Another ‘Civil War’ In Igbo House

(Continued from last week)
In the second in our series on the race for the national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Taiwo Adisa examines the chances of four prominent sons of Igboland, who are engaged in what could be described as a civil war in Igboland, since the position has been zoned to the South-East.

Chief Benjamin Apugo
He can be regarded as the one member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who never shied away from expressing his views irrespective of the bent of the party. A pioneer member of the party, Apugo has also painted the image of a nonconformist for himself. In his native Abia State, the popular PDP chieftain has been known to follow only his own tracks most of the time.

While the former Governor, Chief Orji Kalu, held sway in the Abia State Government House in Umuahia, the PDP was largely divided between the group of Abuja politicians and the home-based. Senators, ministers, members of the House of Representatives and presidential aides were categorised as members of the Abuja political camp, while Kalu and his appointees at the state level referred to themselves as the home-based politicians. Though Apugo was largely based in Abia State, he could not be strictly categorised as a home-based politician. Whenever his views tallied with that of the Kalu camp, he spoke in favour of the group; and when he was at home with the point of view of the Abuja camp, he spoke in favour of that camp. And his views were always hard.

He often spared time to propagate them at the rooftops. At a time, he warned the PDP of the possibility of losing the general election if it failed to observe certain things. In a party that treats issues mostly as family affairs, such comments were regarded as sacrilege. In another breath, it would have landed the man in hot soup, but Apugo never looked back in expressing his views. He had also shown that he was not bothered by threats of expulsion from the party. At every turn, he announced to all that as one of the founding fathers of the PDP, he could not be intimidated from expressing his views.

Though he has remained a part of the PDP since its formation, this is the first time he would be coming out to contest election into any position in the party. Beside that, he had played a strong part in the affairs of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic and since then has remained a big player on the political scene.

There are indications that he is being supported by the camp of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, for the race. But it is not clear whether that support is a settled matter, even though some of the henchmen of Babangida are seen in his campaign train.

One thing is clear though: Apugo will find it hard to get the support of the camp of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He thus faces a Herculean task battling the camps of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and the Ebonyi State trio of Chief Franklin Ogbuewu, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and Dr. Sam Egwu.

When confronted with the question of why he has joined the race, Apugo spoke at length of his love for the party and its ideals at formation, which he believed had been corrupted.

He said in an interview, “That is the first and natural question that anybody would ask: Why am I in the race for the position of National Chairman of the PDP? The answer to that question is located within the very ambience of the vision and mission that propelled the formation of the party on August 19, 1998.

“It was a well-articulated mission statement from the outset that the party would be instrumental to the restoration of democracy and the establishment of good governance in the country. The party resolved from the outset to avoid the mistakes of the past like the politics of winner-takes-all and loser-loses-all, politics of exclusion and cash-and-carry politics. It was also agreed that dialogue must be made an integral part of our political process so as to ensure the entrenchment of true justice for all in our body politic and for the emergence of a credible leadership that would give purpose and direction to Nigeria.

“That was why the leadership of political associations and groups of like minds entered into a pact to form a formidable, national, broad-based and people-oriented party to work for the restoration of democracy and good governance in the country.

“I am one of the founding fathers of the party who converged on Abuja to give effect to that political dream. I remember the concert among leaders of political associations that culminated in what is today known as the PDP.

“There were 36 or thereabout founding fathers of the party that became members of the original Board of Trustees of the party after that historic outing. We had mobilised resources and commitment for the formation of the party.

“I was the facilitator of the National League for Democracy and Good Governance, which was one of the political associations that merged with such associations as the defunct All Nigeria Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Chief Sunday Awoniyi, the defunct Social Progressive Party (SPP) under the leadership of Chief Solomon Lar, and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) under the leadership of Alhaji Lawal Kaita and the defunct Peoples’ National Front (PNF) under the leadership of Dr. Alex Ekwueme to form the PDP.

“There were so many other associations that coalesced to form the party. It was a prerequisite for leaders to join on the platform of their political associations. Even though I was a member of the ANC alongside Awoniyi, Adamu Ciroma, Bamanga Tukur, Asheik Jarma, Umaru Shinkafi and others, I still formed my own political association with a network that cut across the entire country.

“At the beginning, we were sharply attuned to the political calculations that we would improve on the content of our politics by drawing from the wealth of experience that many of us garnered from the Second Republic when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), to which I and many of my associates belonged, held the reins of government at the national level. Then, there was party discipline.

