THE power play over who becomes the next chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees is definitely not over.
And it is definitely still between President
Goodluck Jonathan and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s groups.
Following the sudden postponement of the election
of the party’s next BoT chairman on Tuesday night, The PUNCH learnt that
members of the two groups had regrouped for a future battle over whose side
would produce the BoT chairman.
But for the postponement of the election on
Tuesday night, Obasanjo’s group would have beaten Jonathan’s men hands down in
the power play that attended the botched election.
Though the ex-President was absent from the
gathering of the chieftains of the PDP in the Federal Capital, his men were
said to have been on the verge of enthroning Ahmadu Alli, Obasanjo’s choice for
the job, before the postponement.
While Ali, a former National Chairman of the PDP,
had the support of Obasanjo, Jonathan was said to have favoured ‘Mr. Fix it,’
and the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Tony Anenih.
Before the sudden postponement of the election of
a new BoT chairman on Tuesday night, many of the board members had made up
their minds that Alli would get the job.
During the horse-trading that preceded the
meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday night, it was learnt that most of
the BoT members had agreed to adopt Alli as the consensus candidate.
The situation, our correspondents learnt, had
sent jitters into Jonathan’s camp with many of his loyalists and aides warned
over the “too gentle” posture of the President.
It was also learnt that Obasanjo controlled a majority
of members in the National Working Committee.
The pro-Obasanjo members were said to have gone
round to convince the BoT members that Anenih must not be allowed to emerge.
They were said to have based their argument on
the fact that Jonathan had already appointed Anehih as Chairman of the NPA,
arguing that giving the ex-policeman the BoT chairmanship would not be fair to
other members of the party.
It was learnt that the pro-Jonathan group
was surprised that the Obasanjo loyalists almost had their way, but for the
intervention of some top Presidency officials and some chieftains of the party.
They were said to have explained the danger of
handing over any arm of the party to those who were against his 2015 ambition.
A top official of the party, who pleaded
anonymity, said, “Some people are taking advantage of democratic credentials of
Jonathan to take over the party.
“Members of the BoT who initially planned to step
down for Alli later insisted on contesting when they were made to see reason
why Jonathan’s candidate should not be defeated.”
A source said that a former governor in the
South-West and an incumbent North-West governor led the Obasanjo faction, which
countered the faction led by the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur,
for Jonathan.
“The Obasanjo faction wants someone it could
control as BoT chairman. President Goodluck Jonathan is liberal over the
matter. If not, he has the power to use his influence to ensure a particular
candidate emerges,” the source added.
Investigation showed that the battle for the BoT
chairmanship is linked with the tussle for the presidency in 2015.
Talking to one of our correspondents on
Wednesday, a chieftain of the PDP who craved anonymity told one of our
correspondents, “The tussle for 2015 presidency is reason for the fierce battle
for the BoT chairmanship.
“The power-play characterising the BoT
chairmanship cannot be divorced from the tussle for PDP presidential ticket in
2015.”
The source also disclosed that selfish ambitions
of some leaders of the party gave rise to the tussle.
The source said, “A national chieftain of the PDP
told the Secretary of the BoT to resign because the secretary came from his
region which is the North-Central.
“This is to make way for his candidacy. But the
secretary refused.”
The source also said, “Some people do not want
the post to come to the South-West because they feel the post will overshadow
them. They feel the BoT chairman will overshadow them.”
He said, “They want to use the new PDP
constitution to bar some people from contesting. They are relying on the
provision which says that members who are elected into the BoT are not supposed
to be returned after five years. This is to bar some candidates from
contesting.”
Investigations on Wednesday, however,
showed that there were fears among some chairmanship aspirants for the
office of the PDP BoT.
Some of the aspirants feared that the Jerry
Gana-led committee might be used to edge some of them out of the race.
Three different aspirants, who spoke with our
correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said the committee would be
monitored in order to make sure that new rules were not set for aspirants.
One of them said that it was possible that the
committee would be waiting for the tenure of some of the members to end before
coming up with its recommendation.
PUNCH
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