PDP Chairmanship: The Obasanjo Factor

By Ishiaku Ibrahim Abubakar

A few years ago, I had the fortune of attending an international conference in Switzerland on the theme, "Politics, Ethics and Decorum". The issues addressed went beyond politics as a game of power and numbers, gaining and losing elections, positions and privileges. Discussions at the conference included the moral conduct of politicians, those things that they can, but ought not to do, corruption, deceit; what makes a great statesman, successful or failed politicians, etc.

These issues repeatedly came to my mind recently each time I read one story or another about the political manipulations and moral escapades of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Is Obasanjo a successful or failed politician? Can he stand before Nigerians and present a testimonial of how well he did in the eight years he was in office as President of this great country? Someone argued forcefully the other day, that if Obasanjo were a successful President, he would today be engaged in higher callings - joining renowned statesmen on the international scene, Dafur, Kenya, Iraq, etc, in resolving conflicts and seeking solution to world problems.

That is not the case, as Obasanjo’s political space seemed to have shrunk drastically to his Ota Farm. He is now battling to be relevant in the very party he led for eight years, and he is struggling to play a role among his people, the Yoruba of the South-West. What a sad turn of event!

A front-page cover story carried by the Saturday Tribune of February 2, 2008, with the caption, "OBJ Warns Govs" is ample evidence of Obasanjo’s rapid decline from the pinnacle of national politics to the lowest level of ethnic parochialism. In the story, former President Obasanjo is said to have held a meeting in his Ota Farm during which he "warned the five governors of the South-West elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to steer clear of former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT), Tony Anenih, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babagana Kingibe".

Obasanjo’s reasons for sounding the warning were that these men "are known to be against his (Obasanjo) ambition to retain the chairmanship of the BOT and were also opposed to his candidate for the national chairmanship of the party, Sam Egwu". More seriously, according to Obasanjo, both Anenih and Kingibe would "deny the Yoruba race the opportunity of holding a highly placed position in the PDP". The question that immediately comes to mind in relation to decorum and what to expect of a former President, is how a man of Obasanjo’s status could possibly have descended into fighting a narrow Yoruba cause, as against broad national issues.

Obasanjo was also said to have cautioned the South-West Governors against being influenced by political enemies in their choice of National Chairman for the PDP, especially as President Yar’Adua had not indicated preference for any of the candidates contesting the position. That mature display of neutrality by Yar’Adua is the way it should be.

And, one begins to wonder why Obasanjo, to whom the PDP BOT Chairman has become a do-or-die affair, cannot see the need, for such neutrality in the collective interest of the party.

He cannot, because being bias, personalisation, favouritism and victimisation, are the man’s major weaknesses, as documented in the findings of the Alex Ekwueme Reconciliation Committee, set up by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, to find solution to the internal conflicts threatening to tear the party apart. It was clear from the report of that Committee, supported by recent testimonies of members of his own family, that Obasanjo does not possess the requisite moral qualities needed to occupy the coveted seat of BOT Chairman.

Under his leadership for the past eight years, the PDP suffered from series of political crises, factional division and acts of indiscipline. Now, the party is almost at the verge of disintegration as many of its aggrieved members have either been forced out of the party or are co-existing in fragile relationship. The Ekwueme Committee report specifically warned that the PDP would remain factionalised, if the recent reconstitution of the party’s Board of Trustees was not reviewed - a very polite way of reporting the position of the aggrieved members that they would not remain in the party, if Obasanjo was not removed as BOT Chairman. It appears that party members have not heeded this warning till date. It was Obasanjo’s bad leadership that caused untold damage to the party; it has polluting effect on other members of the party, and we pray it does not also rub on the Yar’Adua administration.

Obasanjo’s bad leadership derives mainly from his obsession for power, a high tendency to manipulate and control those in authority and ruthlessness in throwing over board, followers whenever they cease to serve as functional tools for achieving his (Obasanjo’s) personal goals.

In this regard, Obasanjo’s manipulation of the chairmanship of the PDP at every point is the clearest evidence of his self- centeredness.

At the 1999 Jos Convention, Obasanjo craftily imposed his choice of Bernabas Germade, as National Chairman and schemed out the late Sunday Awoniyi. And when it no longer suited him, he dropped Germade and brought in Audu Ogbeh, in 2001 only to arbitrarily replace Ogbeh with Ahmadu Ali, in 2005 whom he had thoroughly used since then. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the PDP has been polluted and deprived of internal democracy, and, indeed, moral decency. Obasanjo has, to say the least, caused irreparable damage to the party.

Now, the same man is already openly scheming to influence the election of the National Chairman, zoned to the South-East (not South-West!) at the forthcoming March 2008 Convention. We are all witnesses to the fact that having been instrumental to the appointment of the out-going Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, Obasanjo has had a firm grip on him and had been using him for his personal interest rather than the interest of the party or nation. It would certainly be ill-advised to allow him to hijack the party by influencing the election of a new National Chairman during the March Convention.

Obasanjo’s advice to the South-West Governors on how to go about the election of the PDP National Chairman may have been perceived as a wise counsel to fellow Yoruba brothers and sisters. But, what the Governors ought to realise is that they were voted into office by the people and that it is to the people that they should be accountable, not Obasanjo.

The more important question is, can the Governors really afford to play ethnic politics in the Nigeria of the 21st century? Would it be in our collective interest, if Nigeria were to move in the direction of Dafur or Kenya?

Behind the utterances credited to Obasanjo in the Tribune report, is the presumption that both Anenih and Ambassador Kingibe are at war with him. But, as a keen watcher of events, I believe that these seasoned politicians have neither the intention nor the disposition to fight with the former President. Should the occasion arise, however, for a political confrontation, Obasanjo  who is not a politician - lacks the comparative experience and political resources to take on any of these political juggernauts.

Anybody with some idea of our recent political history, would agree that Obasanjo is an ingrate of the highest order, who has either forgotten his own political history and where he came from, or has deliberately decided to rubbish those who provided him with the first step on which he climbed to political prominence. Obasanjo could not have forgotten so soon that Anenih and Ambassador Kingibe, whom he now fights, were among the founding fathers of the political associations that eventually evolved into the PDP, the leadership of which was handed over to him on a platter of gold in 1999. It is still fresh in the memories of Nigerians - and Obasanjo could not also have forgotten - the number of occasions that "Mr. Fix it" saved him from embarrassing heaps of political mess. Recall the intervention of this ever loyal politician at the 2003 Convention when some top PDP members, including State Governors, conspired to scheme Obasanjo out of a second tenure. It only goes to confirm the general belief that Obasanjo derives pleasure from inflicting pains on people close to him!

Finally, for those who might think that the election of PDP National Chairman is strictly a party affair that should not concern other Nigerians, I would say categorically that the political destiny of Nigeria is now tied to the fortunes of the PDP. I am not a PDP member and I do not intend to join the party, but I know that whatever happens to the PDP today would seriously affect, not only members of the party, but also other Nigerians and the future of our nation. In that case, it is difficult to resist the question whether, indeed, Obasanjo is truly interested in the future of our country, if he finds nothing wrong in pitting South-West political leaders against Nigerians from other Zones of the Federation!

• Abubakar is a Lagos-based Public Affairs Commentator.

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