It is two years today since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn into office. But the jury is still out on whether his reforms have really impacted Nigerians, positively. Today is significant as it may mark the end of real governance as re-election matters are expected to dominate government activities going forward. The noise is already deafening. Pray, is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) cognizant of this reality?
PDP’s lingering dilemma
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is clearly sleepwalking. It has not really woken up despite the fact that the day has broadly broken. Its refusal to be decisive has cost the party a lot and is capable of doing more damage to the umbrella organisation.
It is less than two years to another round of the general election, yet the PDP is behaving like “a silly dove without heart”.
The biggest drawback to the party’s quest to move on is its inability to weed out known and unmasked enemies in its fold.
For crying out loud, why is the party tolerating the likes of Nyesom Wike, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Samuel Ortom and some others who openly worked against it in 2023?
Today, the PDP is still allowing these men to attend its high-profile meetings where far-reaching decisions are taken. It is tantamount to giving your opponent your secret plans to defeat him before a competition.
Many Nigerians do not understand the wisdom in allowing Wike unfettered access to the party’s secret chambers when he is unapologetically loyal to President Bola Tinubu, the leader of the APC.
The party has degenerated to a point that its leaders are openly flaunting their dalliance with the ruling APC.
It is surprising that the PDP has yet to diagnose its ailments to be able to find out what exactly its major problem is.
In what appears like deliberate side-stepping of the problem, the party recently empanelled a reconciliation committee headed by a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, while it shuts its eyes to the real threat to the party’s life.
Read also: PDP NEC sets August 28 for non-elective convention
The question to ask is, who is the party reconciling – those who openly attend its meetings in the morning and do obeisance to the leadership of the APC at night, and they are unabashedly impenitent about their action?
For crying out loud, how does PDP hope to make progress when all its strategies and plans are being downloaded to the ruling party that they want to sack in 2027?
It is no news that the party is infested by agents who are political hermaphrodites. While activities of some of them show them as being overtly sympathetic with the APC, some of them are operating like green snakes under green grass.
Going by the register of the party, they are PDP, but they have long been estranged. They dine and wine with the enemies of the party. The party’s incapability of wielding the big stick against errant members may have emboldened a number of others to run roughshod over the party.
Many Nigerians are surprised that up till now, the party has not taken any decisive action against Wike, who flaunted his anti-party activities in the face of the PDP when he ran afield with the APC to drown the umbrella association in the 2023 general election.
The continued pampering may have also given the likes of Sam Anyanwu the audacity to claim he is still the national secretary of the PDP even after he allegedly went against the party’s constitution by going to contest the governorship in Imo State and returning to pick up the portfolio.
What many leaders in the party, including those in the South East, are saying is that he lost that position when he went to contest the governorship position in Imo.
It is curious how the Anyanwu issue has dogged the party and affected its operations. The leadership tussle has sharply divided the party, with many insinuating that the situation has been hijacked by certain influences to afflict the party consistently.
Those who have looked critically into the Anyanwu issue believe that the PDP may have unwittingly yielded itself to undertakers who are not in a haste to let go. And it is their belief that the party may not recover from the crisis until the next election.
Again, the so-called coalition may not help the party’s cause, as fear of a predetermined outcome in terms of who flies the party’s flag in 2027 may have been concluded.
Despite the moves to assuage frayed nerves through the Saraki-led reconciliation committee, the popular opinion is that the PDP needs a complete refurbishment to make it saleable. If that is the way to go, the best time to do so was yesterday!
Orji Kalu in gun-beating gambit
If Orji Kalu, a former governor and serving senator from Abia State, were a sprint runner, he would have been penalised for beating the gun Tuesday.
If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was still worth its salt in Nigeria, Kalu would have been sanctioned for his ungentlemanly conduct on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, May 2025.
Many right-thinking Nigerians were shocked when a viral video showed Senator Kalu in an attire that overtly advertised a second term for the current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The questions that played on the lips of many were: “What is the INEC saying to this obvious act that is at variance with the provisions in the Electoral Law of Nigeria? Has the INEC given the go-ahead for electioneering campaigns for the 2027 election?”
We thought that those at the National Assembly were “elected” to represent their constituencies for law-making, but a lot of activities going on there and emanating therefrom seem to create a strong impression that the chamber may have allocated a different role to itself.
Read also: 2027: Tinubu’s endorsement, performance driven – Sen Kalu
Everybody is in a hurry to endorse the president. Governors are in a hurry. Senators are in a hurry, and the Abdullahi Gandujes are in a haste to inaugurate President Tinubu for a second term, if possible, without an election.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in endorsing a sitting president, but the time is inauspicious. Everything is wrong with insulting the sensibility of all citizens with proclamations that run counter to the laws of the land. There is a method in everything, even in madness!
It is a shame that the INEC that should moderate the political activities under party politics is feigning blindness as politicians are beating the gun.
Nigeria must be run like a place where law and order exist and take their course, not just existing by name. If anybody can just rise up to say or do anything because he or she is in a ruling party or a friend of the president, then you now set a stage for a banana republic where the rule of law does not take its pride of place.
Politicians must be politicians; they are sycophantic in nature, particularly when they are looking for some favours from those who call the shots or they are looking for protection in one form or another.
INEC must not continue to play the ostrich. There must be a way to stem the ugly tide before the country slips into an abyss.
Governor Eno’s hubris
The last few days have been very hot on the political turf of Akwa Ibom State. Governor Umo Eno’s planned defection has led to sharp divisions in his political family in the state.
The governor, a few days ago, began to dream of being with the ruling party, ditching the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that brought him to power.
Eno began his flirtation with the All Progressives Congress (APC) when he shockingly adopted President Bola Tinubu for a second term. He did not stop at that but said that the state would throw its weight behind Tinubu when the time comes. He spoke as if he had the signature of everyone in the state.
Last week, he followed his anti-party activity with a subtle threat to his aides, saying that anyone of them not ready to move with him must consider him- or herself fired.
The governor also expects the PDP machinery in the state to empty itself into the APC as was done in Delta State recently.
Read also: Apprehension in PDP as Eno perfects plans to join APC
He was also quoted as saying that after defection, he would still be in perfect control of the PDP in the state.
Perhaps he is plotting the Nyesom Wike model, who, after dumping the party, is still calling the shots at the highest echelon of the PDP and also determines what happens in the Rivers chapter of the party.
As expected, the move has already started to breed rancour in Akwa Ibom. Some of his aides have openly verbalised their intention not to follow him. One or two have reportedly resigned.
The immediate past governor, Emmanuel Udom, is said to be against the move, saying he would not toe that line.
Those in the know said that Eno seemed to be carried away by the too much money coming from Abuja, which he allegedly acknowledged, and would want the “rain” to continue.
He strongly believes that the guarantee to continue to enjoy the largesse is a permanent residency in the bosom of the APC, nay, the President.
It is also his belief that closer abode to Godswill Akpabio, Senate president and chieftain of the APC, would guarantee him a second term effortlessly.
It is left to be seen if Governor Eno has all that it will take to pull all the strings in Akwa Ibom State to his own favour.
