Echoes from the PDP Convention

The much expected convention of the People’s Democratic Party has come and gone, and the Prince Uche Secondus era has taken off. Significant to the convention is the fact that it held at all, a fact for which Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and the Caretaker Committee he led, deserve applause. They rescued the party from Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s rather bizarre take-over gambit and were able to berth a remarkable convention. It was easy to forget that the once ruling party was roundly beaten to pulp at the 2015 elections. Suddenly, Nigerians could be assured we were in a democracy and not a self-imposed dictatorship. The Convention was keenly watched, it was vibrant and dramatic as the Chairmanship candidates keenly contested and dropped off like dominoes towards the zenith hour. It has been long since the nation laughed at a bad political loser like Chief Bode George, who came to the contest as an experienced and confident nationalist but sadly withdrew as a disappointed leader of the Yoruba race. It will be a while before we make meaning of his speech at stepping aside from the contest.

Also deserving of commendation is the Chairman of the PDP National Elective Convention Committee and Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who firmly and meticulously brought the convention to conclusive fruition. We cannot fail to note that the crisis in the Party since the 2015 election debacle, whose overcoming saw to the success of this convention has today revealed a new crop of politicians with a promise of future leadership of the country in the unique PDP fashion. Governor Okowa is certainly one to watch out for in the years to come. 

And did Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike leave anyone in doubt as to which political collective had taken charge of the new and improved PDP? A study of Wike’s body language gives not only an insight into the workings of the rejuvenated behemoth called PDP, but one could see into some future scenarios as we drift toward 2019. State Governors hold the reins and will determine the Party’s future. 

Yet to me, the star attraction of the convention was former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. From his dramatic appearance at the convention, he was the cynosure of all eyes, being deferred to even by former President Goodluck Jonathan. He was as excited to be back in the old turf as the Party itself to receive a major national player whose eyes were set fixedly on the party’s nomination to run for President of Nigeria. Every view of the former Vice President narrated that ultimate checkmate. 

Is it enough to run down former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for returning to the People’s Democratic Party with being President of Nigeria in his hopes without suggesting what else you want him to do with his life? What else do you want of a man whose political trajectory has seen him serve for eight years as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to look for in the political sphere? What should be made of his privilege to have understudied the best and the worst of our leaders – President Olusegun Obasanjo – what else do you want him to do with his life lessons under Obasanjo? Who else had this critical vintage privilege to know from close range, the best and the worst examples of leadership and governance?

Atiku Abubakar’s antecedents make the Presidency his only natural ambition and aspiration, indeed a right written all over him at the convention. If we are fair, he is reputably one of, if not the most prominent politician, philanthropist, businessman and investor in the field of partisan politics today from Northern Nigeria to which region PDP had zoned the Presidency. He is held in high esteem across Nigeria, and can one deny that he commands not so small goodwill nationwide?

From 1979, Atiku Abubakar has run a formidable national political collective, in the sense that come what may, he always had a political formation in the bag. Even now that the People’s Democratic Party is beaming with celebration for having caught such a “big fish” off the political sea of the All Progressive Congress, Atiku most certainly has a company to return to. By this it must be understood that Atiku, was not a lone ranger that sauntered into PDP’s rosy climes, but a leader of thought who could trigger a migration of powerful like minds of sorts from APC especially near the 2019 zero hour.

Atiku Abubakar has a political resourcefulness that should give any opponent sleepless nights.  A culture and tradition of a legendary generosity and lofty investment pursuits – “putting his money where his mouth” is politically, and serving the human element with opportunity, has helped tag the former Vice President with responsibility for some surprising political capers. Love him or hate him, he shares credit for MKO Abiola’s securing of the nomination in 1993 and steamrolled the Abiola/Kingibe Muslim/Muslim ticket. Atiku it was largely, added to the Abiola largesse, that mustered the Northern Christian support of that ticket. It has also been claimed without being disputed, that Atiku shares credit for the draft of President Obasanjo in 1999 – and this is made no secret of, he masterminded the collapse of President Obasanjo’s alleged tenure elongation in 2007. His name rings prominently in the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as leaders of the National Assembly. 

Yet in spite of intense probes, Atiku Abubakar remains untainted and free of any legal challenges; his astute stance, unscathed. To ignore such a man is to “know nothing about Atiku Abubakar, nothing at all”, to borrow from Touco in the Western, ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’. One caution though. What mind the ‘Wizards of Naija’ – the trio of Babangida, Obasanjo, and Danjuma – have on the matter, will matter a lot. 

One would have expected a convention as the PDP’s to deal low blows at the Buhari – led APC Government, struggling as the Government is with an image crisis. Hardly any such blows came! No critical appraisal of the APC’s most visible selling point – President Muhammadu Buhari’s selflessness, and the fact that a good egg must hatch or go bad. Hardly any convention speaker dwelt on the popular thought trend that things in Nigeria today, are not working as expected, and one can understand why. Every news outlet is awash with stories of recovery of looted treasury funds under PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian Armed Forces are smarting from the successful degrading of Boko Haram which had almost taken up the North East sub region when APC took power. Convention speeches were instead largely boastful, yet apologetic of “mistakes” made in sixteen years, with a promise of doing better in 2019 and following, from learnt lessons. Will any of this stand against the APC by 2019, despite the pains of political and economic reconfiguring now so evident? I wish I knew.