President Goodluck Jonathan was  away in France this week attending the Africa-France Summit, but he had his fingers firmly on developments within his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been torn apart on several fronts. The party is grappling with the leadership question, as it has been unable to select a replacement for Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who left office as the National Chairman weeks ago. To say that it has lost its bearing on this count will be merely stating the obvious. The position is zoned to the South-East but, as it is now normal with the politics of the region, its politicians are tearing themselves apart in a bid to gain an advantage over one another in the race for the job. Needless to say,  the lack of unity or consensus among them has not only delayed the emergence of the new party leader, but has also scuttled preparations for  next year’s general election.  This should be a major headache for President Jonathan as the leader of the party.

But what he tried to address during the week is the more disturbing issue of the perceived rebellion launched by many prominent members against its leadership and their concomitant suspension from the party. A group led by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, and former Senate President Ken Nnamani, with the name PDP Reform Forum, had taken on the leadership of Prince Ogbulafor for allegedly failing to rise up to the occasion by putting in place necessary internal democratic reforms. They called for the reconstitution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) with “men of high probity, integrity and commitment to the ideals of our great party.”

The party was obviously not in the mood to tolerate such impudence and duly announced the suspension of the ring leaders of the rebels following their purported refusal to appear before its NWC to clarify their position. The PDP state governors jumped into the fray and roundly condemned members of the forum for engaging in anti-party activities, while encouraging the party leadership to wield the big stick on them. Among the prominent PDP politicians that subsequently came under the sanction of the party on account of their involvement in the group were Alhaji Masari, Senator Nnamani, another former Senate President,  Adolphus Wabara; Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Senator Ifeanyichukwu Ararume, former Governors Chief Achike Udenwa and Dr. Peter Odili, Chief Rochas Okorocha, Chief Ekpeyong, Chief Abiye Sekibo and Professor ABC Nwosu.

The PDP justified its action by saying that it had obtained facts linking them with “a scheme to subject our great party to disrepute, contempt and hatred” as it posited that “the said members and others, meeting under the umbrella of the PDP Reform Group, are reported to be engaging or to have engaged in conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party or likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the business of the party or otherwise engage in anti-party activities or precipitate faction, and belong to a group under the guise of the party by whatever name called, not being one provided for in the constitution of the party.”

Masari rejected the position of the party and vowed that the suspended members would explore every constitutional means available to them to fight the suspension.

Since that incident, Prince Ogbulafor has been pressured to leave his position, which amounts to a fulfilment of a key demand by the group that has also won more converts, as many other prominent politicians, including those that served as ministers in President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration, have enrolled to be members.

Close political watchers have always suspected that the group’s activities had the tacit support of President Jonathan right from the time he hosted four of its leaders before he left for his last trip to the United States. After all, it is an open secret that President Jonathan has not exactly been happy with the party leadership on several issues. His directive this week to the party leadership to consider the views of the rebels can only be seen as a vindication of that suspicion. But the PDP will be concerned about what this Presidential intervention will mean for efforts to instil discipline within its ranks.

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