Yar'Adua, Mark in dilemma - Over who becomes PDP national chairman

Idowu Samuel and Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 03.03.2008

LESS than six days to the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), both President Umaru Yar’Adua and the Senate President, Senator David Mark, are still in a dilemma on their choice of the National Chairman for the party, Nigerian Tribune can reveal.

This is sequel to the last-minute moves by the party to reduce the number of the chairmanship aspirants to a manageable limit by reducing the number of states from the South-East that should present candidates for the chairmanship.

President Yar’Adua was reportedly undecided on who to support. This contradicts earlier media reports that he had been pressurised into accepting one of the major contenders in the chairmanship race as his choice, whereas most of the frontline aspirants have been boasting of having his support.

Some senators told the Nigerian Tribune that Senator Mark had been boxed into a corner following the resolve by a majority of senators to back a particular aspirant without carrying him along. It was a different situation in the House of Representatives where the entire leadership appears to have bowed to the pressure of a group within the PDP on who to support for the post.

Indications that President Yar’Adua is in a dilemma emerged last week when he reportedly turned down a group of federal lawmakers who had visited him to obtain his support for one of the aspirants. Some members of the House of Representatives who visited Yar’Adua on a mission to sell the aspirant to him said the president was blunt in telling them that he had not made up his mind on who to support.

Findings revealed that in the past few days, supporters of both the former governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, and those of the former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, had been trying to win the president to their sides. What has put the President in a dilemma, according to findings, was the influence of former President Obasanjo on Egwu, even as some of his kitchen cabinet members are said to have been advising him to be wary of Anyim who is considered to be too independent minded and capable of springing surprises at any time.

The President is also said to have been caught by some interest groups within the government who have been persuading him to support a dark horse in the event that neither Egwu nor Anyim proved suitable for the PDP chairmanship at the end.

Meanwhile, there are indications that the national caucus of the PDP would have to meet before the convention for a preview and possibly take a decision on who to support for chairmanship. Nigerian Tribune learnt that the national caucus of the PDP might ask the PDP governors to make inputs on the choice of the next chairman after which the president would be advised on who to support.

During the era of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the PDP governors wielded enormous power in determining the choice of candidates for elective offices in the party in view of their influence over members from their respective states. The PDP’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bayo Alao, while speaking with Nigerian Tribune, affirmed the President’s neutrality on the choice of the party’s next chairman.

Alao said as the leader of the party, the president could not afford to show open support for any of the candidates even if he had interest in any of them. He said the position of the president was in tandem with the resolve by the ruling party to give all the candidates a level playing field during the national convention.

Alao said, “We have been hammering it that the PDP has fully aligned with the principle of transparency, rule of law and due process being preached by the president. That is why the PDP so far has not been reported as meddling in the affairs of any of the chairmanship aspirants.

Meanwhile, there are indications that loyalists of President Umaru Yar’Adua will join forces with loyalists of the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, to outwit those loyal to Obasanjo at the national convention.

It has also been gathered that former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is giving moral backing to Anyim, who is being supported by the loyalists of Chief Anenih and those who are bent on wrestling the PDP from the control of Obasanjo.

ome forces in the party were said to have told the President that he needed a national chairman who would not be fiercely loyal to the former President if he intended to take control of the party. The forces had contended that Obasanjo was firmly in control of the party while he was President and should not be allowed to dominate its affairs outside office.