The political sacrilege by the National Executive Committee of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), to unanimously endorse President Goodluck Jonathan as PDP sole candidate for the February 14, 2015 presidential election is a sad commentary on the character of Nigerian politics and politicians and underscores the bastardization of democracy to have a peculiarly Nigerian definition, making a mockery of the beautiful ideal. The intrigues and manipulation that all but shut down the presidential nomination process, left the PDP in huge democratic deficit as the party squandered another historical opportunity to deepen and expand the frontiers of Nigerian democracy. This is disappointing, coming from a party that has monopolized power at the center since the return to democracy in 1999. That the decision adopting Jonathan will be whimsically presented for validation at the next PDP convention is insulting and contemptuous of the average Nigerian to whom the right to vote and be voted for is a constitutional one. Such impunity must be uprooted lest it chokes the struggling seeds of democracy to death.
The coup was masterminded and executed by the most influential caucus in the party, the PDP governors’ forum, with an unrepentant pro-Jonathan disposition, judging from its intense fight against the G-7 group of “rebel” PDP governors, five of whom later defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Forum chair and Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, who presided at the meeting where Jonathan was endorsed as the sole candidate, had, a day earlier, chaired the national summit of all pro-Jonathan campaign groups, under the aegis of Goodluck Support Group (GSG). The communique was straight to the point. “The Forum hereby endorses Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR), President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for a second term in office and resolved to support his bid for re-election come 2015.” The governors’ endorsement a day before the NEC meeting was strategic.
At the NEC meeting, the governors’ position easily received the official stamp of approval because with the power to influence most delegates from the states, the governors remain the most potent caucus in the PDP. So, it was not surprising that other organs like the Board of Trustees (BoT), National Caucus, National Executive Committee (NEC) had to quickly adopt the decision to give Jonathan an automatic ticket. Shortly after the President arrived the NEC meeting, PDP publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, informed members that the governors had an announcement to make. Niger Governor, Babangida Aliyu, then announced that the PDP governors had unanimously endorsed Jonathan as sole candidate for the 2015 elections. To convince NEC that the decision was unanimous, Aliyu asked Jigawa governor, Sule Lamido, to bear witness. Lamido, who sat directly opposite the President, stood up, looked directly at Jonathan, smiled and did a thumbs-up without uttering a word. The hall burst into a thunderous ovation in celebration of Lamido’s seeming acceptance of Jonathan’s candidature.
Thereafter, the circus became a race to the bottom; as all other causes were falling over each other to endorse Jonathan as the sole PDP candidate. As soon as all groups had presented their endorsements, a former acting national Chairman, Haliru Bello, moved a motion that NEC adopts the positions of the Governors’ Forum and other caucuses. Haliru’s motion was seconded by former governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo. Accordingly, PDP National Chairman, Ahmadu Mu’azu, put the motion to vote and it was unanimously adopted. He said the NEC decision on Jonathan’s sole candidature would be presented before the December 6, 2014 National Convention for formal approval.
For a man who continues to confound even his most ardent critics and detractors, Jonathan’s adoption as PDP candidate was dramatic and thrilling. But Jonathan’s open celebration of that travesty was an insult to democracy that diminished even his own person. Feigning ignorance about the rapacious devaluation of internal democracy that unfolded at the NEC meeting, Jonathan mumbled: “At this point, let me say what has just happened today here with various motions adopting me as the sole candidate of the party, has really humbled me. I’m totally overwhelmed that I lack words to express my mind. Let me specially thank our governors that initiated that action… I know the media people will expect me to say something. But I can only promise members of our party and indeed Nigerians that for you to have that kind of confidence in me is a big challenge. But I promise I will not disappoint you.”
For an incumbent seeking re-election, the President’s utterances were a self-indictment in impunity and the best advertisement for Nigeria’s poor politics. The country is bleeding and burning, so what kind of confidence was Jonathan boasting with candor that he will not disappoint Nigerians, even as he is yet to formally declare his intention to seek re-election let alone justify the extant mandate he holds; whose result is an uninspiring state of the nation by all indices? This endorsement is one example of that inherent predilection for digging a grave beyond the proverbial six feet. The consequence of this aberration is that PDP militants and by default, Nigerians were denied the opportunity of having a democratically elected presidential nominee. In all of these, it was democracy that lost its luster. Little surprise, a fracas has erupted between the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and the PDP governors who want their pound of flesh from the pact that led to the Jonathan endorsement.
The bone of contention is whether PDP governors and members of the National Assembly seeking re-election are entitled to automatic tickets, in line with the continuity principle! Olisa Metuh, who spoke for the NWC, threw a spanner in the works, after he ruled out automatic re-election tickets for returning governors and NASS members, arguing that the NEC decision was limited to the president alone. This provoked outrage amongst the governors, who endorsed Jonathan on the understanding that out-going governors would be allowed to nominate their successors, while those seeking re-election would get automatic tickets. As is always the case with all houses of cards, the PDP now has to face its own internal contradictions.
In civilized democracies, the eligibility of a candidate for public office and his chances of success are determined by de facto and de jure factors, which in case of an incumbent like Jonathan, should be his record. The present ruckus in the PDP does little credit to the image of Nigeria’s democracy. To say the least, it is an embarrassment. The ruckus may well exclusively be a party affair or in PDP’s familiar term “a family affair” but it has an inherent destabilizing effect. Nigerians have borne the incompetence of the PDP since 1999. Therefore, the PDP must ask itself; between the party chairman, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the President and the Governors; who is really in charge? The battle to control party structures at all levels of political leadership is threatening the peace, while beleaguered Nigerians are traumatized by hunger, poverty, decrepit infrastructure, receding fortune, medieval diseases, corruption and above all, inept government totally lacking in ideas.
The PDP has hardly articulated any discernible manifesto. The effect is that the party is enfeebled, existing not as a nation-building platform but only as a vehicle to power and wealth, and therefore embroiled in endlessly simmering power tussles. This breeds sycophancy, indiscipline, corruption, mediocrity and insensitive leadership which governance has come to be identified with today in Nigeria. However the PDP crisis plays out, the bottom line is that Jonathan must face the electorate, whose mandate he desires, and only they would determine his fate. In a democracy, the people alone matter; which is why the case is being made here and now that while Nigerians may have resigned themselves to the fate of poor governance by the PDP, they would not brook a situation in which the party seeks to drag the country into its crisis. The PDP should spare Nigerians the noise and let the people’s voice be heard as they cry in agony for good governance come February 2015.
