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2007 And Power Shift, In PDP? By Emeka Oraetoka
“This power shift was something that was agreed to in November, 2002 by the PDP. So, primarily we are not doing anything sectional. It is just pursuing something that was agreed upon. It is not because those of us in MRD don’t believe in the efficacy of other sections of the country to produce a president for this country. But our feeling is that this country has been bedeviled by the problem of succession” – Hon. Gali Umar Na’Abba, former speaker, House of Representative. ThisDay Newspaper, 18th December, 2005.
With the opposition to the proposed 3rd term agenda of President Obasanjo becoming a reoccurring decimal, at least from the camp of those said to have lost out in the power game in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the stage appears set for a major political engineering that may see the emergence of real politics in Nigeria. This writer is persuaded to toe this line of thought because of political events in recent times, with Na’ Abba’s comment above serving as good political tonic.
Na’Abba’s power shift theory appears to have done the polity one significant good. It has effectively buried the former view held in the Northern axis that President Obasanjo entered into agreement with the North that he, Obasanjo will hand-over to them after one term of four (4) years in 1999. It could be recalled that sometime in 2002, Obasanjo was accused of bad faith of not honouring a gentleman agreement he had with the North, that mandated him to vacate office as president supposedly, in 2003. This, Obasanjo countered vehemently, that he did not enter into agreement whatsoever with anybody or any section of the country. Na’Abba’s position on power shift has effectively established the existence of two agreements between the North and President Obasanjo, which this writer prefers to call: Na’Abba’s and Co. theory on power shift, and Northern position on the same subject- power shift.
Some factors which are functions of the defects in Northern Axis agreement theory, could have informed the authenticity of Na’Abba and Co. version of power shift. Here, the power shift view as formerly held by the Northern axis, has a fundamental defects. The theory assumed that democracy and party politics started and ended with People Democratic Party (PDP) government, put differently, it did not recognize the existence of other parties, which are other vehicles through which political power could be sought; or simply put, the agreement recognizes “one party” state. The agr eement also demonstrated that as far as power is concerned in Nigeria, it is given by the North only. The agreement tactically presented the Military then, as representing the political interest of Northern region, not Nigerian Military.
Having agreed that Na’Abba’s power shift theory is theoretically acceptable and probably correct and current, at least from this writer’s point of view, the next rational step is to look at its correctness from practical political angle. According to Na’Abba, in November 2002, PDP agreed that power would revert to North in 2007. The thinking was probably that in this 2007, the South would have completed its constitutional two [2] terms of Eight [8] years. Now, the question is: Who and who took the decision of power shift in November 2002, as alleged by Na’Abba? Here again, my understanding of Na’Abba’s PDP is the appropriate authority or authorities responsible for decision making in the party. It could be the following set of people and organs: The Board of trustee members, the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party, Top Stakeholders etc. More importantly, the decision for power shift to North was taken when the Chairman of the party was Chief Audu Ogbeh. It is still the belief of this writer that Alhaji Abubakar Rimi was a top board of trustee member, when the power shift to North decision was finally taken. I assume also that the November 2002 decision by PDP was supposedly binding on all members and irrevocable.
The events leading to the convention of PDP in the twilight of 2002 to early 2003, is worth recapping here in order to understand Na’Abba’s position on power shift to North and relevant issue(s). It is probably on record that before the convention of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), where President Obasanjo emerged for a second time in the presidential primary of the party, the chairman of the party then Chief Audu Ogbeh said that PDP had zoned the position of Presidency to the South for another four (4) years term, probably in reverence to November 2002 decision in the party. Record has it that before Ogbeh’s pronouncement, the duo of Engineer Barnabas Gemade and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi had kicked off their campaign for presidential contest in PDP. For the record also, Rimi presidential campaign office was located in Area 8, Garki – Abuja, near Eko Bank.
It might interest Alhaji Na’Abba to know that when PDP threatened to bar them from contesting the said primary election, the duo went to court to enforce their right. Na’Abba may wish to know that a court of competent jurisdiction ruled in their favour- Abubakar Rimi and Barnabas Gemade. In a nutshell, they went about their presidential campaigns and eventually stood for PDP primary election in Eagles square, from 2 – 3 January 2003. It is in evidence that the election in question was shown live on many television stations in Nigeria. Rational minds believed that the duo of Rimi and Gemade went into the election with the intention of winning particularly, as a court of competent jurisdiction ruled in their favour.
Pronouncement: The consensus among discerning Intellectuals, Professionals, Rational minds etc is: with these scenarios in mind, Na’Abba and his co-travelers in MRD [Movement For Restoration Of Democracy] supposedly, will be properly informed and guided that the era of elevation of falsehood to the position of Statecraft is gone in Nigeria of today and probably for ever. The so-called agreement of November 2002 in PDP was broken by duo of Rimi and Gamade, incidentally, Northerners and members of November 2002 agreement and decision.
Emeka Oraetoka Information Management Consultant. Wrote in from Garki-Abuja. |