While intrigues are trailing the aborted North West zonal congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a fresh air is permeating the party in the South -West, following the reconciliation birthed by the exercise in the region, our correspondents report.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the main opposition political party, PDP, organised its zonal congresses to elect leaders that will run the affairs of the party at the zonal level.
Prior to the congresses, there were tensions especially in the South-West and North-West geopolitical zones, as critical stakeholders in the party were set for showdown, in their bids to grab the soul of the party at the zonal level.
For the South-West, the congress was held in Osogbo, the Osun State capital; in the North-West, the exercise took place at the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex. While the various camps in the South-West were able to reconcile, leading to the successful conduct of the exercise, in the North-West, it ended in a fiasco following a clash by supporters of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and those of a former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
The dispute at the Kaduna congress was over the position of zonal vice chairman which was zoned to Kano State, it was reported. The 17 zonal positions including seven ex-officio were shared among the states in the zone; Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
A document seen by one of our reporters showed that the position of publicity secretary was zoned to Jigawa; secretary and legal adviser to Kaduna; treasurer to Katsina; vice chairman and woman leader to Kano; organising secretary to Kebbi; youth leader and auditor to Sokoto and the position of financial secretary was zoned to Zamfara State. Each of the states also got one ex-officio position.
The crisis over the zonal vice chairman seat started at the residence of a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, where the micro zoning arrangement was reportedly reached.
Soon after the position was zoned to the state, the rivalry between the two factions of the party in Kano State was amplified. For some time now, there has been supremacy battle between the camp of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, and that of Kwankwaso. The camps want to grab the position to brighten their chances ahead of 2023 elections, hence the feud.
Despite the moves by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to reconcile the warring camps, Daily Trust gathered that underground scheming is on ahead of the new date of the congress.
Contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, confirmed that moves are on to reconcile the stakeholders. He also said that leaders of the North-West zone of the party have been asked to work out another date for the congress in the zone.
“You know we are in the holy month of Ramadan now, so we don’t know yet. But, we have pushed it to the leaders of the North-West to come together and agree on when to hold it.
“We have called the leaders of the North-West to work out the reconciliation process, while major stakeholders from the national headquarters will also work on the reconciliation among the contending parties,” he said.
Kwankwaso welcomes reconciliation with Tambuwal, others
Kwankwaso has welcomed the move to reconcile him, and Wali. The spokesman of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and a chieftain of the PDP in Kano State, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, told Daily Trust that the reconciliation move was good and timely.
“If they had taken this position long before now, it would have averted all the unfortunate incidents in Kaduna. All the same, it is never late. Reconciliation is what is needed. People should see reasons to respect each other and we should thread carefully and not give any room for the ruling party to cash in and divide our ranks. So, it is a welcome development,” he said.
On the clash that erupted between Tambuwal and Kwankwaso in Kaduna, Gwarzo, who was the PDP deputy governorship candidate for Kano in 2019, said it would have been avoided if leaders of the party like Tambuwal and Wali had not reneged on agreement of the party to put forward Mohammed Jamo as the consensus candidate for National Vice Chairman, North-West.
He accused Tambuwal of conniving with Wali to sponsor Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo to contest for the position despite “much publicised hobnobbing of Wali and Gwarzo with the APC government in Kano State”.
Efforts to hear from Ambassador Wali were not successful. Calls and a text message sent to his number have not been responded to as of press time.
But a chieftain of the PDP in Sokoto State blamed Kwankwaso for the clash during the congress in Kaduna. The chieftain who pleaded not to be named said they have enough facts to prove the undemocratic action of the two-term governor of Kano State.
“We don’t want to talk on the matter because he (Kwankwaso) may see it as a position of our governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, because they have been in a running battle for some time over the congress. But the truth of the matter is that the action of the former governor was undemocratic,” he said.
On the allegation of Tambuwal’s involvement in who should get what from Kano, the chieftain said it was just a mere allegation that lacks substance.
