For many aficionados of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, there is nothing gratifying as the fact that the Supreme Court in 2013 upturned the conviction of Chief Bode George over allegations relating to his handling of contracts as chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
That act of the apex court has inevitably positioned George as a major factor as the country’s major opposition party positions itself for a make or mar leadership election that could define the country’s viability as a vibrant multiparty democracy.
If the PDP fails to elect a sturdy and upright leadership at the December election, the country’s chances of sustaining a thriving multiparty democracy could be buried for years to come. For about 17 months between February 2016 and August 2017, that prospect was in doubt as the leadership of the PDP oscillated between the mainstream leadership of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee and the factional leadership of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. While the crisis lasted, the voice of the opposition was virtually swallowed. That was despite the many foibles of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. At a time when the opposition should have permanently demolished the credibility of the ruling party, the PDP was nowhere to be found. Indeed, last July’s Supreme Court judgment that permanently delegitimised the Sheriff leadership was viewed in many quarters as the rebirth of the country as a multiparty democracy.
What happens in December will decide whether that spirit will be sustained. It is in that light that many see the aspiration of Chief Bode George for the office of national chairman as a hope for the sustenance of the PDP as a viable political entity. It is indeed interesting. The same George had told Vanguard that he would go on exile immediately Muhammadu Buhari’s election was announced in March 2015. “Look at everyone surrounding him (Buhari). I am not joking about it, what will I be doing here? At 70, what will I be doing here? All we have been doing to restructure the country has been lost.
We have been trying to ensure balance in the polity, but all that has gone.” But George is not the only one in a pool of contestants that includes some of the party’s most enduring personalities. Among the more serious contenders are Chief Gbenga Daniel who this week got the endorsement of General Ibrahim Babangida, two former ministers; Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Prof. Taoheed Ladoja, and Mr. Jimi Agbaje. Dr. Segun Mimiko, a former governor of Ondo State who was initially projected as the choice of the governors, is believed to have deferred to George. All the contestants have their different advantages, but few or any would compare with the institutional knowledge of the party that George has garnered over his different stints as national vice chairman, deputy national chairman, party grandee and successful presidential campaign manager. No matter how formidable George is considered, he, however, has the stiff challenge of being opposed by the party’s governors who see him as too much of a father figure to control. Another challenge which George may not like but which is true is that of perception. The match up between Mr. Agbaje and George has particularly bemused acquaintances of both men. Those who not too long ago thought that Mr. Agbaje was George’s ‘boy’ these days try to suppress outrage over what some allege as betrayal. Agabje’s canvassers, however, mutter that George did not give sufficient “inspiration” to make him win the Lagos State governorship contest in 2015. Even if supporters of George see Agbaje as a meddlesome aburo, they are unlikely to treat the aspiration of Chief Daniel in the same light especially given the fact that they come from the same Lagos/Ogun sub-zone of the party. Besides the internal rivalry, the more formidable opposition to George is expected to come from the party’s governors, who see George as a threat to their collective dictatorship over the affairs of the party. George is, however, lucky that the man who could have singularly demolished his aspiration openly tore his PDP membership card in February 2015. The relationship between George and President Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the great ironies of life. It is even interesting that the man driving the George project, Chief Ebenezer Babatope was at one time a mortal foe of Obasanjo’s. George was the one who at the advent of the Fourth Republic reconciled Obasanjo and Babatope following more than 30 years of bitter acrimony. Now Babatope is the one now prayerfully trying to reconcile George and Obasanjo.
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| Bode George |
If the PDP fails to elect a sturdy and upright leadership at the December election, the country’s chances of sustaining a thriving multiparty democracy could be buried for years to come. For about 17 months between February 2016 and August 2017, that prospect was in doubt as the leadership of the PDP oscillated between the mainstream leadership of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee and the factional leadership of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. While the crisis lasted, the voice of the opposition was virtually swallowed. That was despite the many foibles of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. At a time when the opposition should have permanently demolished the credibility of the ruling party, the PDP was nowhere to be found. Indeed, last July’s Supreme Court judgment that permanently delegitimised the Sheriff leadership was viewed in many quarters as the rebirth of the country as a multiparty democracy.
What happens in December will decide whether that spirit will be sustained. It is in that light that many see the aspiration of Chief Bode George for the office of national chairman as a hope for the sustenance of the PDP as a viable political entity. It is indeed interesting. The same George had told Vanguard that he would go on exile immediately Muhammadu Buhari’s election was announced in March 2015. “Look at everyone surrounding him (Buhari). I am not joking about it, what will I be doing here? At 70, what will I be doing here? All we have been doing to restructure the country has been lost.
We have been trying to ensure balance in the polity, but all that has gone.” But George is not the only one in a pool of contestants that includes some of the party’s most enduring personalities. Among the more serious contenders are Chief Gbenga Daniel who this week got the endorsement of General Ibrahim Babangida, two former ministers; Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Prof. Taoheed Ladoja, and Mr. Jimi Agbaje. Dr. Segun Mimiko, a former governor of Ondo State who was initially projected as the choice of the governors, is believed to have deferred to George. All the contestants have their different advantages, but few or any would compare with the institutional knowledge of the party that George has garnered over his different stints as national vice chairman, deputy national chairman, party grandee and successful presidential campaign manager. No matter how formidable George is considered, he, however, has the stiff challenge of being opposed by the party’s governors who see him as too much of a father figure to control. Another challenge which George may not like but which is true is that of perception. The match up between Mr. Agbaje and George has particularly bemused acquaintances of both men. Those who not too long ago thought that Mr. Agbaje was George’s ‘boy’ these days try to suppress outrage over what some allege as betrayal. Agabje’s canvassers, however, mutter that George did not give sufficient “inspiration” to make him win the Lagos State governorship contest in 2015. Even if supporters of George see Agbaje as a meddlesome aburo, they are unlikely to treat the aspiration of Chief Daniel in the same light especially given the fact that they come from the same Lagos/Ogun sub-zone of the party. Besides the internal rivalry, the more formidable opposition to George is expected to come from the party’s governors, who see George as a threat to their collective dictatorship over the affairs of the party. George is, however, lucky that the man who could have singularly demolished his aspiration openly tore his PDP membership card in February 2015. The relationship between George and President Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the great ironies of life. It is even interesting that the man driving the George project, Chief Ebenezer Babatope was at one time a mortal foe of Obasanjo’s. George was the one who at the advent of the Fourth Republic reconciled Obasanjo and Babatope following more than 30 years of bitter acrimony. Now Babatope is the one now prayerfully trying to reconcile George and Obasanjo.
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