s crushing at the elections to a heavyweight title fight in which the ruling party has received a technical knockout and fallen into coma. We are yet to find out if the party, which has been at the commanding height of federal power for 16 years, will recover to stage a refight. Now let’s take a look at the shocking statistics of their electoral woes. We should all bear in mind that this is the first time in Nigeria’s democratic experience that the party has lost its power at the centre.

Since the establishing of the Fourth Republic the PDP has dominated the government at all levels. It has been in power since the return from the military rule in 1999. It has also controlled the National Assembly having the majority of the seats both at the Senate and the House of Representatives. For example, in 2011, before some members walked at the 2014 August convention, the PDP controlled 23 states while the other parties shared the rest. Only the Action Congress of Nigeria, which later morphed into the APC, had 6 governorship positions.

However, the things began to fall apart for the party when some governors stormed out of the party’s convention. They later became part of the opposition grand alliance that snatched power on March 28, 2015. There is no doubt that the sudden loss of power has come as a shock. The PDP is not used to defeat. What we are still to see is how the members who have lost will react to the shock in the coming years. But the signs that they may not find it funny being in the opposition have started to emerge with the wave of decamping having swept across the party after the elections. Is that a sign of things to come?

Can the party emerge to be a strong opposition in the coming years? Are we going to see more decamping PDP members in the coming months when the APC officially forms the government? There was time when being a PDP flag-bearer at the elections was a guarantee to be elected. The PDP was that powerful. But not anymore as the 2015 elections have demonstrated. With the APC sweeping victory at the presidential, governorship and Assembly elections being a PDP candidate seems not so cool anymore. In fact, the party members may soon become the “endangered species”.

Can the PDP reform itself? Will the party bounce back to snatch victory from the APC in the coming years? Surely, if we want our democracy to survive, we will need a party like the PDP, which has been at the centre for 16 years, to provide a formidable opposition to the APC. It has the pedigree to do just that. I do not want to envisage a situation where the PDP will die off just because it has lost power. I expect the party to go back to the drawing board to reform and work out a new strategy. But it will have to really reform and do away with the undemocratic practices that have led to its implosion. During the last 16 years, the party has been behaving as if it is above the law. For example, it has replaced the chairman a lot of times. This makes the party a target for the disgruntled members working within and outside to take their slice of the cake. Now it seems it has had the last laugh. The politics of the Governors’ Forum tearing the party apart has also led to its demise.

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It is not a surprise that the party has collapsed under President Jonathan. It is not a coincidence. The seed of its disintegration had long been planted under former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was just strong enough to hold the errant members in his civilian-military presidential jackboot. The unraveling only happened under President Jonathan who became the undertaker. Now who will revive the PDP?

In my recent conversation with friends I have opined that the party needs a unifier who will bring everybody under the now shredded umbrella. A politician who is acceptable across the divide with a firm grip will be able to galvanize the party in its new role as the opposition. What we have right now are egoistic and divisive governors struting the political space like overlords and talking down on Nigerians. However, they now have to eat their we-will-rule-for-60-years boast. PDP should learn from the APC history.

Those decamping from the party should realize that formidable parties are not formed by jumping ship at the slightest loss of power. Membership of a political party is like the vow exchanged by couples at the altar: ‘’for better for worse, till death do us part’’, not till “defeat do us part”. For this reason, shell shocked PDP members need to learn from the APC leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, popularly known as Jagaban Borgu,—a name which now seems to connote resilience. It is widely acknowledged that the doggedness of Tinubu has led to the sustenance of opposition politics in the Fourth Republic. While other politicians jumped ship to join the PDP, the former governor of Lagos endured persecution, especially during the former President Obasanjo’s administration, and stayed to organize the opposition that later merged into the APC.

At that time Tinubu was more of a political orphan when in 2003 the PDP won all the southwest states except Lagos. But he was undaunted. Now his resilience seems to have been paid off. For me it is a mark of a true politician. Despite critisizm, Tinubu is widely acknowledged by friends and foes as the political strategists responsible for the sustenance of opposition politics in the Fourth Republic. Now the question is: with the wave of decamping in the PDP, who among the remaining members will be long suffering enough like Tinubu to weather the storm of opposition politics when the heat is on. Who of the PDP will pull the party from the rubble of defeat? Surely, in its present ramshackle state, thePDP may need a Jagaban to weather the turbulence ahead.

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FTC....

I don't believe that Nigeria will ever fall into a one-party state, with all the power-hungry politicians all over the country.. but I think the APC will be there like 8years.

the solution to PDP's Odoriferous Saga, cum ga ga tum ga ga is........

Change their name to Nigerians Nationalist Party.....Nigerians now associate that name with evil.

Govern The SE/SS states so well so as to serve as their masterpiece for Excellence...

Ensure an internal party democracy I.e pattern their party after the SA's ANC..

Use a Core North politician with Charisma as their Presidential Candidate..

Stop using Propaganda more than necessary..

Organise a Chathamic speech in the Congress..

Plant Moles in the APC..

Using the NASS, the should be seen as Pro-people..support people oriented bills..

Stand against Corruption in high places.. though I doubt if they can...

Finally,

apologize to Nigerians for their mistakes....
and promise them to do better if given the opportunity..


It's good to have a strong opposition..


I forgot, they should sponsor those Ajebo comic videos against APC stalwarts..

and hire e-warriors....

with this, I make my submission.....



I am FirstNigerian...

.....

FirstNigerian:
FTC....

I don't believe that Nigeria will ever fall into a one-party state, with all the power-hungry politicians all over the country.. but I think the APC will be there like 8years.

the solution to PDP's Odoriferous Saga, cum ga ga tum ga ga is........

Change their name to Nigerians Nationalist Party.....Nigerians now associate that name with evil.

Govern The SE/SS states so well so as to serve as their masterpiece for Excellence...

Ensure an internal party democracy I.e pattern their party after the SA's ANC..

Use a Core North politician with Charisma as their Presidential Candidate..

Stop using Propaganda more than necessary..

Organise a Chathamic speech in the Congress..

Plant Moles in the APC..

Using the NASS, the should be seen as Pro-people..support people oriented bills..

Stand against Corruption in high places.. though I doubt if they can...

Finally,

apologize to Nigerians for their mistakes....
and promise them to do better if given the opportunity..


It's good to have a strong opposition..


I forgot, they should sponsor those Ajebo comic videos against APC stalwarts..

and hire e-warriors....

with this, I make my submission.....



I am FirstNigerian...

Can ss and se speak with one voice to support northern muslim.i dont think so,they dont even bow to their own let alone northerner