With Uche Nnadozie
In the end their much touted convention has come and gone. The party formerly known as the largest party in Africa, has become a shadow of its once boisterous self. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP fell into bad patch since losing the 2015 elections. It is not that it was not predicted, but arrogance did not allow them to sit up. For them, if they canโt win the hearts of Nigerians, they can easily win the statistics. You know, with statistics, what is revealed is nothing compared to what isnโt- and that may just be where the facts lie.
Seeing that this party fell into deep gutters, I had thought even against my wish that they be contrite. But no! That did not even stop them from getting into one trouble or the other. Litigation over rightful leadership or the acceptable convention took them many months to settle. That battle alone weaned them of many stars left in the party. The manner in which they got into that skirmish and the way some of their leaders carried on showed they are more interested in self than the collective. Now, how do you pick the pieces after a devastating defeat just over two years ago if you wallow in self delusion and do everything to scandalize members?
We have not forgotten the various figures that grew bigger in PDPโs statistical book as they depreciated in real life. In Plateau state several years ago, six members impeached someone where you had a 26-member House of Assembly. They took this craziness to Rivers where a more ridiculous number sought to control the House of Assembly and all its legislative duties far above the greater number. They even moved to begin impeachment proceedings against the governor at the time. We also had the matter of the governors forum. 16 suddenly became more numerically than 19. Election was held among state governors and the PDP favoured candidate garnered 16 votes versus 19 from the rival. Not even a video evidence could call these brigands back to their senses.
There was also this PDP governorship primary in a state in the South West. Because a faction of the party had the ears of the federal government decided to impose a candidate after votes showed there was over voting and over accreditation. Yet, not even the appeals committee could muster harsh words not to talk of cancellation. So this is not new to this party, yet it says it wants to usurp power come 2019? Even with the open and the say-what-you-may attitude. They do not just care, its in their DNA. So I am the least person that was surprised with their latest over voting episode, a party that wants to rebrand should pay attention to such minor infractions. Except they are mere jokers and they are determined to tell each other the truth.
At their convention held in Abuja recently which elected Uche Secondus as party chairman, PDP sprung another one on us. In spite in the hue and cry about the unfairness and hijack of the process by a few, this party sunk deeper into the morass of nothingness. Again it won a medal of dishonour in figure padding. Shortly after Secondus was announced as the winner of the chairmanship race, new facts started to emerge. Unfortunately, of the 2,233 delegates expected to vote at the convention, 2,115 were successfully accredited.
Painfully, after votes were collated, it was discovered that the total number of votes cast was 2,296 โ 181 more than the 2115 accredited for voting. This party lapped it up, kept quiet and moved on, as if nothing has happened. Apparently, they were not surprised. This practice, I mean cheating, cooking of figures have become so acceptable that PDP faithful no longer see impunity as a wrong. They are happy to be associated with graft. PDP is so shameless they have not made a comment on this inconsistency till date. It is left to be seen what justification they will give for such faux pas.
So now after the convention and the election of new executives, what next? Some governors come out to make disparaging remarks about some groups or parts of the country. The chairman of the party also says a part of the country will be โsharedโโ juicy positions when PDP wins in 2019. That’s my point exactly, why is it that if PDP is not stealing it is cheating, or sharing our commonwealth? Why does the party not want to learn decorum? For PDP, they need to change orientation, they need to re-arrange their strategies. It seems some of those 1998 strategies have ran us out of steam. We are here gasping for breath yet PDP members are still enjoying their lives with a promise to better our own even where they have not lifted a finger.
Secondus is a typical party man. He started since 1998, grew through the ranks to become the partyโs chair at the national level. He is experienced enough to direct the affairs of that party in the right direction. But I am afraid, nothing will come out of this new beginning. Its all fire and fury no substance. Like I had pointed out, for them its all about manipulation of data. Its about inflated numbers even where the environment is antithetical to such cause. PDP needs to take itself serious. They are the only party that can hold the ruling party to account. Yes they messed up in governance, but canโt they just create a path to success? Must they continue like this? Must they continue to invent embarrassing numbers?
