Jonathan, Obasanjo, and the New Rapprochement Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan A recent visit by President Goodluck Jonathan and some northern governors to former President Olusegun Obasanjo has opened the floodgates to events and speculations that expose the pressures within PDP.Vincent Obia writes As the ruling Peoples Democratic Party continues to search for answers to its many internal troubles, major actors in the party are frantically expanding their horizons and considering various options for survival ahead of the 2015 general election. The last one week witnessed an outbreak of significant activities on the political scene as elements within the different cleavages in the party launched efforts to secure popular legitimacy for their positions. Abeokuta ‘Pilgrimage’ A visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo penultimate Saturday by President Goodluck Jonathan and some governors from the northern parts of the country seemed to open the floodgates to many symbolic political activities. Jonathan was the first to arrive at the ex-president’s house in Abeokuta. He said he had dropped by to greet Obasanjo before going to condole with the family of his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, whose late mother, Mrs. Taiwo Abati, was interred the day before. “It is true we saw President Obasanjo in his house because we came here to Abeokuta to commiserate with Abati who buried his mother yesterday. And knowing that Abati’s house is at the backyard of Obasanjo’s house, it will not be good if we come and not visit him. “Even the man himself will not be happy if we don’t visit him. I am like a son to Obasanjo,” Jonathan told reporters after the visit to Obasanjo’s house. On the face of it, it seems like an unscheduled visit in honour of an elder statesman. But in practice, it is believed to be a move designed to take the shine off a scheduled visit to the former president by some northern governors. An unmistaken air of surprise in Abati’s remarks in response to the president’s condolences at the family house seemed to betray some ulterior motives in Jonathan’s visit to Abeokuta. The president had on the eve of the Abeokuta visit been represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, at the funeral service for Abati’s mother. The chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, and his colleagues, Governors Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State, and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State met with the former president at his residence in Abeokuta shortly after his nearly one hour meeting with Jonathan. In a sort of hide and seek game, the governors were said to have first stayed back at an undisclosed location in Abeokuta when they got wind of Jonathan’s plan to visit Obasanjo. The PDP National Vice Chairman (North-west), Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure, was also said to be present during the discussions between Obasanjo and the governors. Nyako, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues after a closed-door meeting with Obasanjo, told journalists, “We have come to greet the most accomplished Nigerian ever and would remain so for a very long time and to consult him on very important matters.” About 48 hours before Jonathan and the governors’ meetings with Obasanjo, on July 18, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, who is chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and an ally of Jonathan, had met with the former president in Abeokuta. Their discussion was said to have centred on how to restore good relations between the governors elected on the party’s platform and the president. Their relationship had soured since the May 24 election of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in which Jonathan showed opened indisposition to the re-election of the eventual winner of the poll, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. The PDP Governors Forum was widely believed to be the president’s scheme to whittle down the influence of NGF should Amaechi be re-elected. Since after his re-election, pro-Jonathan governors have been trying to rally themselves under a faction of the forum led by Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang. Meeting with Babangida, Abdulsalami PDP seems to be in danger of implosion and the stakeholders are making last-ditch efforts to salvage the party that prides itself on being Africa’s biggest. On Monday, barely 48 hours after meeting Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Aliyu, Wamakko, Lamido, and Kwankwaso held another equally closed-door meeting with two former military Heads of State, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Minna. The meeting discussed the state of the nation, especially, the internal dissensions threatening to tear PDP apart ahead of 2015. Babangida said, after meeting with the governors, “I just want to commend the governors here and some of their colleagues. “I was very impressed because they see the problem of this country as our problem and they have taken the right step to consult widely in trying to find solution to some of the leading problems. “They are real patriots. I am very happy and I told them so.” Aliyu said, “Now we