GOVERNORS elected on the platform of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have drawn a battle line with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike, over the crisis in the Rivers State chapter of the party.
The governors, Saturday Vanguard gathered may also move against the National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagun, over his role in Rivers PDP where Wike has retained 100 per cent control of the party’s structure via last weekend’s congress to the exclusion of aggrieved Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Both Wike and Fubara have vowed to remain in the PDP and fight to the end.
The PDP Governors Forum, PDPGF, was compelled to respond to an open challenge by Wike, the immediate past Rivers State governor, over the PDP crisis in the state.
Wike threw the first punch when he threatened to “set (political) fire” on PDP states over their governor’s support for Governor Fubara.
There has been no love lost between Wike and Fubara, his “hand-picked” successor over the control of the party’s structure in Rivers.
When the going was good, Wike instructed his successor to remain in the state and not use “Rivers money to play Abuja politics.”
In obedience to this “directive,” Fubara kept his distance from the PDPGF within his first few months as governor.
He neither attended their meetings nor sent a representative. However, this changed when the silent political feud between them blew open.
In an apparent show of strength, Wike allegedly exerted pressure on the Amb. Umar Damagun-PDP National Working Committee, NWC, ensured that the Committee set up to conduct the Rivers State Congress was populated by party members loyal to him.
Fubara cried out and rejected the composition, insisting that he be accorded the rights and privileges given to his colleagues in other states. Unlike his colleagues, Fubara and his loyalists were left out of the committee.
Aborted political solution
The party’s national leadership met ahead of its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in June, this year, and resolved to find a political solution to the crisis between the minister and his godson over the composition of the committee and other issues.
Subsequently, the NWC, the Caucus and BoT met, tried but it their efforts failed to yield the desired results.
Wike and his loyalties conducted the state Congress which was largely boycotted by Fubara and his supporters, in Port-Harcourt, last Saturday.
During the event, Wike announced to all those who cared to listen, “Not when we are alive will we allow anybody to take away the party structure from us.”
For effect, Wike threatened to destabilise PDP states should governors attempt to take the structure away from him and hand it over to Fubara.
He issued the threat in response to a solidarity message by the PDP Board of Trustees and Governor Bala Mohammed-led PDPGF.
We’ll support Fubara – Govs
Angered by Wike’s comments, the governors responded by asking security agents to take note of his threats while vowing to support Fubara, whom they noted, deserved to be accorded the respect due to governors.
In a statement by the Director General of the PDPGF, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo, the governors said: “Threats to peaceful coexistence made by Wike to ‘put fire’ in the PDP-controlled states are unbridled, irresponsible and without ambiguity unacceptable as it undermines efforts to build and maintain peace, cohesion, collaboration and mutual respect among leaders and members of the party.
“It is rather unfortunate that this is coming from someone who was once a member of this highly revered forum as a former governor.”
While vowing to stick with Fubara, the governors maintained that they remain open to the intervention of other stakeholders in resolving the Rivers debacle.
Specifically the Forum said it has “always maintained a ‘touch one touch all’ philosophy, and individually and collectively stand by and support each other no matter the circumstances, a tradition Wike tremendously enjoyed in his days of travail as governor. Thus, we therefore maintain that our position on the affairs of the PDP in Rivers State, as unanimously resolved at our 2024, 3rd and 4th meetings held in Enugu and Taraba states.”
Will the outcome of the Rivers Congress stand? Will a political solution be found to accommodate Fubara? The inclination of the Damafun-led NWC to accept the new Rivers exco, sources said, will draw the angst of the governors against the party chairman.
Fubara vows to remain in PDP
Faced with the option of leaving the PDP or remaining in the party, Fubara has vowed to stay put.
On the surface, the weekend’s congress should foreclose further debate as to who controls the soul of the PDP in Rivers State.
Recall that barely two months into his administration, last year, Fubara fell apart with Wike. The main crux of the crisis was the alleged usurpation of the PDP political structure in the state which Wike laid claims of ownership.
The battle morphed into many strands with the 27 lawmakers in the state House of Assembly loyal to Wike defecting from the PDP to the APC, and nine Commissioners resigning their appointments in solidarity with the FCT minister. Some of them have since gotten federal appointments.
Saturday’s state congress produced Chief Chukwuemeka Aaron as chairman to Wike’s loyalists.
With the development, Fubara political fate in PDP appears to be on a cliffhanger. And Wike looks good to have won the year-long battle of his self-acclaimed political structure in the state.
The congress was held in deviance of an interim injunction issued by the Rivers State High Court barring the PDP from holding the congress in the state.
