WEATHERING any kind of storm has never posed a herculean task to the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, since 1999, but that record is being threatened by the monstrous nature the present crisis rocking the party has assumed.
In fact, the pdp has shown how best to flourish in the midst of troubles—a situation that seems to have boosted the party’s history of internal crisis.
But whether it would emerge out of the current impasse stronger or weaker, has become a nagging question given that current reconciliatory efforts appear to be creating more problems than solutions.
This is why analysts are not in a hurry to drop their assumption that the ongoing peace moves, are pointing to nowhere.
Though, the mainstream pdp would not accept that the peace moves have gone awry, the various conditions for peace tabled by the feuding factions, speak volumes about how counterproductive the search for normalcy has become.
For a reconciliatory move that started with the inauguration of a 30-man Seriake Dickson-led committee, how the impasse went spiral is believed to be a source of concern to most actors in the controversy. However, a few expected a fruitful result from the committee from inception.
Perhaps, it is on the strength of this PDP found itself at a crossroads today.
In the beginning, there were issues that bordered on the Nigerian Governors Forum,NGF, impasse, Rivers and Adamawa exco crisis,Bamanga Tukur’s chairmanship among others.
But the new angles include; President Jonathan’s rumoured second term ambition, formation of a factional PDP otherwise known as New-PDP, dissolution of Kano State exco, claims and counter claims on a deal between Jonathan and seven nPDP governors, as well as commotion in the House of Representatives over Kawu Baraje’s visit among others.
With this baggage of problems, it was not a surprise that party elders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo; ex-military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida; Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih; and former national chairmen of the party,Dr. Ahmadu Ali and Chief Barnabas Gemade intervened.
CONCOCTED TALES
While the nation was amazed that the intervention of the elders was making little or no difference, claims that the seven nPDP governors had struck a deal with the President made headlines, creating the impression that the crisis was over.
Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who said this, claimed that the aggrieved governors after their meeting with the President had accepted that Jonathan should contest the 2015 presidential elections.
But that was countered by the nPDP in a statement by its spokesperson, Mr Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.
The party urged Nigerians and their supporters to ignore what it termed “the concocted tales of Governor Akpabio.
However, the dismissal implies that the party is now back to square one, even as it reaffirmed that the conditions for peace given by the nPDP still stand.
The roadmap for a truce from the standpoint of the nPDP as gathered include; Tukur must go, restoration of Rivers and Adamawa excos and recently Kano exco, recalling of Amaechi and his retention as NGF chairman, allowing a level playing ground in the emergence of a PDP presidential candidate for 2015 polls, among others.
RECONCILIATORY MEETING
With the situation appearing like a big pill to swallow for Tukur’s faction, another reconciliatory meeting scheduled for October 7, analysts argued, might be stalemated.
However, a pressure group within the PDP is not taking the alleged pressure on President Jonthan to drop his rumoured ambition lightly.
The group under the auspices of Peoples Democratic Party Integrity Vanguard, PIV, cautioned those behind calls for Jonathan to drop his second term ambition, saying that the President cannot be intimidated into dropping his ambition.
It also alleged that former President Obasanjo is behind the current crisis in the party, even as it insisted that Jonathan is constitutionally entitled to a second term in office.
The group’s Spokesperson Alhaji Alhassan Babosha, who said this in a statement, described the pressure on the President as provocative.
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