OBJ And The 'War' In PDP’s Courtyard

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

Obasanjo Before leaving office as Nigeria’s President on May 29, 2007, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had designed a role for himself after office. The determination in the former President’s camp was to ensure a firm grip of the politics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and, thereafter, ensure continuous relevance in the running of the government of his successor, President Umaru Yar’Adua.

That desire is understandable. While in office, former President Obasanjo presided over a party that wielded the big stick against many of its big guns. He practically launched Yar’Adua into the presidential race and cleared the way for him to the nation’s number one seat. The concern was that the Yar’Adua government needed to be protected from the ‘hawks’ in the polity, particularly those that were sidelined, to pave the way for the President.

Thus, shortly after the collapse of the third term agenda, which should have ensured a continuation of Obasanjo’s government, the plot to assure the man of a big role after his tenure was hatched. That was when the party’s constitution was amended to make him the most qualified person for the seat of the Board of Trustees (BOT). The powers of the BOT Chairman were also enhanced, to conform with a headmaster role Obasanjo would be at home with.

But, ever since he shoved aside his friend and political ally, Chief Tony Anenih, to clinch the BOT seat last year, Obasanjo has been coming off with one battle after the other. Necessarily, the process of ousting Anenih as the BOT chairman of the PDP, and the making of Obasanjo as a replacement to Anenih caused a division in the ruling party.

The division was not pronounced then, owing to the fact that the presidency was favourably disposed to the idea of Obasanjo becoming the BOT chairman. It appeared that the presidency found the wisdom to tolerate whatever the excesses of the former President was then in order to give stability to the new government.

But, the tide of opposition to Obasanjo’s ascendancy to the BOT chairmanship is yet to abate. The rise of another group of opposition called the G21, led by former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, is also an attempt by some prominent members of the PDP to reverse the law that made Obasanjo emerge as the chairman of the BOT.

The group’s plan to ensure that the issue was raised at the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party two weeks ago was foiled by the National Chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali, who blocked the motion by Nnamani with an order from the party’s constitution.

As the Chairman of the party’s BOT, Obasanjo is to be seen as the soul of the party and the base of its wisdom. And so, the former President had his way and was able to survive the storm of the opposition.

Apart from the BOT chairmanship, however, Obasanjo also has his mind fixed on who becomes the next national chairman of the party. This is the basis of the new war he has taken upon himself.

While the battle over his ascendancy of the BOT seat still rages in one corner of the party, Obasanjo emerged on the hottest zone of another battle, to install his favourites into key positions in the party’s executive in the March 8 convention.

Last week, the former President flagged off a campaign tour of the South-South with a stopover in Benin City, the Edo State capital, where he campaigned for the emergence of the former governor of Ebonyi state, Dr. Sam Egwu as the National Chairman of the party.

Before the open campaign, Obasanjo had been linked with Egwu and the former Chairman of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, while there were also reports that he might be working with some other forces in the party to spring a surprise and bring up one of the lesser known aspirants in the race into the front burner.

Obasanjo’s mainstay is the South West states, where he is assured that delegates from the six states can deliver block votes in favour of the candidate of his choice. He has a difficulty in Edo and the South-South states as well as the South East. His former friend and ally, Chief Tony Anenih, whom he upstaged to become the BOT chairman practically holds sway in the politics of the South-South, while Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to find a convenient spot to lay his feet.

No doubt, Chief Anenih is in full grasp of South-South politics and that, it appears, Obasanjo is out to break. In Edo State last Friday, Anenih and a number of key PDP figures shunned the airport reception for Obasanjo. In the course of his visit, Obasanjo shot back at Anenih, when he declared that the state governor, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor, remains the leader of the PDP in the state.

With that declaration, Obasanjo, pundits will argue, had succeeded to put both Anenih and Osunbor on a collision course. The objective behind that divide and rule strategy is simple: such an accomplishment is likely to ensure that Obasanjo’s candidates get at least half of Edo State delegates’ votes at the convention.

Besides, he was said to have insisted that Osunbor and the Samuel Ogbemudia camp set up a state congress planning committee, which would not be acceptable to the Anenih camp, and something that could be a harbinger for crisis in the state chapter of the party.

So far, Osunbor and Obasanjo appear to be toeing the same line. But while the governor has not concluded on the choice of Egwu as the national chairman, his camp believes that it should express gratitude to Obasanjo who insisted on knocking the favoured gubernatorial aspirant, Sen. Odion Ugbesia, out of the race to pave the way for the professor of Law in the April 2007 election.

Osunbor might have to contend with making a personal choice in the whole show, however. He was a colleague of the former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, while in the Senate. Anyim is believed to have won the hearts of Anenih loyalists in Edo, while he was also in the Senate with Senator Tunde Ogbeha, who is being supported by Obasanjo to clinch the post of National Secretary.

Obasanjo appears to rub in the essence of his visit to Edo State when he spoke at the home of the former governor of the old Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia. He declared that his position as BOT chairman was constitutional and that nobody had control over that except the party’s constitution.

While insisting that Governor Osunbor was the party leader in Edo, Obasanjo said: “As far as I know, the two people that I will ask what is the state of the party in Edo State are the party chairman and the governor and they have not told me about a faction.

“And in the same way, probably if you want to know about the health of the PDP in the country, you ask the National Chairman. You will ask the President who is the leader of the party, and probably you may ask the Chairman of the BOT. And whatever they tell you, you may take it if you wish or you may not.” Obasanjo’s campaign clearly showed that the depth of his war with Anenih had degenerated.

The former BOT Chairman was nicknamed Mr. Fix It during Obasanjo’s reign as President, and he was also called ‘the Leader’, a name many still call him till today. While not speaking out, Anenih has been known to do many things and come out with results. In the current war ignited by his former alter ego, Anenih is playing true to type: he has also not declared an open war with his political son, the governor of Edo State, with whom he attended a late night event in Abuja two weeks ago.

But it is understood that the man is raking up support from the anti-Obasanjo elements who might just team up together to defeat the Ota farmer at the National Convention. After the campaign in Edo State, Obasanjo took the campaign to Delta and Ondo states, while he was said to have targeted other “troublesome” areas ahead of the March convention.