“An interim order is hereby issued stopping or suspending the PDP congress in Rivers State scheduled to hold on 27 July or to be held on any order date or any other location pending the determination of the motion on notice already filed,the court ordered.
The court gave the order in a suit PHC/2282/CS/2024 filed by Hon. David Chiinedu Omereji, Hon. Prince Solomon Eke and nine others against the PDP, the party’s National Chairman, National Financial Secretary, and National Organizing Secretary.
The Congress was supervised by the representatives of the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the security agencies and members of the NWC of the PDP with Wike in attendance, which gives credence to the legality of the exercise on face value.
BoT’s mediation
A few days before the Congress, a delegation of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, BoT, led by the Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara; former Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi; Elder statesman, Olabode George: and Senator Abdul Ningi visited Governor Fubara in Government House with the assurance that the BoT would resolve the lingering crisis in the party, constitutionally.
Many people described the BoT’s visit as “a panic mission.” This is so because the political space was abuzz with a story of Fubara’s rumored defection from the PDP to the Actions Peoples’ Party, APP. The panic also led to the bombing of the party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt by a yet to be identified arsonist.
The BoT Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara confirmed that fear when he said the party was scared of losing Rivers State to strong opposition members as this poses a serious problem to the future of the nation.
“We were scared Sir, when we heard or read speculations, perceptions or what have you, that the party, if we are not careful, might lose Rivers State. Of course, if we lose Rivers State, Nigeria has lost its future,” he said.
The former Senate President went on to reminiscence on what happened in 2015, and 2023 and vowed never to allow that to repeat itself.
“These men and women you see here are very neutral. As the conscience of the party, we must go by the rule of law. And anything you do, going by the rule of law can never be wrong. It may be delayed but it cannot be wrong,” Wabara said.
He noted that the governor had demonstrated enormous care for the PDP, which is why he has been so patient with the inactivity of the party leadership amid the crisis.
“I don’t want to describe it. Otherwise, as a governor, we have former governors here, I doubt if they would have taken as much as you have. So, on behalf of this party, once again, let me thank you for your resilience, your wisdom, and for the fact that you are still in this party,” he added.
Fubara’s vow
The BoT members left Port Harcourt with a double assurance that Rivers state was still in the kitty of the PDP especially when Governor Fubara renewed his vow of membership of the party.
“So far, what is important this afternoon is that we are still members of the party, and the owners of the party have visited us.
“So, for those people outside who are carrying all sorts of rumour and propaganda, at least, this visit will put that propaganda to rest, and to tell the world that we are and we still remain members of the Peoples Democratic Party,” he said.
Who leads Rivers PDP?
Dealing with the matter constitutionally, according to the BoT chairman, Senator Wabara, connotes that Governor Fubara should be allowed to operate as the leader of the PDP in Rivers State and not Wike. This is what obtains in other states. And that is what many Nigerians want to see.
PDP working against itself
The crisis in Rivers State has inadvertently exposed the PDP as a party working against itself. Otherwise, one will question who authorized the NWC delegation that supervised the Congress despite the court interim injunction to the contrary?
Implication for LG poll
More than that, with just about one month to the scheduled October 5, 2024 local government election, if the crisis is not resolved urgently, Governor Fubara may likely not have his foot soldiers contesting the election on the platform of the PDP. This is so because signals from the party secretariat in Port Harcourt indicate that the state chairman, Chukwuemeka Aaron, would not give tickets to Fubara’s candidates.
Here therefore lies the albatross. Alternatively, could Fubara’s loyalists brace up the odds by contesting the election using other platforms?
”PDP is not the only party that would contest in the election”, said Dr. Emmah Oka, a legal practitioner and an ally of former President Atiku Abubakar. “The election is going to be based on how popular you are”, he said, adding that “Governor Fubara respects the rule of law. He is not leaving the PDP. What you saw on Saturday (congress) was a pyrrhic victory which will not last. You cannot put something on anything. The congress is a nullity in the eyes of the law.”
The state commissioner for information and Communication, Joe Johnson, said “The body language and actions of the governor do not show that he is leaving the PDP. Leave PDP for who? He assured the BoT members that he would not leave the party. Nothing has changed so far?
On the congress, Johnson described the exercise as “political rascality” which cannot be sustained. He was optimistic that at the appropriate time, the party leadership would do what was right and the party would move forward devoid of an individual’s ego-tripping. In a show of solidarity, a group, Ogoni Development Drive, ODD, has issued an ultimatum calling on the PDP NWC to urgently resolve the crisis in Rivers State.
“We give the national leadership of the PDP 14 days to resolve all grey areas in the Rivers State PDP to give Governor Fubara a breathing space failure which we will mobilize massively against the party in the state”, the group said in a statement signed by its convener, Solomon Lenu.