Can the PDP Reinvent Itself? -By Zainab Suleiman Okino

From a failed presidential election bid to the re-engineering of the once ‘biggest party in Africa’, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is wishing to come back to reckoning to re-live the past; albeit starting on a wrong premise. The interim chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, is not yet behaving like a party man that he should be. Instead of reinventing the party, he is rather reinventing himself, proving the point that he is still the number one desert warrior across the Savannah. If he succeeds in his new assignment (and he has the capacity to), perhaps he would acquire a new national title as the man who brought a dead horse back to life.

Typically, the party is yet to come out of the cocoon that held it hostage for 16 years, and finally buried it at the 2015 elections. Last weekend, the party did its zonal congresses. It was controversial as usual, with the court stopping the congresses in some zones. The roll call of delegates reads like a journey into the past; men and women who had played inglorious roles, still calling the shots. For goodness sake, can’t this party learn from their closest rival, the APC, which rebranded; powerful individuals sacrificed their ambitions, and the party made youth the vanguards of their change agenda?

And to add salt to a debilitating sore resulting from a bad injury, warring factions have emerged; the Prof Jerry Gana group being the most vociferous, questioning the legitimacy of the Sheriff group. (Which group is even better?) Mercifully, the party has resolved some of their issues for now.

Professor Jerry Gana and Co. are the same people who though might not have political relevance in their homesteads, benefitted immensely from the party’s fortune and bled it to death; yet they want to still hold the ace.

Shortly before and after the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari, some influential members of the party either openly or secretly decamped to the APC. Although this drastically reduced the rank and file of the party, some of those early decampees are now in dilemma of situating themselves properly, because they are yet to find their feet in their new homes. They belong to the group called AGIP, (Any Government In Power) in the political parlance. These groups of people do foment trouble to justify their eventual decamping. These certified moles are part of PDP’s problems. With all these competing elements, how can the decaying party successfully reinvent itself?

For Modu Sheriff, it is a double edge sword. In addition to reviving the PDP, he now has another opportunity to prove that he is such a terrific politician. Failure will sound a death knell for his own political future too.
The party was so depleted shortly after the election that what is left of its goodwill and even finances were squandered. It was on this basis that a group by the name of Coalition of Democratic Likeminds last week asked the party’s National Working Committtee not to seek reelection at the coming national convention, because they mismanaged the post-election defeat era and squandered the leftover resources of the party.

To be honest, a lot of things went bad for the party, even though everybody blamed ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. Besides the mismanagement of funds, internal democracy collapsed. Candidates were handpicked and forced on the party because they enjoyed the protection of the powers that be. Jonathan himself was a product of this indiscretion.
Again, there were no genuine efforts to reconcile foes and now reconcile with the reality of losing power. It is a reality check that will determine how well the PDP will play as an opposition and probably reinvent itself going forward. Therefore, some of the spent forces masquerading as leaders of the party cannot take the PDP anywhere because they are still stuck in the past. Re-engineering a decaying party is no hen party. It requires hands on commitment, massive amounts of funds, renewed energy and vigour, while party leadership should be proactive, act like a wounded lion, and be a torn in the flesh of the ruling party. However, as long as the leaders of the party remain controversially dictatorial, and do not allow popular candidates to emerge; and generally can’t put their house in order, the road to redemption will remain a mirage.

So, Buhari can do no wrong?

President Muhammadu Buhari will go down in history as the most fortunate president/head of state in Nigeria. He is such a beautiful bride and ‘stainless’, many are ready to commit their lives to death for the president’s survival. People who make pro-poor and anti-people policies the struggle of their lives, now speak tongue in cheek over the fuel increment crisis. They said the hike is in our interest, because Buhari is so saintly he can do no wrong and cannot support a policy that will harm us. Okay o, time will tell, but we had thought the president and his team would be ingenious in solving our problems without inflicting more pains. Have the people not sacrificed enough?

When will succour come their way? The most ridiculous post I have seen about our present predicament is attributed to Barack Obama, the US president. “Hoping your president fails is the same as hoping your country fails, and it is NOT patriotism. Patriotism is supporting your commander-in chief, even if you don’t agree with him on everything”.
I beg to disagree; nobody intentionally jumps into an inferno, and Obama was obviously not referring to a domestic policy that inflicts pains on his people. We elected Buhari to fix Nigeria, so let us stop making excuses for him.

zainabsule@yahoo.com, www.zainabokino.blogspot.com; 08098209791, text only.