In an interview with BBC Hausa Service, Tambuwal denied meddling in Kano politics. He also denied the allegation of buying a nomination form for Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo.
According to Tambuwal, there was a meeting of stakeholders of the zone at the Abuja residence of former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa in which they agreed that every member of the party could contest for the elected position allocated to his state.
What next after the South-West PDP congress?
Despite pockets of complaints and grievances which trailed the conduct of the South-West zonal congress of the PDP in Oshogbo, Osun State capital, the party is now focused on closing rank ahead of the 2023 election.
Prior to Monday, April 12, 2021, when chieftains of the PDP in the six states of the South-West including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states converged on Oshogbo for the long awaited zonal congress, there was tension in the party following the superiority battle between the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, and former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayode Fayose.
Both had backed different candidates in an attempt to control the party structure at the zonal level. While Fayose was pushing for the immediate past Chairman/National Vice-Chairman, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, Makinde backed Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, a former deputy governor of the state.
The congress had been rescheduled three times before it was later held on Monday while the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has continued to extend the tenure of the caretaker committee.
In July 2020, the party dissolved the zonal committee and reconstituted a new one led by Dayo Ogungbenro. The committee was appointed for a period of 90 days in line with the party’s constitution but the tenure was later extended. Amidst the tenure extension, some aggrieved members loyal to Fayose announced that the chairman appointed by the NWC has been removed. His suspension could however not hold water as the NWC continually recognised him.
Daily Trust reports that the suspension was part of the game plan by both parties to have their candidates in key positions when the congress finally takes place. The arrowheads of the struggle for the soul of the PDP machinery in the geopolitical zone were Makinde and Fayose; both of whom engaged in a series of war of words prior to the conduct of the exercise.
The sudden change of venue from Ibadan to Oshogbo, it was learnt, was to provide a level-playing field for all the stakeholders amidst the lingering controversy.
Despite the National Reconciliation Committee led by former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, meeting the two gladiators separately to resolve whatever issues they have, they never closed rank before the conduct of the exercise fuelling speculations that the party might be headed for a stormy congress.
However, this was never the case. But the congress was held not without some skirmishes with Fayose alleging that over 150 thugs stormed his hotel in Oshogbo.
Several observers of happenings in the party were therefore disappointed that the elective congress held as scheduled and produced winners despite the lingering supremacy battle between the two main gladiators.
At the end of the congress, Amb. Arapaja emerged as the South-West Chairman/National Vice-Chairman, South-West. Other elected Zonal executive members included Chief Rahaman Owokoniran as Secretary; Mr. Samson Omotoyosi, Treasurer; Barr Amuwa Benson, Organising Secretary; Chief Olusanya Atofarati, Publicity Secretary, among others.
The figure of the chairmanship election showed that it was a keenly contested exercise. No fewer than 683 voters were accredited with Arapaja polling 343 while Olafeso scored 330 just as 10 votes were voided.
Fayose also did the unthinkable by embracing Makinde at the venue of the congress while reportedly conceding the leadership to him.
While he later took to his twitter handle on Monday night alleging over-voting in the congress, he reiterated his decision to accept the outcome of the election in the interest of party unity and cohesion.
“Whatever may be our reservations on the issue of over-voting; we have chosen to look at the larger picture, which is the PDP. We must therefore use our energy and resources to rebuild the party,” he said.
The victorious Arapaja on his part lauded both gladiators and even promised to work with his opponent.
Speaking with our correspondent, a chieftain of the PDP in Lagos, Prince Muiz Shodipe-Dosumu, said the congress was a watershed for the party and it would make the party stronger and more cohesive to face the opposition.
Ismail Mudashir, Hamisu Kabir Matazu (Abuja), Clement A. Oloyede (Kano), Abubakar Auwal (Sokoto) & Abdullateef Aliyu (Lagos)
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