distress and danger of fighting from the trenches
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
Anyone in doubt of how the vicissitudes of life have hit the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP should have seen the arrangements for the
one day retreat of the party’s elected members into the forthcoming
National Assembly.
The retreat in Port-Harcourt involving senators-elect and members-
elect into the 8th National Assembly was held in Port-Harcourt on
Monday, June 1, 2015 and was remarkably the first official outing
for the new governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike and the
handful of the PDP governors inaugurated the previous Friday.
The occasion would have been the first outing for former President
Goodluck Jonathan since his retreat from Abuja last Friday, but the
former president did not turn up.
Among the governors who came besides the host governor, Wike,
were Governors Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Seriake Dickson of
Bayelsa State, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, Emmanuel Udom of
Akwa Ibom, Ifanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu, while Chief Dave Umahi of
Ebonyi represented by his deputy.
For Governor Dankwambo, he has become like a rare or endangered
item, being the only PDP governor serving a second term.
However, everything about the retreat, from the timing, venue,
packaging, duration, theme and the attendance reflected the hard
times that have hit the political party that once boasted that it would
dominate the Nigerian polity for an unbroken 60 years in the first
instance.
In respect of timing, the retreat was like an afterthought after the
exciting but controversial two-day retreat organised by the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC for its senators-elect and members-
elect in Abuja. The two day retreat held for each of the two set of
legislators by the APC in Abuja in the opinion of some observers
may have ended in an anti-climax given the fact that the understated
reason of getting a consensus on the new leadership for each of the
two chambers was not realised. However, that did not take away the
fact that the two day retreat for each set of legislators by the APC
had its glitz, grandeur and gambles.
However, the event by the PDP was seemingly an afterthought
reportedly spearheaded by one of the outgoing principal officers on
the platform of the party in one of the chambers of the National
Assembly.
Though the acting national chairman of the party, Prince Uche
Secondus was present for the one day event, there was every
indication that the party officers were there merely as officials more
than the organisers that they should have been.
The venue of the meeting also showed how far the PDP that once
boasted of being the second unifying factor in Nigeria after the
security services has been seemingly reduced to a sectional enclave
strong only in the South-South and Southeast regions of the
country.
Few months ago only few would have imagined the PDP holding a
national retreat and taking it to Port-Harcourt. However, now with
almost 80% of its elected legislators coming from the South-South
and Southeast, it looked feasible for the party to save already
diminished funds in finding a central location for the majority of the
returning members and Port-Harcourt seemed feasible. Even more,
the party has only four governors outside the South-South and
Southeast; Taraba, Gombe, Ondo and Ekiti. Taraba and Gombe were
far from the base of the majority of the conferees while Ekiti now in
the eye of the storm upon the issues around Governor Ayo Fayose
was simply not under consideration. For whatever reason, Ondo
was also ruled out.
The harshness of the times was reflected by the fact that unlike the
APC, which hosted its elected members in the two chambers to
separate two day functions, the PDP restricted its outing to a one
day affair with the members elected to the two chambers put
together.
The retreat with the theme: “The role of the opposition in facilitating
development and good governance” was especially apt and was
reflective of the promise by the party to present a formidable
opposition to the ruling APC.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who
was reportedly one of the rallying points in organising the
conference said the party’s members in the forthcoming National
Assembly must hold the APC accountable to its promises including
the release of Chibok girls, creation of two million jobs every year
among others.
“Members of Parliament have always been the springboard for their
parties’ return to power each time they suffered defeat. The PDP
lawmakers in the 8th National Assembly should hold the ruling APC
accountable on each of its campaign promises.
Erstwhile chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who was also the party’s
governorship candidate in the Adamawa State, however, affirmed
that the party must purge itself of its bad attitudes if it would mount
a reasonable challenge to the APC.
“But to keep government on its toes, ensure fiscal discipline,
minimise corruption in the system and ensure strict compliance to
appropriation and due process laws, the guard – here, you the
legislators, have to go to equity with clean hands. You must
demonstrate personal will and commitment to be above board if you
really want to checkmate others.”
The incoming lawmakers in their communiqué released at the end of
the day resolved that they would shun defection, speak with one
voice, and benchmark the activities of the APC to the benefit of
Nigerians.
In an eight-point communiqué issued at the end of its retreat,
members of the Forum of PDP National Assembly Members-elect
said they also undertook to “provide the nation with a healthy,
robust, vigilant, and responsible opposition, to promote democratic
good governance, and development”.
The communiqué notes that PDP leaders and Governors attended
the retreat en masse and promised to avail their contingent to the
8th National Assembly all necessary support and cooperate with
other critical stakeholders to provide a responsible and effective
opposition in the polity.
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