As news about the request to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by a political association, the Voice of the People (VOP) to be registered as a political party, the six Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governors alleged to be promoting it have denied any involvement.
Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) are mentioned as the promoters of the new party which is coming on the heels of irreconcilable differences with the national leadership of the PDP on one the hand and President Goodluck Jonathan on the other.
The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed and another unnamed governor are also said to have an interest in idea of the new party.
Already, the leadership of the PDP is considering summoning the governors mentioned to ascertain their involvement.
The chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Hon Tony Okocha, had while speaking to journalists yesterday, said: “That Governor Amaechi and five other governors are planning to float a political party? They must be soothsayers to know what the governors are planning. Why don’t they allow it to play out and see whether it is true?
“People just sit down and begin to speculate. Look, nothing good comes out from the man who hates you. So, there is nothing to say there other than to say that it is in their imaginations.”
Chief press secretary to Governor Nyako, Ahmed Sajoh, also claimed ignorance of the VOP, and that he had just learnt of it from this correspondent.
“Well, I am hearing of VOP from you for the first time; as far as I am concerned, Governor Murtala Nyako remains a member of the PDP”, Sajoh said on telephone.
Governor Kwankwaso’s chief press secretary, Aliyu Baba Dantiye, in his response to LEADERSHIP enquiries, replied: “He (Kwankwaso) is still a member of PDP”.
His Niger State counterpart, Danladi Ndayabo’s response was not different: “My boss is a member of the PDP,” he said.
The Jigawa State governor’s chief press secretary, Umar Kyari, also said: “Governor Lamido remains a committed member of the PDP.”
Another rumour has it that the proliferation of new parties is a strategy of the Presidency, being implemented by a party bigwig.
The presidency’s game plan, according to an impeccable source, is to encourage the emergence of ‘at least three presidential candidates from the north’, although the report has already been denied by the Political Adviser to the President, Ali Ahmed Gulak.
The source added that the need to be ‘pro-active’ became necessary when ‘the so-called aggrieved governors’ did not show signs of truce with the leadership of the PDP and the Presidency.
The excitement that greeted the recent registration of the Peoples’ Democratic Movement (PDM) is a pointer that something was amiss.
“In politics, you don’t underrate anybody; I think that was the reason the president and all concerned leaders of the PDP tried as much as possible to ensure that areas of conflict are resolved and settled with the so-called aggrieved governors.
“But when things became more difficult, of course, there had to be some pro-active measures; after all, they are all politicians who know the game well. If you recollect, you would observe that rather than being disturbed, the president’s men were happy that PDM was registered to, at least, increase the number of possible northern candidates aside the PDP; and now, VOP has come on board. If you are on ground, you would know that there is something more than the ordinary in the game we are witnessing. Forget all the abuses you see on the pages of newspapers between one leader of the PDP and PDM, they are all one I can tell you,” the source noted.
He mentioned an unnamed top shot of the PDP as the brain behind the strategy to prop up at least three northern presidential candidates to distract President Jonathan’s opponents from the region while Jonathan has a field day in the south.
For instance, the source mentioned a particular inner caucus member of the PDM as not only an ‘avowed supporter’ of Jonathan, but a kinsman of the president who has several times made his pro-Jonathan position known in the press. The said PDM chieftain is from Rivers State and has served in the Management Committee of the PDM prior to its being registered as a political party.
But Gulak faulted the report that the president was behind the registration of new parties, describing it as baseless.
He said: “It is most unfounded, mischievous and untrue in all respects. Nigerians should by now know that politicians, particularly those who have tried all means to discredit the president but failed, can go to any length to achieve their aims. Before now, the story was that President Jonathan was stopping APC from being registered as a party; now that APC has been registered and new ones coming on board, the story has changed, that the president is behind the registration of more parties to whittle down the opposition. These are unserious talks from unserious quarters that cannot be allowed to distract the president; it is most untrue and fallacious,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the PDP leadership is considering the idea to summon the affected governors to explain their roles in the reported move to form a new party, INEC said that, like many others, VOP will not be denied registration if it met all requirements stipulated by law.
A highly placed PDP source said in confidence that the report of the move by the governor first got to the leadership of the party even before the truce meeting brokered by former president Olusegun Obasanjo three weeks ago.
According to him, but for the meeting in which the affected governors were part, the announcement of the new party would have been made even before the registration of the PDM.
“The party (PDP) is quite aware of all the moves; the first step the governors took was to ensure that they bonded themselves together without any infiltration from the APC so that that can float their own party but, unfortunately, Baba’s (Obasanjo) intervention in the crisis put a halt to the move.
“As a party, naturally, we should be disturbed that leaders cannot find a common ground to iron out their differences and stay within the party, but as the situation unfolds, we shall continue to ensure we follow up because we will not give up the efforts to reconcile everybody until the last day.
“But essentially, at this point that they have not denied being the promoters of the Voice of the People as a party, we will have no option than to invite them and confirm from them. We will not take media reports to mean that they are, indeed, promoting another party without leaving the PDP. We shall invite them and hear them out in the next one week so that we know where we stand”, he said.
Kayode Idowu, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, said there was nothing spectacular about the VOP’s application for registration as a political party.
“Like others, whether VOP or not, all applications shall be treated according to their own merits, and INEC does not need to know who is behind what group to act, whether to register such group or not.
“To be sincere, INEC does not need to identify individuals; we are only interested in whether the rules have been followed or not; so it is an open thing that no one can stop – not even INEC can stop any party from being registered, the VOP inclusive if at all a group like that is seeking INEC’s approval”, Idowu said.