Despite the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih declaring a few days back that the presidential ticket of the party for 2015 was open to every eligible party member, there are indications that the party is discreetly planning a consensus agreement that will see President Goodluck Jonathan run unopposed during its 2015 presidential primaries.
This arrangement would also extend to governors eligible to run for a second term.
Investigations revealed that the party was keeping this plan secret due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The constitution of the party, however, would have to be amended to pave way for its members who are governors and the president to run unopposed.
One argument used by those pushing the sole candidacy is that this is what is obtainable in the United States of America by political parties, where the incumbent president is automatically given a second term ticket.
They also argue that a consensus arrangement for President and governors would enhance the chances of the party in 2015.
A source said that the party leadership was of the view that the consensus agreement would negate the concept of internal democracy many have said is lacking in our democracy.
Currently, it is learnt that the party is at a crossroads on whether to go ahead with the plan or forgo it completely.
This is because as much as the party wants to favour the President, it does not want to do it at the detriment of its cohesion.
There’s palpable fear that the plan might tear apart the party, which prides itself as being ‘the largest party in Africa’.
The threats are more potent up North as prominent members have subtly threatened to leave en masse should the plan scale through.
It was gathered that the lingering crisis within the party was in part due to this plan, which was leaked to some governors and party leaders.
However, the strong opposition from the governors and PDP leaders forced those pushing the idea of the sole candidacy to hold back from announcing the plan to amend the party’s constitution to favor Jonathan.
Some governors, like Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, have voiced their opposition to Jonathan’s candidacy for the 2015 elections, insisting that the President had signed an agreement to serve for one term only.
Also, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who was the runner-up in the 2011 presidential primaries was said to have vowed to oppose any constitutional change in favor of Jonathan.
He said, “My position is that as far as the PDP is concerned, any attempt to change the constitution to favor President Jonathan as a sole candidate in the event of his willingness to contest is unconstitutional.”
The issue of Jonathan’s sole candidacy was a prominent feature of the nationwide reconciliation tours first embarked upon by the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and then presently underway by Anenih.
During his last week visits to Kano and Jigawa States, Anenih met with Governors Rabi’u Kwankwaso and Sule Lamido respectively behind closed doors.
Kwankwaso was said to have told Anenih categorically that should the PDP adopt Jonathan as its sole candidate, the North would desert it.
Also, during the North-West zonal meetings of the party, the zonal leaders reached a consensus that they should not allow the party impose President Jonathan as the sole candidate of the party.
It was learnt that Anenih’s speech in Minna in which he was quoted as saying that the PDP was not in a hurry to pick a presidential candidate for 2015 was aimed at dousing tensions within the party.
He added that the issue was strategic and not one to be discussed on the pages of newspapers.
Aliyu was said to have told Anenih not to push governors out of the party, pointing out that the issue of Jonathan’s sole candidacy could do so.
He said, “Unless the party is planning to push members out, no governor is going to dump the PDP.”
However, despite the opposition to the sole candidacy, some within the party are not intending on jettisoning the plan.
Hence, they want to compensate the second term governors, especially those from the North, with automatic senatorial tickets.
A member of the National Working Committee, who confided in this correspondent said, “It is true that Jonathan may be the sole candidate of our party, if we succeed at changing the constitution.
“But there are concerns that if the issue isn’t handled well, it could lead to the disintegration of the party as some of our ambitious members may dump the party. What we plan to do is take care of the vociferous members of the party. Second term governors may be given automatic senatorial tickets, while first term governors would be sole candidates in primaries.”
It is left to see whether the plan would work, especially considering the fact that many second term governors have their eyes set on the Presidency, and would staunchly oppose such a move considering the implications for their political careers.
Also, leading members of the party such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo are also opposed to the plan and have set in motion a counter-plan.
When the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh was contacted, he denied any such plan and accused opponents of the party of trying to unnecessarily overheat the polity.
He said that the party’s priority right now was resolving its internal crisis and not picking candidates for 2015 elections.
“The fact that we’re having challenges in the party right now is more important to us than the issue of candidate or no candidate. We have some challenges and resolving them right now is our main priority. The tour of the members of the BoT is part of efforts at resolving it.”
As to whether the party was going to adopt the US-style of primaries and make Jonathan its sole candidate, Metuh replied, “I can only answer you now based on the constitution. There are no plans to amend the consitution, and going by the constitution of the party, we cannot adopt the US model.
“The United States does things according to its culture and constitution. We do things according to our culture and constitution. In our constitution, there are primaries and there must be primaries. The issue of galvanizing support for the President does not arise here.
“The President has not even indicated that he is not going to run. If at the end he says he is going to run, who will blame him? Nobody can say he is creating tension; it is other people that are creating tension because there is no way the President can say whether he’s running or not two or three years to the elections.
“If he says he’s not running, he becomes a lame-duck President. So why don’t we wait until he formally declares his intention? But ultimately, the decision on who will become the candidate of the party rests on the people, the party members. Members of the party will decide who will be the candidate of the party and Nigerians will decide who will be the President.”