“The concept of party supremacy assumed a realistic posture. The party was the umbrella. The National Chairman of the party was almost as powerful as, and seen to be more powerful than the president. We had expected that we would be able to reenact and/or replicate that scenario in the current dispensation. But gradually, we began to realise that we did not have the correct mix of political tendencies and leadership in the government and in the PDP to achieve that.

“Right from the outset, the party was not allowed to play its role as the platform that produced the government. Rather than the executive head consulting with the party and carrying it along on political decisions, decisions were foisted on the party and the party was made to put a stamp of authority on the decisions.

“There was something wrong in the process that threw up, for instance, former Senate President, the late Evan Enwerem, as Senate President on June 3, 1999. There was something wrong with the party’s National Convention of November 19 to 21, 1999 that produced Chief Barnabas Gemade at the expense of Chief Awoniyi. There was something amiss in the conflict between the Executive and the Legislature, so much so that there was impeachment scare against former President Obasanjo in his first term in office.

“You could see the deliberate sidelining and outright ostracising of many of the founding leaders. Some were expelled and others simply switched off out of frustration. Nigerians were witnesses to the third term saga which failed on the floor of the National Assembly and the role the party played in trying to push it through, albeit unsuccessfully. There are a lot of other things that were not properly done.

“Now that a new government under President Umaru Yar’Adua is in place, you can see concrete steps being taken to bring about reconciliation in the party with a view to repositioning it. I understand that the President is in constant consultations with the leadership of the National Assembly as well as the leadership of the party. He has demonstrated his desire to ensure that the party is repositioned to achieve the objective of promoting and establishing political stability in the country and fostering national integration and providing good government and setting a pattern of political management, which encourages probity and emphasises participatory democracy, among others. This administration is doing this and many more.

“It is therefore my belief and strong conviction that since I hold these objectives as articles of faith, I have the right attitude and temperament to promote collaboration between the party and the government for the purpose of deepening our democratic governance. I have the capacity to nurture a partnership that will reposition the party, promote democratic principles within it, ensure equity, justice and respect for the rule of law and bring about a synergy that would ensure stability of the polity. This is partly why I am in the race.”

Having joined the race for the chairmanship, Apugo has not changed his combative style. He declared recently that some of the contestants in the chairmanship race should first clear their names with the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) and that they should stop deceiving the electorate about their status. To him, the true contestants will emerge when the chips are down.

Prince Vincent Ogbulafor
The former National Secretary of the PDP is one of the strongest pillars of the party in Abia State. In terms of support, you can say that he controls about half of the party while Apugo controls the other. Before rising to become the party’s national secretary, Ogbulafor had contested the governorship seat in Abia State in 1999 on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP). He was believed to have won considerable support and some sources said that he had a good case going to the election tribunal of that year. The PDP had to woo him to drop the suit against Kalu and then gave him a ministerial slot. He was, thereafter, to find himself as the party secretary, following the usual game of musical chairs that characterised the affairs of party during Obasanjo’s tenure.

As the National Secretary of the PDP, Ogbulafor became one of the most powerful forces in the party under the chairmanship of Chief Audu Ogbeh. But his reign also coincided with the factional crisis that rocked the Abia State chapter of the party. Ogbulafor joined forces with the like of Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Chief Tony Ukasanya, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu and Chief Empire Kanu to form a formidable alliance with the then Deputy Governor in Kalu’s cabinet, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, to give the regime of Kalu some tough times. The Abuja camp, as the group was called, had Ukasanya, the pioneer state chairman of the party as the head in the contest against Kalu’s forces.

Just as the time was approaching for the reaffirmation of the tenure of the state executive of the party in the year 2001, a crack had emerged between Kalu and Ukasanya as party chairman. Ukasanya had insisted that the former governor should not be entitled to another term of office after he had campaigned in 1999; that he needed only a single term in office to turn the fortunes of the state around. Ukasanya stuck to his gun. He found allies in Ogbulafor and other members of the Abuja group and the war within the Abia PDP blossomed. Ogbulafor was at the National Secretariat of the party providing the logistics needed to prosecute the war against Kalu and his cronies at the state level.

