Leon Usigbe provides an insight into the activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the ruling party strives to reposition itself for the 2015 general election.THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has apparently surmounted the challenge that arose from the power rotation controversy and the election of President Goodluck Jonathan and is logically thinking of how to maintain its dominance of the nation's polity. It is not coming easy, as the ruling party has continued to be dogged by problems, internal as well as external. Its internal problems are coming from the ongoing struggle for the leadership of the party and lack of discipline among its members not only at the centre, but also in many of the state chapters. Of course, there is the perennial distraction which the opposition has become to the PDP. All of these have combined to keep the party in a nervy condition.But the PDP is used to all these. It had gone through tough situations in the past, including difficult management of its successes at the polls. Party members, disgruntled over being left out in the scheme of things, even after they had contributed to the victory, had often quit the party in anger. But many of them somehow find their way back. This hardly happen in the other political parties and it is a testimony to stature of the PDP as best organised political party in the country.Examples of such moments included the occurrences in the period surrounding the last presidential primaries, the emergence of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) and the battle of its leaders to see the back of President Jonathan; and the no-hold-barrel verbal war unleashed on each other by the camps of Jonathan and former Vice-President Abaubakar Atiku in their bids to clinch the presidential ticket of the party which essentially divided, not just PDP, but also the country into two nearly equal halves. It was this momentum that the House of Representatives capitalised on to rubbish the party's zoning principle as far as the offices of its principal officers were concerned.When Aminu Tambuwal emerged as Speaker against the wish of the party, it was like the end of the PDP was not far away. But today, the party is back on track, regaining its bearing as the opposing political titans within the party realised that they might not fare better in any party other than the PDP.However, this attitude of PDP, being all in all, has caused a different problem within the party where its leadership, at various levels, tends to take the membership for granted. They are wont to think that any member that wants to quit the party can do so, since there will always be enough number to facilitate the continued dominance of the party in the country. Therefore, many important members have been hounded out to other parties, or simply packed at the sidelines, watching the party leaders satisfy their desires.There is no doubt that this attitude accounted, in large measure, to the loss of several states to other political parties in the last election.As the 2015 elections inch closer, the PDP has its hands full and its national leadership is thinking of how to improve its fortunes and remain in control, not just at the centre but in most of the states of the federation. As a first step towards achieving that, the party has embarked on membership registration and revalidation exercise, in line with the resolution of the 56thmeeting of the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC), held on 28 July, 2011. The purpose of the exercise is to avail its admirers and supporters throughout the country the opportunity to join the PDP formally and, as its acting national chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, noted, enable them to participate actively in the national transformation agenda of President Jonathan and the PDP. Baraje also explained that the exercise was borne out of the need to update the party membership register and provide a level playing field for all those who wish to utilise the vast opportunities and advantages that the PDP offers to its members, supporters and admirers. The registration and re-validation exercise commenced nationwide on the 1 September, 2011.With 2015 in mind apparently, the PDP is hoping to recruit into its fold as many Nigerians as possible from 18 years and above who meet the criteria for membership of the party.That is why it has sought to open the process for any eligible Nigerian that is interested with a stern warning to party leaders at all levels not to exclude any prospective new entrant.'For the avoidance of doubt, our executives at all levels must be informed in clear terms that this is not a de-registration exercise, nor is it an opportunity for anyone to whimsically deny any Nigerian who is willing and ready to join our party. The registration project is conceived in the all-inclusive philosophy of the PDP and must be insulated from selfish interests and unwarranted controversies by uninformed and overzealous persons who may try to create unnecessary obstacles to those who genuinely want to be part of our party,' Baraje had warned.The PDP had moved quickly to fill the vacancies created in its national leadership because of the appointment some of its national officers as ministers in the present Federal Executive Council (FEC). These include the former national chairman, Dr Mohammed Haliru Bello and former national auditor, Dr Samuel Ortom. While Baraje, who was the national secretary and the most senior national officer beside the chairman, assumed the role of the national chairman in acting capacity, the former national secretary of the party, Dr Babayo Shehu, was elevated to substantive position also in acting capacity. They are to hold the positions and oversee the affairs of the party until the end of the tenure of the present NEC in March next year.The party took this decision because it did not want to give room for vacuum with 2015 not to far away. Beside, such vacuum could have led to power struggle within the national leadership of the PDP and become an unwelcome distraction to the activities of the Federal Government, while providing a fillip for the opposition to gain a head start for the 2015 race.Also, in order to ensure that the party is well placed for the elections ahead, the PDP national leadership outlined programmes that would re-energise its leadership at the ward, local government, state levels, culminating in its national convention, early next year, where a new national leadership to take it through the 2015 elections will emerge. The 56thmeeting of its NEC resolved to conduct election to elect officers for the party at all levels, in line with provisions of the PDP Constitution which prescribes a four-year tenure for elected executives at all levels. Going by the timetable approved by NEC, ward congress would be conductedon 7January, 2012; local government area congress on 14January; state congress on 21 January; zonal congress,4February; national convention, 25February, while the handing over to the new NEC will be between 27Februaryand 8March.The NEC also approved the