Even more unsettling is the fact that this invidious party politics and inordinate quest for power, which are effectively and menacingly chipping away at the core and foundation of our democracy, is happening under a man, President Bola Tinubu, who likes to portray himself as a staunch proponent and believer in democracy and its precepts
Yesterday, a full-blown melee broke out at the national secretariat and headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja. The fracas and pandemonium were not unforeseen or unexpected. If anything, many would have been surprised if the free-for-all that was beamed to the world from the Wadata house didn’t happen. The seed for such an embarrassing and dispiriting spectacle was sown months earlier. It was abundantly watered by the party’s national convention held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on November 15th and 16th.
At the convention, the party announced the expulsion of nine members, including the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, and suspended National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu. Others are Hon. Umar Bature, Adeyemi Ajibade SAN, Mohammed Abdulrahman, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, Hon. Austine Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah, George Turner and Chief Dan Orbih. Before their expulsion, they had broken away to form another faction of the party with Abdulrahman as the national chairman.
The decision to expel Wike, Fayose and others by the governor Seyi Makinde and Abdulrahman Damagum faction of the party would later set the stage for a chain of events that would culminate in heightening the tension and exacerbating the crisis that has plagued the party for years. After their expulsion, the Wike faction of the party announced a NEC meeting for November 17th at the Wadata house. The Makinde faction, which elected Kabiru Turaki as its chairman during the convention, also scheduled a NEC meeting for November 17th at the party’s national secretariat. The stage was set for confrontation and flexing of political muscles.
It is important to point out that the suspension of Wike was greeted with relief and applause by a large section of the public, especially those who have followed the crisis bedevilling the party keenly and dispassionately. He was seen as an albatross to the unity, stability and growth of the party. Since he was appointed as the FCT minister, everything Wike has done is to ingratiate himself more with Tinubu while further undermining and destabilising the APC. His actions have been geared towards helping Tinubu consolidate his power and making his re-election bid a foregone conclusion. While Wike has shown nothing but explicit disloyalty and utter rebellion to the PDP. The party, before his expulsion, tolerated his excesses and obvious anti-party activities, which have led many to conclude that the party lacked the courage to suspend him.
It was a moment of reprieve and a sign of victory, albeit fleeting, when the party decided to wield the big stick and expel Wike and his fellow agents of destabilisation. Many heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the party decided to handle the Wike problem with the seriousness, ruthlessness and decisiveness of an army General at a war front instead of the hitherto genial, diplomatic and conciliatory approach that did not work and only emboldened him. But anyone who has followed this whole debacle is fully aware that Wike would fight back, and fight back he did.
At the Wadata house on Tuesday, Wike’s faction and Makinde’s clashed with each group claiming to be the legitimate and real PDP. Both factions engaged in a show of force, using their security details to hound, intimidate and oppress each other. The Wike security details fired tear gas at Makinde’s camp, causing the governor and members of his faction, which included Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, to run for cover. Makinde and Bala would later also be expelled by the Wike faction.
The Wike faction also expelled Zamfara governor, Dauda Lawal, former Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, Senator Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Deputy National Chairman (South), Taofeek Arapaja and others, for anti-party activities. The faction also ratified the dissolution of the State Executive Councils of Bauchi, Oyo, Zamfara, Yobe, Lagos, Edo, and Ekiti States.
The furore we saw on Tuesday at the PDP’s headquarters, which is a culmination of the destructive activities and actions of certain elements in the party, should worry any right-thinking person. This is not just about the destabilisation of the PDP but the destruction of Nigeria’s relatively nascent democracy. The emasculation of opposition by the ruling party will not bode well for the nation. Opposition parties are an intrinsic element of democracy and having a vibrant, energetic and stable opposition that can put the ruling party on its toes and check its excesses is what makes democracy thrive and succeed. To downplay the role of a virile and strong opposition in a democracy is to create the condition for an autocratic state.
The popular narrative is that the crisis bedevilling the PDP is a result of the party’s inability to put its house in order by uniting and forging a common front. But this is a simplistic conclusion and narrative. Any analysis and appraisal of the crisis rocking the PDP that does not factor in external and extraneous elements is at best incomplete and at worst disingenuous and dishonest. It will be unpleasant and unfair to overlook the role Wike is playing in keeping PDP in a perpetual state of crisis and instability. A chieftain of the party, days ago, in an interview on Arise TV, disclosed that Wike told the reconciliation committee set up by the party to address the grievances of aggrieved members and reconcile everyone that the only way for peace to return to the PDP is for the party not to field a presidential candidate in 2027. That is not a condition for peace, that is a threat to democracy. That is not a man who desires a nation where progress and stability are not sacrificed on the altar of mindless and rapacious pursuit and consolidation of power.
We cannot continue to pretend that what we are witnessing in our socio-political terrain is a normal occurrence. These are aberrations that should not be condoned or allowed to gain a foothold in our democracy. A member of the opposition working to destabilise and destroy his party for the sole purpose of making sure the ruling party, which he works for, is not challenged and has a free pass at the polls, is a troubling sign of a floundering democracy that may eventually collapse if we don’t course correct. Something has to give.
Even more unsettling is the fact that this invidious party politics and inordinate quest for power, which are effectively and menacingly chipping away at the core and foundation of our democracy, is happening under a man, President Bola Tinubu, who likes to portray himself as a staunch proponent and believer in democracy and its precepts. Or maybe all that was a charade; a perfectly curated false image to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians, and we are seeing now the naked and unfiltered version of who the man truly is.
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