But the dramatic turn of events as the 2003 elections drew closer was a test case in the abracadabra associated with intra PDP politics. While Ogbulafor was the head of the party’s secretariat, it was difficult to discern that letters originated from the secretariat without his knowledge, or so it was claimed. The National Secretariat at a point decided to team up with the pro-Kalu camp while the secretary and other henchmen in the government remained opposed to the second term bid of Kalu. A complete turnaround was eventually seen in the affairs of the PDP in the state when the National Secretariat had to jettison the Abuja lineage and dramatically handed the second term ticket to Kalu.

While Ogbulafor remained a staunch member of the Abuja group, the main undoing of his camp had been failure to bond together to the end in fighting battles. Even while the battles were raging in the days of Kalu and Abaribe at the Abia Government House, there were suspicions that one or two of the chieftains of the camp were cutting deals with the former governor. That gave rise to suspicions and that had dealt a great blow to the spirit of the camp.

Today, that often recourse to suspicion has weakened the reach of the PDP in Abia State and is seen as one of the reasons for the sustenance of the Kalu lineage in the politics of Abia. Today, despite the array of political bigwigs converging in the PDP, Kalu was able to lead his foot soldiers in the war and challenged the party to a standstill despite the late formation of his party, the Progressives Peoples Alliance, a few months to the last elections. It has consigned the PDP to fighting from behind each time it goes to war against the Kalu group.

That attitude may be the undoing of the former secretary of the party in the race for the PDP top job. Besides that is the manner in which the former scribe left office in 2005. The leadership of the party at the time was asked to give way by Obasanjo.

It is not clear whether the forces in the party have forgiven him and whether his traducers are no longer that powerful to obstruct his ambition. He has some Herculean battles to wage though. On the home front, he is confronted by the Apugo charge and then the usual infighting within his own camp could be a hindrance.

Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu
Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu is arguably one of the surprise packages of the ongoing race for the national chairmanship seat of the PDP. His entry was quiet and he has been moving about with his campaign train without much noise. Here is another politician who is not a stranger to the political terrain. He has largely associated with progressive politics and it was not surprising to see him as a power broker of defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic. Indeed, before then, he had been known as a member of the progressive family of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Many will vividly recall his link with the late successor of Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, who is believed to have had a great influence on him. Indeed, this would be an advantage for him in the race for the chairmanship.

The progressive politician is not a known member of any of the forces in the PDP. He has not been a known member of the camp of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and that of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. He is also not one of the candidates being pushed by external factors to go for the top job. This also stands him in good stead for the plum job.

More so, when the race gets messy, the resolution could be to go for a neutral candidate. So, what really is the mainstay of the progressive politician in the race? Some have said that the mainstay lies with the silent team that desires a new beginning for the party. Some have even said that some caucuses loyal to President Umaru Yar’Adua had propped up Izuogu to ensure they have a hold on the party thenceforth. Indeed, some have said that the Presidency has declared its support for Izuogu because of his background as a loyalist of the Yar’Adua political dynasty. As a staunch member of the SDP, Izuogu teamed up to produce the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

But whether the man can just emerge from the blues is another thing entirely. There is the belief in some quarters that the newly-elected governors of the PDP are rooting for the candidature of Izuogu so as to ensure there is a new voice in the horizon. Those who propagate this thinking said that some of the newly-elected governors have had stints in the progressive camps where Izuogu held sway in the past and that they find his leadership style acceptable. He was indeed, the National Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the PSP.

The same is being said of Yar’Adua, who is said to be looking for his own man at the helm of the PDP. How the president intends to outwit all the caucuses and foist the former SDP man on the party is still a matter of conjecture. Besides, the President has not really stuck out his neck in Izuogu’s favour in line with the regime of taciturnity in the Presidential Villa.
But Izuogu has been on a sort of whistle stop trip round the states in recent weeks. Last week, he was in the North where he met with governors, including the Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Dambaba Suntai, as well as Governors Sule Lamido and Jonah Jang of Jigawa and Plateau States respectively.

Suntai described him as one of the most experienced hands that could bring about real positive change in the fortunes of the PDP. The governor, who received the aspirant in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State, recalled that he had shared the same party (Peoples Solidarity Party) with Izuogu some years ago where he said Izuogu acquitted himself creditably “as a honest, progressive politician in his capacity as national secretary and chief executive officer of the party.”

He said he was confident that the aspirant would repeat the same feat if given the chance to pilot the affairs of the PDP. The governor restated his personal support for the aspirant but declared, “The final decision on who becomes the national chairman does not lie with Taraba State alone but with the national leadership of the party personified by President Yar’Adua.”

