PDP And The Burden Of Jonathan’s Presidency -By Magnus Onyibe

DAAR communications chairman, Raymond Dokpesi who is one of the major conveners of the South-South political movement that bolstered and galvanized the emergence of the region that produces the most wealth in Nigeria into national reckoning, recently allegedly voiced the opinion that PDP made a mistake in fielding Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ as her presidential candidate in the last election.

When the acolytes of the out gone president, particularly former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, and PDP spokesman, Olisah Metuh, literarily ‘jumped into his throat’, Dokpesi decided to be politically correct by ‘clarifying’ that his statement was twisted out of contest by the opposition as it was actually directed at the lower rung of the PDP political spectrum, whom he accused of fielding unpopular candidates, hence the current reversal of the fortune of PDP from the ruling to opposition party.

Dokpesi’s comment about GEJ’s unpopularity and unsuitability as presidential candidate in 2015, sounded familiar to me because somebody else had held that position and voiced it out boldly about five years ago and it led to a vicious political persecution and loss of personal liberty.

That person is former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori who is now serving a jail term in a UK prison .

His opposition to GEJ’s presidential ambition in 2010, on the ground that it was against the grand strategy by the PDP to return power to the north after residing for eight years in the south, with Olusegun Obasanjo, as the custodian, was rebuffed and even drew the ire and bile of the ‘principalities and powers’ in Aso Rock villa at that time.

Ibori has always insisted that his opposition to those aiming to go against the well established PDP power rotation principle that held the party together like a glue is not personal but an altruistic commitment by a party loyalist to the sustenance of the PDP as the ruling party, but his plea, as it were,fell on deaf ears.

Now, I know that some antagonists would argue that Ibori confessed to the crime of money laundering in the UK, hence he is in incarceration, but we are all aware of the circumstances under which he did. His entire family–only sister, wife, daughter’s mother and lawyer were encircled and jailed, compelling him to capitulate.

Also keep in mind that with the way Nigeria is wired, when the authority decides to ‘nail’ a public officer,there is hardly any escape from being found guilty of malfeasance, but if a person is enjoying the goodwill of the government in power, he or she is accommodated like a blue eye prince and could therefore get away with murder with the authorities looking the other way.

Take for instance the issue of the celebrated Halliburton, Siemens and other sundry multi million dollars acts of corruption involving former top Nigerian political office holders, that has earned foreigners involved in the crimes with them, prison terms, while the Nigerians are yet to be made to face the consequences. This is simply because the indicted Nigerian leaders are in the politically ‘correct’ camp and as such arraigning them would rock Nigeria’s political boat. Another case in point is the recent call by SERAP, a civil society organization, on the new Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to prosecute the 31 state governors whom the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC reported as corrupt and which was accepted and adopted by the National Assembly, NASS in 2006. That 31 of the 36 governors were found guilty by the EFCC of corruption, suggests that virtually all the governor’s in OBJ’s era have been tarred with same black brush, so singling out Ibori for persecution after the unfortunate passing away of former president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was a deliberate punishment.

Similarly, another parallel can be drawn in the recent dismissal of fraud charges against former Bayelsa State governor, Timipreye Sylva by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja on the ground that arraigning the ex-governor three times on same charges (2012,2013 and 2015) after the cases had been discharged was abuse of court process.This underscores the fact that l had made earlier that, governments can raise charges against a perceived enemy at their whims and caprices.

It may be recalled that Sylva served only one term in Bayelsa State and was stopped from getting a second term ostensibly for fraud and incompetence but in reality, his political career was truncated for allegedly falling out of favour with the then occupiers of Aso Rock villa which is similar to what happened to James Ibori.

To be sure, the use and abuse of government power is not perculiar to Nigeria or Africa. If you are looking for an example in the advanced society, look no further than the recent downing of the Russian war plane by Turkey when her airspace was violated. Russia has now decided to invoke charges against Turkish merchants for poor standards of goods exported to Russia, which more or less means a shut down of trade with Turkey (a very critical element in Turkish economy) in punishment for shooting down her war plane.Invariably, without using her military, Russia is embarking on a retaliatory war against Turkey, albeit economically.