are consulting with our elders and leaders to look at some of the problems and solutions to the problems that some of us perceived we are facing. “The solution to Governors Forum crisis, political issues, which have come up and we are consulting to make sure that we all understand the issues and we all come out with solutions and we will also carry our people together as we go along.” He also spoke on the brewing political crisis in Rivers State. “There is no gathering in Nigeria now that Rivers issue will not come up, but our meeting today is a larger issue than even the Governors’ Forum. We are discussing on how to solve them.” Rotational Argument Among issues that might have also featured in the discussion between the northern governors and the former military leaders is the view among sections of the elite in that part of the country that one of their own should be president in 2015. The issue of Jonathan’s second term has been a divisive issue, particularly, in the North, with some saying he should not seek re-election. The argument, however, seems to be largely moral, as it appears to have no constitutional basis. The courts have declared that Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest the 2015 presidential election. Those opposed to Jonathan’s candidacy anchor their argument on an alleged North-South presidency rotational arrangement within PDP. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was a product of this arrangement, but the North’s eight years of two terms was abridged by his death in 2010. Though, frantic attempts were made before the 2011 presidential election to prevent Jonathan from contesting, he contested and won. Ahead of 2015, the rotational sentiments are gradually making inroads into political discourses, but Jonathan, who was alleged to have signed the PDP rotation agreement when he was Bayelsa State deputy governor, on behalf of his then boss, former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, does not seem to be perturbed. Difficult Reconciliation But efforts are being made to resolve the differences among key members of the ruling party and restore unity. On Monday the party appointed the governor of Jonathan’s home state of Bayelsa, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to head a 30-man National Reconciliation Committee with the mandate “to harmonise all interests and achieve genuine reconciliation across board.” The PDP Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tony Okeke, announced the setting up of the reconciliation committee that was inaugurated on Thursday. Its members include Alhaji Asheik Jarma and Mr. Umar Damagun, who are the deputy chairman and secretary, respectively. Other members include Dr. I.A. Obuzor, Alhaji Salisu Suleiman, Senator Walid Jibrin, Senator Hope Uzodinma, Alhaji Bello Mohammed, Alhaji Niyi Fadimula Mr. Jerome Eke, Mr Tijani Kiyawa, Mr. Chris Marizu, Dr. Christy Silas, Mr Jangwe Yusuf, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme, and Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Also in the committee are Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Yakubu Shehu, Mohammed Kuchazi, Mrs. Adedeji Olarenwaju, Prince Arthur Eze, Chief Emma Iwuagwu, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Umar Gada, Dosun Fatokun, Mr. Harold Eze, Hajia Fati Sabo, Alhaji Wakili Mohammed, Alhaji Shittu Mohammed, and Chief Dapo Sarumi. But the reconciliation attempt seems doomed from the start. Dickson is a principal element in what appears to be a presidential offensive against Amaechi, whose relationship with Jonathan is a crucial part of the trouble with PDP. The Rivers State governor has noted this point to buttress his objection to the Dickson committee. Relations between the president and Amaechi had been straining somewhat, but things boiled over in the period before the NGF election, when Jonathan expressed open displeasure at the governor’s continued headship of the forum. Attempts to rally the governors against Amaechi failed, leading to the setting up of the PDP Governors’ Forum, reportedly, at the behest of the president. The new forum was, obviously, meant as an alternative meeting point for the majority PDP governors and a damper on NGF. In the end, however, Amaechi won re-election after defeating the nominee of the pro-Jonathan governors, Jang, by 19 votes to 16. But the Jang group, which had participated fully in the election, rejected the result based on an alleged pre-voting endorsement by majority of the PDP governors. They set up an alternative governors’ secretariat in what is widely viewed as an orchestrated plot to disorganise and weaken the Amaechi-led NGF. Amaechi was suspended from PDP a few days after his return as NGF chairman. Though, the party said the suspension was based on the governor’s alleged role in the removal of a local government chairman in his state, many believed Amaechi’s refusal to bow to presidency’s pressure not to seek re-election as NGF chair was the main cause. Dickson and Akpabio are key members of the Jang group. In the thick of the NGF electioneering politics, Dickson, who had had a major disagreement with Amaechi over alleged usurpation of oil wells that belong to Rivers State, with the president’s connivance, described the Rivers State governor as a mere “provincial player,” saying he should go to the opposition if he wants to be leader of opposition. ‘Dead on Arrival’ Many doubt how Dickson can lead a successful PDP national reconciliation effort, given his antagonist posture towards Amaechi and others who are critical to the settlement. Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr. Tony Okocha, says Dickson is an interested party, a hatchet man of the president, who cannot lead a serious effort to calm frayed nerves in PDP. Okocha is quoted as saying, “That committee headed by Dickson has a script to act out. When you are out to make peace, you must try as much as possible to isolate interested parties. Seriake Dickson is one of the hatchet men of the president. “There are Nigerians who are peaceful. They should look at them in selecting those that would reconcile aggrieved members of the party. What has just happened is like appointing Akpabio to head a committee to reconcile aggrieved members of the party that include Governor Amaechi. “You can’t bring those that were the masterminds of the crisis in the NGF to head the reconciliation committee. It will not help any reconciliation effort. I can sit here now and tell you the outcome of the panel’s efforts. Like I said; they are only acting a script.” A PDP governorship aspirant in Adamawa State at the last general election, Umar Ardo, has also disapproved of Dickson’s headship of the reconciliation committee. Ardo said in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, “As a governor, Dickson would have little time to devote to such an onerous and time-consuming task. “I also think that he is eminently unqualified to handle such an assignment. In the first place, Dickson lacks the national exposure and experience that such a task requires. “Secondly, Dickson himself is a subject of conflict within the party apparatus and membership. The way and manner in which he was brought in as governor, and the furore and controversy that it generated across the country drain him of all moral standing to undertake a reconciliatory mission.” Ardo further stated, “As a governor of the president’s own state, and the number one hatchet boy of the president, Dickson cannot be objective and fair in his judgment. “Given that one of the most central causes of the present disputes within the party is the inordinate ambition of the president for 2015, I cannot see how Governor Dickson can depart from this goal should it be imperative for the committee to do so in the course of its assignment. “In fact, Dickson’s appointment will only be seen as an act of nepotism aimed at satisfying the impulsive determination of the president to achieve his aspiration. “This perception will automatically estrange most aggrieved members and stakeholders of the party. The committee will, thus, be dead on arrival.” Consultation But Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, says the president, who is the national leader of PDP, takes all major decisions concerning the party in consultation with stakeholders and in line with the party’s constitution and the constitution of Nigeria. Gulak was reacting to an allegation by Amaechi during a recent interview with the Financial Times of London, that Jonathan was running a “one-man show” in PDP. Gulak is quoted as saying, “That statement credited to Ameachi is very wrong; it is not true that the president is running the PDP as a one-man show. “I can tell you authoritatively that every senior stakeholder in the party is consulted before decisions relating to the party are taken. All constitutionally recognised organs of the party such as the National Working Committee, the NEC and the Board of Trustees take part in decision-making processes.” Whatever the case may be, the decision to appoint Dickson, a known Jonathan political godson and faithful acolyte, to head a PDP reconciliation committee at a time like this when most of the dissensions in the party are centred on the president’s 2015 ambition, seems to expose some confidence deficit in the party. Many believe the opposition to Dickson’s headship of the reconciliation effort was predictable and the insistence on him smacks of a shortage of those to be trusted to do a good job for the PDP national leader. Reconciliation Committees Without End Some have suggested that reconciliation in PDP would be best achieved through bodies like the 50-member advisory committee set up by the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, last year when he came into office. The committee is chaired by Second Republic Vice President Alex Ekwueme. Ekwueme had headed a reconciliation panel, whose report, even if widely perceived as a kind of peace template for the party, has not been implemented. In March, the party embarked on a reconciliation attempt through the Tukur-led National Working Committee. The reconciliation tour, which took Tukur and his team to the six geopolitical zones, however, witnessed poor attendance by the governors of the party, ministers and other government officials. In each of the zones, the tour exposed the varying degrees of crisis afflicting the party and its increasing isolation of stakeholders. The grand finale of the reconciliatory tours in Abuja was a near