Facts have emerged about howleaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) made attempts to frustrate and stop the registration of Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The PDM, the political movement of former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters under the Olusegun Obasanjo Military Government, late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua is believed to have been the backbone behind the formation of the PDP in 1998.
Sources close to both the INEC and the PDM revealed that it took the intervention of the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega for the PDM to be registered as a political party after several attempts at registering it was rebuffed by top officials of the commission, who were taking dictation from some chieftains of the ruling party.
It was further gathered that against the denial by some PDM leaders that they were unaware of the decision to register the party, eight members of its then Interim Management Committee, led by Alhaji Ibrahim Bashir Yusuf, had agreed to register the party but kept it a secret until the process was completed. Other members of the PDM Management Committee who decided to register the party included Chief Dubem Onyia, Prince Tonye Princewill, Senator Abubakar Mahdi, Dame Titi Ajanaku, Hon Bode Ajewole and Alhaji Murtala S. M. Yar’Adua, who are all close associates of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, General Yar’adua’s protégé.
The PDM had formally applied to be registered on February 15, 2013 but had its approval denied five times, even when it would have taken just a month as stipulated in the Electoral Act 2010 for the registration to be approved. However, sources say manipulations at the INEC frustrated PDM’s registration until the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) irked PDM chieftains who wrote a strong worded letter to the INEC chairman who in turn queried the undue interference that was hindering the party’s registration by some officers of the commission said to be under external influence. It was after Jega’s intervention that the PDM was registered.
Since INEC broke the news of the PDM registration two weeks ago, there have been denials by some PDM chieftains who claimed ignorance of its registration. Among those who denied involvement in it included Senator Abubakar Mahdi and Chief Dubem Onyia .
However, evidence revealed that at a meeting of the PDM stalwarts held at the residence of Onyia in Abuja, discussions at the meeting centered on alleged frustration by a chieftain of the PDP from Edo State, who on hearing of it demanded that the PDM certificate of registration be brought to him. It was at the meeting that they decided to pay a visit to the Asokoro residence of the chieftain, where some persons apologised for their action, even as they failed to deliver the certificate of registration to him as it was in the possession of the lawyers who registered the PDM as a political party.
At the meeting with the PDP chieftain, Senator Mahdi and Onyia apologised for their involvement in the registration, calling it a mistake, while it was gathered that Dame Titi Ajanaku and Chief Ajewole stuck to their position, insisting that the decision to register the PDM was the overall decision of all Interim Management members and in the interest of the movement. It was after the meeting with the PDP chieftain that the decision for certain persons to absolve themselves from the registration was taken and subsequently executed.
It was further revealed that there is a clandestine plan to sponsor meetings of persons who are not members of the PDM to discredit the party. It was learnt that the sum of N150million was approved for this project.
Contacted on the development, a member of the PDM Interim Management Committee, Prince Tonye Princewill, corroborated the findings, but insisted that the decision to register it as a party was taken to safeguard the party after it was discovered that there were plans to hijack the PDM for 2015 project. He said it was in the bid to checkmate the anticipated ambush that PDM was moved to be registered as a political party.
“Information reached us that some persons were surreptitiously planning to register the PDM as a political party and since that would mean that the relevance of the PDM would be continually threatened and the PDP which became an offshoot of the PDP has drifted away from the PDM, it became necessary for the PDM to reassert itself and endeavour to link up with the people.