AT 16 : DO YOU KNOW PDP STARTED AS A CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP ? By Nwachukwu Ngige Those were the days that did not permit the usual pomp that goes with dissenting political meetings. Such gatherings have since gone nocturnal. But the turf was free for the turncoats who were pushing the transmutation agenda of the reigning dictator. Anomie was the mood of the nation. Tension boiled over but few, very few had the courage to utter a word against the day’s man of power. Heavy resentment there was, but all, in hushed voices! But courage did not all die. There were few men who stood up to the then military dictator, General Sani Abacha. First was the Turaki Committee of August 1997 led by the Second Republic President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Its failure to present a radical front to the raging dictatorship led to the risky decision by a group of seven politicians to mute a political platform to challenge the junta. The mid night meeting of January 20, 1998, at the Kaduna residence of the former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, where seven men sat was where the storm started to gather. The State agents did not shirk their responsibilities. They got wind of it and spread tentacles round the town but were beaten to it. Pomp gathering in one of the centres of the ancient city would have been big gaffe. Quietly, the G7 sneaked into Rimi’s home, met and resolved that dictatorship of any form must not be given chance in Nigeria again! Even the ever resilient, ever present Nigerian press was taken unawares when the names of Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Alhaji Abubakar Iron Dan Musa, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Professor Musa Yakubu, Alhaji Ali Baba, Mr. Wilberforce Juta and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi only filtered into the news rooms the next day as the henchmen of the G7. Abubakar Rimi, now late told me in an interview with The Umbrella, a publication of the PDP in July 2008, “we looked at the dangers that the continued military rule under any guise posed to the country and decided to form an all encompassing front... We changed the venue of our next meeting to the residence of Mallam Ciroma to beat security surveillance.” Twenty people were invited to this meeting out of which eighteen attended and was christened G18. He said, “the G-18 meeting was very significant. It was in that meeting that a decision was taken to write to Gen. Abacha that the eighteen of us were opposed to his metamorphosis to a civilian Head of State.” But who would be more courageous than others to take the letter to the dark goggled General, holed up in the Presidential Villa? Then came February 18th 1998 when Chief Solomon Lar, now late also, became the hero as he accepted the mandate of the eighteen and personally delivered the toxic letter to Abacha. The same evening, Abubabaka Rimi and the present Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamida were arrested. They spent the next 102 days in various detention cells. The rest, un-frightened, toughened, fought on. The next meeting had invitations extended to thirty –six Nigerians out of which thirty-four attended; the absentee two, being Rimi and Lamido who were cooling off in detention. This group, now more formidable and comprising Nigerians from all the geo- political zones became the G-34. Crucial point it is! On the shoulders of the former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, leadership fell. Ekwueme, the incorruptible second republican Vice President, a Nigerian of immense material and intellectual wealth - with PhDs in nine disciplines, a man whose politics and clout have accorded nation wide acclaim, re- awakened national consciousness, re-energised the already despaired polity and catalysed the final assault on the Abacha regime. If the G-34’s protest letter to General Abacha which rubbished the basis of his adoption as presidential candidate by the five political parties as a legal nullity was of national and international consequences, its enunciations on the constitutional breaches that gave a platform to the shenanigan of the adoption was a merciless sting on soul of the junta. It was bait with the devil itself. No more fear, the die has been cast. It is either we retrieve the soul of the nation, pay any price and set the posterity free or nothing. Suddenly, in twist of fate, the General died! The vacuum created by the death of General Abacha and the subsequent liberalisation of the democratic space accelerated the velocity of the return to the democratic order. New political parties were needed to drive the transition and the G34 extended its hands to other associations also seeking registration as political parties. However, the first major step towards the crystallisation of the G-34 into a political party started on 28th July 1998. That day, the group met and decided to form “a broad based, all inclusive and national political party”. Some of the groups present at the historic meeting were Peoples Democratic Movement, All Nigeria Congress, Peoples National Front and People’s Consultative Forum. Later on the 13th of August, on the 13th floor of Western House, in the Chambers of Barrister Onyeabor Obi, a memorandum of understanding to form a political Party was signed with Dr. Alex Ekwueme at the head. Then came the 18th of August, when the leadership of the five political associations, earlier mentioned, decided to set up a steering committee to midwife the new party. Dr. Ekwueme was again retained as the Chairman of the Committee while Prof. Jerry Gana was named the Secretary. The meeting of the next day, the 19th of August, had over 125 political associations endorsing what is today known as the Abuja declaration, “to form a credible, nationwide, people oriented and principled political party, enjoying the widest support throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So help us God.” The Party was finally launched on the 31st of August 1998, at a colourful ceremony at the International conference Centre, Abuja. Dr. Ekwueme who led the steering Committee now handed over to Chief Solomon Lar as the National Chairman while Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo became the National Secretary.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 05:40:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015