By opposing GEJ’s intention to run for the office of the president in 2011, Ibori certainly stepped on sensitive toes and the rest as they say is history, as he is now on the last lap of his long incarceration, but what’s intriguing is that it took about half a decade for another party stalwart, Dokpesi who felt same way as Ibori to speak out, and even then he was quickly gagged and in the interest of peace he has modified his comment.

Amazingly, even after the unfortunate catastrophic consequence that Ibori predicted would befall the PDP, should his caution against fielding Jonathan not be heeded has materialized, (as the PDP has now fallen from grace to grass at the March 28th presidential polls) no other current PDP member of considerable weight has voiced the concern publicly, so the sentiment about the calamity that Jonathan attracted to the PDP has remained in the realm of closet gossip.

Strangely, former PDP leaders whose opinion on the unsuitability of Jonathan for the presidency in 2015 in convergence with Ibori’s position in 2011, include OBJ who had to tear up his PDP membership card in the full glare of TV cameras in protest and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar who also led five PDP governors out of Eagle Square last year in protest before subsequently defecting to APC. So Ibori basically was the first to ‘bell the cat’ and he was slammed by the system.

It is indeed a pity that, like Egyptian pyramids,evidence of not being visionary enough to steer the former ruling party away from the precipice was looming, yet PDP bigwigs then and even those still left in the party, are still living in denial by pretending like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand, falsely believing that all her body are also cancelled, but unbeknown to the bird, (and in this case the PDP) its whole body except the head is sticking out like a sore thump.

Events that threw up Goodluck Jonathan as the vice presidential candidate of the Pdp in 2007 and literarily thrusted him into national limelight, are still fresh in my memory because l was there when it was unraveling, nearly a decade ago as late Umaru Yar’Adua was being elected the presidential candidate of the PDP.

Under the chilling cold harmattan weather, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, l had the rare privilege of being the returning officer for late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) who was then, katsina state governor and presidential candidate of the pdp.Uche Secondus,the present acting Pdp chairman ,would remember that event clearly because he was desirous of being the returning officer to Yar’Adua before l was detailed to perform the duty.

The responsibility for being the returning officer to the presidential candidate was thrust upon me by , Yar’Adua who conveyed his request through, one of his close confidantes at that time,Abba Rumma who was later to become a super minister of the Yar’Adua era.

I recall elder statesman,Tony Anenih , then chairman of PDP Board of Trustees pacing up and down in the Eagle Square courtyard following then president, OBJ inspired changes in pdp constitution stipulating that going forward,only ex-presidents would become the party’s Board Of Trustees,BOT chairman.

Chief Anenih was understandably worried because that night he lost his position as, BOT chairman,even though the change of policy was not discussed or negotiated prior to its announcement at the conference.

Also that night,when l went to ease my self in the rest room,l bumped into GEJ , who had just won the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa state and as a pdp delegate, he was in Eagle Square to exercise his voting rights in determining who would win the coveted crown of pdp flag bearer. Perhaps, like me, he was pressed and came out to the restroom area to answer the call, of nature.

At that time, GEJ must have been basking in the euphoria of having won the governorship election of Bayelsa state since he was hitherto serving out the second term of Diepreye Alamiesegha (now diseased) who was impeached as governor under forces external to the state that the embattled governor could not counteract.

I’m convinced that at that moment in time,GEJ was obviously oblivious of the future of being the next Vice Presidential candidate of Pdp, a piece of news which he received about seventy two (72)hours after the eagle square Pdp presidential primaries.

As chief Seattle, the renown American Indian chief of the Suquamish- original indigenous tribe in USA, once posited, “ Man did not weave the web of live, he is merely a strand in it.Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself”

Although, Peter Odili, then governor of Rivers state was angling for the job, having stepped down his ambition to succeed then president Obasanjo ,the lot strangely fell on GEJ who had no interest or inkling that such a feat was possible how much less,him being the beneficiary.

Onyibe, a development strategist, sent in this piece from London, England.