constitution of a 21-member committee to propose amendments to the PDP Constitution to align with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2011 and the Nigerian Constitution. Amendment of the Electoral Act, 2011 had rendered some provisions of the PDP Constitution obsolete, including the inclusion of non-elected delegates to congresses and conventions. The mode of elections would also be reviewed in line with the new electoral law.The party had similarly initiated some steps to worm itself into the hearts of skeptical Nigerians and had impressed upon its appointed and elected officials the need to be good ambassadors of PDP and to strive to ensure that their actions and utterances are such that would, indeed, win the hearts and minds of the people at all times. The PDP is particularly interested in its reputation in the estimation of Nigerians in view of its struggle for acceptance during the last general election.The opposition, to a large extent, succeeded in making the party look bad and projected it as a corrupt organ that was not in a position to alter the depressing economic condition of most of the people. The party appears to have come up with a deliberate policy to take the fight to the opposition. Its recent activities show a determined effort to seize the public relations initiative from the opposition as a normally placid and nonchalant PDP had suddenly found its voice. It had gone on the offensive against traditional foes, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), taking them to the cleaners on a number of recent controversial national issues. The PDP now seems to realise how opposition criticisms eat away on its reputation and present it in bad light to Nigerians, an image which will not be good for it in the coming elections.That was what informed its angry reaction to CPC's recent attempt to accuse the PDP of colluding with the judiciary over the ongoing case between the two political parties, arising from the outcome of the last presidential election, as well as on the suspension of Justice Ayo Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal. The CPC sought to project the judiciary as corrupt and working for the interest of the PDP, but the PDP retorted by accusing the CPC of attempting to push the country into 'confusion and instability.' It said, rather than exercising patience and allowing the court to determine the case, the CPC was pushing the nation towards a dangerous path through its utterances.Warning on the consequences of CPC's relentless campaign against the judiciary, the PDP 'found it worrisome that the CPC, whose pronouncements have led to pandemonium and chaos in the past, is, once again, uttering statements capable of leading to a break down of law and order. Nigerians need to know what the real intentions of the CPC are.'We all will recall that the CPC, before the last general election, already prepared the stage in advance for the mindless violence that erupted after the elections. Nigerians will also recall that the CPC's presidential candidate announced to the entire world that the party would not seek redress in the courts when they lose. They openly stated that they had no faith in the nation's judiciary,' Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, its national publicity secretary had said, adding; 'We were, therefore, surprised that they suddenly realised the need to go to court. We have, however, realised that their voyage to the courts isn't to seek any form of redress but to cause mischief and ridicule the system.'The PDP again held that CPC's insistence on the participation of the suspended Justice Salami in the ongoing case showed their more than passing interest in the case, wondering: 'since when has litigants arrogated to themselves the power to choose specific judges to preside over cases in which they are interested parties''In the same vein, the party tried to turn on the heat on the CPC by accusing it of plotting to impeach President Jonathan and cause instability in the country, alleging that the CPC was working in consonance with some other fringe opposition groups on methods to adopt to cause instability in the system. The PDP linked the plot to those the party said were behind post-election violence in some parts of the North that led to the death of many innocent people and destruction of property.The PDP may continue to pursue this line of action as the nation heads towards 2015 general election as it realised that if it consistently portrays the CPC as a violent and subversive organisation, many Nigerians may be convinced to steer clear from it. This, of course, may return the PDP to the course of regaining lost grounds in the area where the CPC currently holds sway.Beyond having an eye on reclaiming the influence in some parts of the North that it lost to the CPC, the PDP is also very keen on capturing Lagos State from the ACN in 2015. It is, therefore, likely to heap pressure on the ACN. The PDP thought it was making inroads in Lagos State just before the last local council election in the state, when the party was overly confident that it could snatch some council chairmanship seats as a prelude to the 2015 contest. But the results declared by the state electoral body rendered this a forlorn hope. The PDP is now forced to return to the drawing board as far as Lagos is concerned.At the moment, the party is pre-occupied with gubernatorial election in the five states where polls had been deferred on the orders of the court as the tenure of their governors was deemed not to have expired. The states include Kogi, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Adamawa and Cross River. These are PDP states and except for Kogi, the party is expected to retain them with relative ease. The party is working towards that, even though selecting its standard-bearers is, once again, proving to be a divisive proposition. It is important for the PDP to retain the states as losing them to the opposition will have significant negative consequences on its chances in the 2015 presidential election.The PDP is also working hard to restore discipline within it ranks. This objective, as well as the restoration of stability, was the core essence of its 56th NEC meeting. The party has highlighted its preparedness to whip erring members into line, as it begins the reformation process, more especially as Jonathan had pinned the problems of the party down to the wrangling within the rank and file of the party nationwide. The president had traced the electoral losses which PDP suffered, in many cases, to a situation where its members became the candidates of other political parties, leading to splitting of the votes that could have enabled the party to coast home to victory in most of the elections. In such situations, while the PDP members attracted more aggregate votes, other parties clinched the victory in many cases. Jonathan thought indiscipline was to blame. The PDP is working towards changing the situation to avoid a reoccurrence and make the party to grow stronger in time for the 2015 elections.
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