Efforts at reconciling warring factions in the Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in top gear. Regional Editor, Olawale Rasheed, assesses the threats and opportunities in the rebuilding efforts.Anambra State chapter of thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP)ranks about the most crisis-riddled wing of the ruling party in the country. The chapter adds the inglorious award of the most judicially challenged with several court cases. A crowning element is that it is the home of classical political godfathers, not only in the South-East, but across the federation.Anambra is the home of many founding fathers of the ruling party, a state of former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme who almost clinched the pioneer presidential ticket of the party in 1999. The state also produced the Oyi of Oyi, the mercurial political scientist and a former Senate President of the Fourth Republic, the late Chuba Okadigbo, who was a leading actor in the formation of the PDP.If Dr Okadigbo is no more, the rot has not ceased even with the best of efforts of Dr Ekwueme. For the past eight years since the former governor, and in fact, the only PDP governor of Anambra State, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju, left office, the centre had never held again. Since Mbadinuju was denied the re-election ticket in 2003, many party chiefs have claimed the party leadership. Till date, there are more than nine judgments and 560 litigations in different courts across the nation.The crux of the matter is the dominance of the party structure by the Uba political dynasty, an issue that has remained a contentious one since the oil magnate, Chief Emeka Offor, practically hands off the affairs of the party after the first four years of the current republic. The Ubas, with three dimensional wing, are entrenched, street wise and wealthy. There is Ugochukwu Uba, the former senator; Uba, the serving senator; and Chris Uba, the real godfather who is a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT). In the hand of the fact that though the three is the fate and fortune of the party in the state.The situation has, however, assisted the opposition All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which has been winning the state. Neither the Ubas nor those opposed to them could find any meeting ground as the issue of domination and negative public perception remain unresolved, even in the face of opposition take over. If the Ubas and their antagonists are comfortable with the status quo, many previous onlookers, eager to see the PDP back in control of the state, are not as patient and complacent.It was the determination to find a lasting solution to the predicament that led to calls for a stakeholders' meeting. The reasoning of those championing the meeting is to forge a common front before the registration exercise within the party could commence. This is notwithstanding the reconciliation bid is against the interest of some forces, the meeting was delayed and stalled even when a serving minister, who is close to the president, is backing the move until it was called Friday, 18 November.Insiders noted that the build-up to the stakeholders' meeting was characterised by all kind of political subterfuge and intrigue which put a lot of people on the edge. The current leader of the party in the state and Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, had placed several newspaper advertisements, calling on party faithful to turn out en masse for the meeting. The minister had reasoned that, within with popular participation and integration of all forces, the PDP can redeem its battered image and retake the state.Reports from the meeting however proved that the challenge facing the party in the state is deeper than what the reformers envisaged. As one of the reformers who crave anonymity puts it, ' the day came and the cacophonic swansong of some party stakeholders' turned the occasion into an arena for political subterfuge and created a further division among major stakeholders, while causing a lot of confusion among the party faithful. From what transpired, it seems that some factions of the party are not willing to let go.'Sources close to the reconciliation plan noted that while the aviation Minister was busy attending to state matters in the State House, Abuja before heading to Awka to attend the meeting, some stalwarts mounted a garrison around the venue of the meeting and laid siege which made it impossible for some people to come into the arena of the meeting, held at Whyte View Hotels, Awka. It was alleged by some party faithful that a party chief gave a specific order that certain people should not be allowed into the venue of the meeting.It was gathered that before the delegation sent by the minister to represent her at the venue of the meeting due to her engagement in state matters, the meeting has come to an abrupt end. Feelers from the meeting confirmed that it was stage-managed. If anything happened at the meeting, it was reportedly the dominance of the pro-Uba activists who allegedly carried placards in support of Chief Chris Uba. Many believe that the deliberate snubbing of the minister's reconciliation effort underscores the depth of stumbling blocks on the path of PDP revival in the state.It was learnt that when the delegation arrived, a crowd that was enthusiastic to hear the minister as the leader of the party was still waiting patiently outside, though they were not allowed into the meeting. In an address presented to the crowd by the minister's representative, Dr Jerry Ugokwe, the minister admonished PDP members to come together and build a common front so as to restore the glory of PDP in the state. Others like former deputy governor, Mrs Stella Odife added their voice along that line. The former deputy governor was reported to have urged all party faithful to support the leader of the party in the state, Princess Odua, the aviation minister and the founder of the group, Neighbour-to-Neighbour which played crucial roles in the election of President Goodluck Jonathan. It was gathered that the mood of the minister's message was reconciliatory and an extension of hand of fellowship to all.The botched reconciliation effort confirmed that there is a deep-seated political intrigue being orchestrated to continue the siege on PDP in the state. Observers are quick to note that there is a wide spread discontent among genuine and credible party faithful in the state. As stated by many within the reconciliation team, the disconcerting voice is so prevalent that about 80 per cent of the PDP supporters are not interested in the registration exercise currently going on in the state. There was a conclusion that the exercise deliberately excluded many credible leaders of the party, with the Ubas accused of hijacking the exercise to the disadvantage of many party members.What confused observers most was that Mr Olisa Metu, the zonal vice-chairman, was reportedly at the botched meeting at Awka yet, the stakeholders meeting failed to materialise. The failure of the Awka meeting and the exclusion practices in the registration exercises are set to compound the crisis rocking the party. Already, there are unconfirmed reports that a presidential adviser, who got pissed off by the ongoing exercise, is now poised to organise his own registration exercise.Sources within the Uba caucus however noted that the Awka meeting failed because the Abuja group failed to carry along the party structure in the state. The group accused the minister of listening to one side and taking position on the crisis within the party without hearing from the Uba caucus. Supporters of the minister however debunked the allegation, affirming that sufficient consultations were made with all stakeholders before the Awka meeting was fixed.Apparently angry at the state of the party, Dr Anozie, a PDP member who served various governors in the state, lamented the alleged nonchalant attitude of leaders like Sir Offor and others who were pillars behind the victory of PDP in Anambra State in 1999. He believed that Offor and others like Prince Arthur Eze and Chief Cletus Ibeto, who were said to have contributed hugely to the development of the party, should rally behind the minister as the leader of the party to restore sanity and create hope and enthusiasm among party supporters once again.'There is no doubt that Anambra State is a PDP state. The last general election attests to it. In spite of the fact that the state governor is (APGA), the PDP won two Senate seats and five House of Representative seats, as against APGA's five House seats. Now is the time to bring everybody together and build the party and restore its winning streaks as during the tenure of the former governor, Dr Mbadunuju. The leaders owe it a duty to bury their differences, their individual ambitions and behave like leaders. There is no sacrifice too much for the stakeholders to make,' Anozie.But are the contenders ready for a truce' This is hard to see, except a bit of arm twisting is introduced. In the meantime, Governor Peter Obi can continue to enjoy his comfortable hold on the state.
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