He hit the nail on the head when he advised the candidate to work hard to woo all the powerful forces in the party to ensure his victory. Izuogu also received some kind words from the state chairman of the PDP, Dr. I. Vaki, who also aligned with the governor’s position. Vaki described Izuogu as the best material for the job of national chairman but declared that the aspirant needed to work hard to convince the national leaders of the party.

Izuogu has been consistent in his message to members of the party in the state to which he had taken his campaign so far. He said in Jalingo that he has the vision to reposition the PDP if elected the National chairman. He also assured the people of the state that he would work with Yar’Adua and all state governors to reposition the party along progressive lines.

With his experience in the progressive camps, he expressed the confidence that he would sail through. Izuogu also restated his message during his visits to Lamido and Jang. Both of them had contacts with the aspirant before now and spoke glowingly of his credentials. They said that the man who had led other progressive parties can excel in the big giant called the PDP.

Chief Rochas Okorocha
This is the man that can be regarded as the miracle man of the politics of this era. He emerged as a force in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the build up to the 2003 elections when he campaigned for the presidential slot. He hit the democratic space with a lot of frenzy and panache with his long convoy of exotic cars and campaigned with the flair of an energetic youth. At the ANPP presidential primaries that year, he was one of the aspirants that was forced to give way to the party’s preferred choice of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.

Before making his mark on the political train, Okorocha had made his mark as a philanthropist of note with his all-expenses paid schools for the less privileged, which he founded in parts of the country. He was also at the centre of a drama which saw him being dismissed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) over some unclear contract issues. At the time, it was thought that he was facing a bad patch. But the PDP, which removed him from NAMA, later made up with him and elevated him into other roles.

At the ANPP convention, he was one of the Southern contestants for the presidential slot who walked out on the party and was received into the PDP. The man also within a twinkle found himself occupying the strategic seat of a Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Inter-Party Relations. From that spot, Okorocha gained access to the inner workings of the PDP and soon became one of the power brokers of the government. The politician was said to have displayed the depth of his influence in the immediate past administration when he played a considerably big role when the government set out to dispose aircraft that were regarded as unserviceable even when he was not the Adviser on Aviation Matters. Somehow, Okorocha fell out with the powers in the PDP. That was towards the 2007 elections.

Taking advantage of the liberalisation of the political terrain, he took over the National Masses Movement of Nigeria and transformed the party to Action Alliance (AA). It was one of the parties that orchestrated the struggle for the top spot on the ballot paper being put together by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) then. The other parties were the Action Congress (AC) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

With the entry of AA into the democratic space, everyone had concluded that Okorocha would emerge the presidential candidate of that party, being its financier. He led a number of campaigns in the build up to the 2007 election and did parade himself in that capacity. Okorocha propagated that promise of AA in many states and appointed officials for his campaign and the party leadership across the states.

Suddenly, however, Okorocha bolted out of the AA and picked the presidential ticket of the PDP. He was one of the earliest callers to do that and it was a big bang on the skulls of his canvassers and officials in the AA. The development also did much to divide the AA and lower its impact across the states.

Soon, after Okorocha’s departure from the AA, there were attempts to ensure that the party officially dissolved into the PDP. But that was resisted by other leaders of the party, including Alhaji Bukar Mandara. It is a battle that is still being fought today as Okorocha’s men resorted to some tactics to free the party for whatever purpose they wanted and regain leadership of the executive. There was even a scuffle over the ownership of the National Secretariat of the party as Okorocha’s men declared it their fortress rather than the office for members of the AA executive committee. Vehicles purchased for the party by Okorocha also became a subject of controversy as his men attempted to seize those vehicles once the executive refused to follow the leader to the PDP. At a point, it was said that the matter had developed into a police case as the National Chairman and some state chairmen of the party were interrogated by the police for allegedly appropriating properties of Rochas Foundation. But party leaders claimed that Okorocha himself donated the property for the use of the party when he was the leader.

That controversy did not stop Okorocha from moving ahead to contest for the presidential ticket at the National Convention of the PDP. At the end of the day, he came third at the national convention behind President Umaru Yar’Adua and Gen. Mohammadu Gusau. That was not a small feat, considering that he had not been stable in the party. It was, for many, an indication that Okorocha understands the way intra-party politics is being played in this clime.

Whether that understanding can yield to him the top job in the PDP this time is a difficult task to hazard. He needs to gain the confidence of the power caucuses in the party before he can make such headway. Yet, that assurance is not readily available going by the workings of the party at the moment.