OBJ And Drama Of PDP Convention

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

Obasanjo Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wants to be seen as the father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some of his loyalists in that party have also christened him the ‘founder of modern Nigeria’.

It is clear he relishes such titles as his countenance brightens anytime he is showered with such encomiums in public. To underline his know-all belief, Obasanjo not only searched out and ensured victory for his successor, he also ensured that he would be there by his side to help manage the intricacies in the party and whip into line those recalcitrant elements. That was the essence of the constitution amendment that qualified only Obasanjo as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT).

With that position, Obasanjo was rightly placed in the driver’s seat of the PDP, the party chairman answerable to him in the name of party supremacy. That was the scenario that should unfold fully after the National Convention in 2008, and that was why Obasanjo again flagged off the campaign to install the‘best’ candidate for the party. He kickstarted the campaign to install the former Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, as National Chairman early enough and threw in everything he could muster into it.

He even embarked on a campaign trip for Egwu in Edo State, the den of his former loyalist and friend, Chief Tony Anenih, whom he upstaged as the BOT Chairman last August.
The former President did not hide his preference although the campaigns that preceeded the March 8th National Convention easily drew out his critics.

The contention among Obasanjo’s critics was that since nobody dictated to Obasanjo of the choice of party chairmen in the eight years he occupied Aso Rock, why would he dictate to Yar’Adua? That contention not only hardened his critics; it made things more difficult for his chosen candidate.

Egwu had to grant more media interviews defending himself and attempting to extricate himself from the “Obasanjo’s stooge” tag. He had little time to espouse his ideals for the party, even as his critics hit harder on him.

As the D-Day drew close, the gulf between the camps was getting wider. While Obasanjo was believed to be leading some by the nose and those were already signed up to back Egwu, others who believed that the former President would be taking too much if he had to remain the BOT Chairman, produce the National Chairman of the party and produce its National Secretary had teamed up to back the former Senate President, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim.

Chief Tony Anenih; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, as well as members of the National Assembly were regarded the arrowheads of the Anyim campaign

The two divides held strongly to their camps till Friday when the series of horse-trading flagged off. First, Obasanjo was to trade off Sen. Tunde Ogbeha, his candidate for the post of National Secretary, as he agreed to adopt the candidate already adopted by the North-Central Zone for the post, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje. But the former President held tenaciously to the candidature of Egwu.

As at Friday morning, the only non-committal bigwig in the PDP was President Umaru Yar’Adua, who had insisted on maintaining unity within the party. Despite the pressure mounted on him, the man insisted on a level playing field for every candidate and cancelled the plan to screen aspirants by the convention committee.

Late on Thursday, Obasanjo played some of his best jokers. He called a meeting of the bigwigs of the party – including the President, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan; Senate President, David Mark; Speaker of theHouse of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole; immediate past National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, and the former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George – where he reminded them of a pact entered into by himself, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; the former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, and the immediate past BOT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, alongside Bode George, where it was agreed that Egwu would become the next national chairman of the party.

He was said to have told the meeting that though the faces in the top positions in the land had changed, the agreement needed to be adhered to. President Umaru Yar’Adua at the meeting, however, thwarted the bid to enforce the pact said to have been reached in 2006, when he declared that the governors of the party had the biggest say in the matter and that his own role was to ensure that the party was not split apart by the two extremes in the chairmanship tussle.

Yar’Adua hinted of the choice of a neutral candidate at that meeting; but it was also gathered that Obasanjo did not give up easily. The former President asked the Speaker and the Senate President to sound out their men on the 2006 pact on Egwu.

Sources, however, informed Saturday Tribune those senators and the members of the House of Representatives promptly rejected the idea when it was brought to their notice.

Said a source at a meeting of the legislators: “We were told that the President called a meeting of the major stakeholders that included the outgoing National chairman, the Speaker and the Senate President to intimate them of the agreement reached before the installation of President Yar’Adua, and that the agreement should be respected.”

The legislators were said to be at a loss as to why they would have to implement an agreement they were not party to. They also questioned the rationale behind the meeting of the seven stakeholders to sign away the future of the party, which they said belongs to all Nigerians.

Another crucial meeting followed late Friday and it was the decisive one. The meeting involved the ‘super delegates’ as you may want to call them – the President, his predecessor, the Vice-President and leaders of the National Assembly.

That meeting was also monitoring another meeting of the governors which was ex-raying the possible compromise candidate; and it was at the meeting with the President that it became clear to Obasanjo that his choice candidate for the seat of National Chairman could not make it.

When Yar’Adua broke the news that the governors had chosen Prince Vincent Ogbulafor so as to prevent a crack in the party, Obasanjo was said to have objected. He was said to have first mooted the choice of the former Secretary of the party, Chief Bernard Eze, which was rejected by Yar’Adua, and then he suggested that Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the Foreign Affairs Minister, could resign and take up the post. But Yar’Adua was said to have insisted that besides the fact that none of the two picked the nomination form, Maduekwe was doing a good job at the ForeignAffairs Ministry.

The former President reportedly told the meeting that he was not an enemy of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor (who was seen as the acceptable dark horse candidate), but that he believed either of the two candidates he mentioned would do a good job.

President Yar’Adua was said to have finally opened up at the meeting, where he said that he was opposed to attempts to polarise the party and that a dark horse who would be less controversial should be adopted.

As things turned out last Saturday, the governors and the stakeholders made good their promise and delivered Ogbulafor as the new PDP helmsman. Ogbulafor’s kinsman and PDP gubernatorial candidate in Abia State, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, described his emergence as a miracle.

Onyema, who led Abia delegatesto Eagle Square, said that Ogbulafor’s kinsmen never expected to go back home with the party’s top seat from the convention – more so when the contest had earlier been narrowed to Imo and Ebonyi States.

For Obasanjo, it was a humbling experience. A man who in the last eight years was used to having his way – even in odd situations – had to plead to no avail. Though Ogbulafor was his creation, as he influenced his defection to the PDP in 1999 and made him a Minister, then the Secretary of the party, the way he disgraced the man out of office in 2005 has overshadowed all that.

In a way though, Obasanjo could heave a sign of relief at Ogbulafor’s emergence, as according to sources, even though Ogbulafor will not do Obasanjo’s bidding, he will still not hit him hard as an Anyim would.