2015: TREACHERY IN THE AIR, AS OPPOSITION GOVS PLOT AGAINST PDP

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, opposition governors left every other thing on their table and headed to Lagos-the commercial capital of Nigeria and the epicenter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that dominates the political space in the South West. Their immediate mission was to fast track the merger of the opposition parties ahead of the 2015 general elections, while their future goal was to ensure the defeat of the dominant political party in the country-the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governors that gathered in Lagos for the merger talks include Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola,  governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Tanko Al-makura of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), ACN  governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State,  Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State. Zamfara State governor Abdul’aziz Yari (ANPP), Borno State governor Kashim Shettima(ANPP) and Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Geidam(ANPP) represented by Senator Jejere Alkali.  

Despite all the camaraderie that was displayed by the governors after their meeting, the road to a successful merger and dislodge of the behemoth-that is the PDP- is certainly a thorny one as treachery and double dealings are not uncommon in the murky world of politics and power.

While there may be unanimity of purpose by the ACN  to dislodge the   PDP, the same cannot be said of the others. With the exception of perhaps the CPC leader, General Muhammadu Buhari, many of the politicians from the APGA, ANPP and CPC are “disgruntled PDP members” who left to join the present opposition parties after they lost out in the internal power struggle in the PDP. The governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Tanko Al-makura was a leading PDP member in Nasarawa State. Al-makura moved to CPC in 2011 after he was denied the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP. Today in the space of less than two years he will consider himself “progressive”. The case of Okorocha is even more pathetic. This is a fair whether politician. His political trajectory from PDP to ANPP back to PDP and now APGA show that he does not play politics based on any principle. He is interested only in power. At the recent birthday celebration of the former president Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, he praised Obasanjo to high heavens-even more than the current members of the PDP. Given the suspicions that the ACN has about Obasanjo who had not hidden his disdain for the dominant party in the South West, the sincerity of Okorocha being part of those working against PDP is suspect. Okorocha is one politician that can run back to the PDP in 2015 if the gubernatorial ticket of the party is guaranteed for him by his Godfather-Obasanjo and President Jonathan. Even in his new party APGA, there is division over the desirability of being part of the merger. The oldest APGA governor, Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra State was not in Lagos for the merger meeting. Obi’s faction of APGA-perhaps the authentic APGA recognized by the family of late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu-does not support the merger.

Adams Oshiomhole can grand stand as much as he wants against the PDP, it is doubtful if he will back and mobilize Edo State against the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Despite all his short comings the Edo people like the rest of the South-South will feel hard done if “their son” is not given the right to preside over the country in 2015 given that no section of the country will accept to do only one term when the constitution provides for two terms. In much of the South-South the people believe that Boko Haram was manufactured to mess up the government of Jonathan and portray him as incompetent. Jonathan is bound to carry all South-south states including Edo State. Jonathan is also believed to be an admirer of Oshiomhole’s style of leadership for which he allowed the due process in the Edo State gubernatorial election which Oshiomhole won. ANPP governors and other ANPP stakeholders in these talks are even the most unreliable. They were the ones that betrayed General Buhari and literally pushed him out of the party which led the former head of state to form the CPC under whose platform he contested the 2011 presidential election. The Board of Trustee chairman(BOT) of ANPP and the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is alleged to be a closet PDP member-He allegedly supported Obasanjo’s third term agenda even as ANPP governor. He is also believed to be close to the powers that be at the Aso Rock Villa, presently. Even the ANPP governor of Zamfara State and his Godfather Senator Ahmed Yerima are alleged to be on the verge of decamping to PDP. And the Zamfara governor was at the merger meeting and for what purpose you may ask?

Even the apparently solid Southwest ACN that has been “terrorizing” Jonathan with their media clout are not immune to double dealings. If Jonathan gives their leaders what he gave them the last time that made them to dump their presidential candidate on election day, he can still take the Southwest especially if the merger did not produce a presidential candidate that the Yorubas want.

Sadly, as the merger talks continue the only person who cannot be bought is General Muhammadu Buhari. And as they say: “ A tree cannot make a forest”. God save Nigeria!