disaster. Only two governors – Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Idris Wada of Kogi State – attended out of the party’s 23 governors. Jonathan, despite being in the country, was absent. Senate President David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal were equally absent. Secretary of the BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, represented the chairman of the board, Chief Tony Anenih, whom he said was on another reconciliatory tour of the northern states. The apparent disinclination of the stakeholders towards the Tukur panel elicited various interpretations bordering on lack of satisfaction with the reconciliation effort. Anenih and the BoT members tried to redress the evident failure of the Tukur effort by embarking on their own tour of PDP’s state branches. But that, too, was all to no avail. Many believe the Ekwueme committee report is crucial to any genuine reconciliation in PDP. Obasanjo Factor It does not seem the party is keen on truly implementing the Ekwueme panel report. What seems obvious is an attempt to bring Obasanjo back to the centre stage ahead of the PDP South-west congress of August 24 and special national convention of August 31. Jonathan and Obasanjo have had a frosty relationship since the period after the 2011 presidential election, which the former had won with the active support of the latter. Their disagreement has often degenerated into public spats, with the point of disagreement widely believed to be Obasanjo’s perceived indisposition towards Jonathan’s second term ambition in 2015. Things came to a head in April last year, when the former president resigned as chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees. Though, Obasanjo had said his resignation was to enable him attend to other pressing national and international assignments, many believed he left out of dissatisfaction at the way he and his supporters were being treated. In January, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was removed as PDP National Secretary, along with the national auditor Bode Mustapha and the South-west zonal executive led by Mr. Segun Oni, all key allies of Obasanjo. It was based on a court order, which the party’s national leadership had swiftly obeyed, even though it had failed to obey the original verdict on the matter that was delivered nearly one year before. The South-west PDP, now led by a caretaker committee headed by Mr. Ishola Filani, has nominated Professor Wale Oladipo as replacement for Oyinlola, seemingly foreclosing any attempt to reinstate the former Osun State governor. Restoring Oyinlola and Obasanjo’s other supporters to their positions may be a key condition in any understanding with the former president. But with this looking increasingly unlikely, it is hard to determine how Obasajo would view the current reconciliation initiative. Obasanjo seems to have carved out a niche for himself in the current democratic dispensation as someone whose interventions have helped to shape political courses. In 2010, during the political uncertainties following former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s long absence from the country due to a health condition, Obasanjo’s intervention by way of a speech at an event organised by Media Trust Limited was crucial in the resolution of the impasse. “If you take up an assignment, or a job, elected, appointed, or whatever, and then your health starts failing you, and you will not be able to satisfy yourself and the people you are supposed to serve, then, there is a path of honour and a path of morality and if you don’t do that, then you don’t know anything,” Obasanjo had said on January 21, 2010 in Abuja at the Seventh Annual Trust Dialogue. It was a call on Yar’Adua to resign and hand over to the then vice president, Jonathan. That call shaped the raging clamour for the late president’s resignation and triggered a chain of events that culminated in Jonathan’s swearing in as Acting President on February 9, 2010 via a Doctrine of Necessity. Obasanjo’s position may be key in the resolution of the present disagreements in PDP. But if the current efforts to salvage the ruling party do not succeed, many fear that the party may fail suddenly. The fact that there is a fairly ready alternative in the opposition merger, All Progressives Congress, makes this fear even more potent. The increased activity on the political scene by stakeholders on all sides at the moment seems to be a mission to achieve a last gasp rescue for PDP. Nyako said on Monday that if the consultations with Obasanjo and other former Nigerian leaders like Babangida and Abdusalami failed to resolve the dispute within PDP, the party would die. But the PDP national leadership is wont to shrug off any notion that the party may collapse under the weight of its internal disagreements. Desperate Times Whatever the explanation for the latest surge of political activities, one thing seems fairly clear: PDP is not at peace with itself ahead of 2015 and the major players in the party are under pressure to think out of the box for solution. How far they can go, only time can tell. Opys Newsonline
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:40:32 +0000
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