The PDP and its leopard skin

When I read about the confusion that trailed last Monday’s meeting of the South West caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I was reminded of the fable of the Scorpion and the Turtle. 

It was said that the Scorpion, being a very poor swimmer once sought the help of the Turtle towards crossing a river.  The insect advocated that the reptile should carry it on its back while swimming across the river. Turtle thought this was a weird suggestion and told the Scorpion: “You’ll sting me when I’m swimming and I’ll drown.”

The scorpion replied laughing: “My dear Turtle. If I were to sting you, you would drown and I would go down with you. Where is the logic in that?” It assured that there would be no stings.

Turtle saw some sense in that, if it had Scorpion on its back and was going to drown as a result of a sting, there would be no escape for Scorpion itself since both of them would be in the middle of the river. It agreed that Turtle was not going to risk a drown by stinging so it asked the Scorpion to hop on.

They swam on without incident until halfway across the river when Scorpion bared its fang, giving its benefactor a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom of the river, Turtle asked, in regret and disappointment: “You said there would be no logic in your stinging me, why did you do it?” The Scorpion replied:   “It has nothing to do with logic, it’s just my character.”

The scorpion could not help itself from stinging even if it was going to drown doing it; that is its irredeemable nature just as crisis has become the default disposition of Nigeria’s “biggest opposition party” that is opposing no one but itself.

How did the party even lose its prime position as the only one that governed Nigeria for 16 uninterrupted years before the electoral tsunami that swept it out of office in 2015?

The answer is crisis! Say what you may, there was no way the PDP would have lost the last presidential election were it not engulfed in the squabble that forced the exit of five of its governors  to the then budding All Progressive Congress(APC).

As is the character of the party, leaders looked on until the petty disagreements over the exercise of party discretions snowballed into a huge predicament. Suffice it to say though that the defecting members did not also fight their way out of the PDP for the love of fatherland, everyone had some self-interest to secure, but I digress.

You would imagine that the PDP would learn a lesson or two from the loss of the 2015 elections and wean itself off the mindless scuffle for power which precipitated the implosion that preceded its defeat. But like the scorpion whose innate aptitude is to sting, the PDP flies on the wings of crisis, which they most often vainly attribute to the largeness of the party. This presumptuous summation itself is bound to impede introspection and eliminate prospects for catharsis. Little wonder that nothing has changed.

In the midst of the plethora of court cases that followed the aborted National Convention of the party last May, one assumed that the decision of the Senator Ahmed Markafi led caretaker committee to defy the Abuja Federal High Court order stopping its August 17 convention might finally bring some cohesion.

This sentiment was further encouraged by the amicable way in which the party decided to cede its chairmanship first to the South and eventually, to the South West. The successive concessions even became more acceptable when Markafi was quoted as saying that zoning the number one position to the South West does not exclude people like Dr Raymod Dokpesi who are not from the South West.

But Reports from the Akure meeting, which had party men like Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, his Ekiti counterpart, Mr Ayo Fayose,  former Deputy Governors of Osun State, Iyiola Omisore and Erelu Olusola Obada as well as Chief Ebenezer Babatope among others in attendance,  give the impression that leaders of the party in the region  came together to do nothing  but lure other aspirants into a situation in which former Deputy National Chairman   of the party, Chief Olabode George would be selected as consensus candidate. This was in spite of the rejection of consensus candidacy by some of the other aspirants.

One of them is Professor Tunde Adeniran who has insisted on pursuing his ambition in defiance of the Akure meeting’s decision to further restrict qualification for chairmanship aspirations to Ogun and Lagos States, something which would extinguish Adeniran’s ambition.  There are also speculations about moves to persuade the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Lagos State during the last general elections, Mr. Jimi Agbaje to abort his ambition and support George.

In standard PDP tradition, a number of those who wanted to attend the meeting were reportedly locked out ostensibly to give easy passage to the premeditated ordination of George. One reason which may have accounted for the reported departure of Senator Kasumu Buruji from the meeting in protest.

That should be a red flag for any organisation which is not too far entrenched in the destructive habit of selfish impunity. In spite of warnings from former Senate President, David Mark that the PDP avoid “self-inflicted injuries on account of imposition of candidates and the impunity of some leaders”, which is the perpetual albatross of the party, it is predictable that the wandering dog of some PDP leaders will ignore the whistle of the hunter and lead the party into yet another wilderness experience.

Why do things always pan out this way? For nothing other than the sustenance of the interests of backers of the candidate about to the imposed.  Debatably, most of the crises that have rocked the PDP result from contestations associated with the emergence of a chairman.

As it were, everyone including the president and governors of the states want to have a say in who becomes party chairman. Now, this has nothing to do with anything other than the personal interest of each of these persons. The permutation usually is to have a chairman whose ears each of these gladiators can pull into loyalty such that future ambitions would be easily attainable. This is in recognition of the regulatory influence of the party hierarchy on the emergence of candidates.

This battle created the misunderstanding during the Obasanjo era, it led to the crisis that spilt the party during the Jonathan era and it is the reason why the PDP may come out of its national convention more torn apart than ever before.

All of these happen because the people are never at the centre of politics in Nigeria. And this is not just about the PDP. For instance, one of the reasons why the APC has been unable to constitute its board of trustees till date is the contending interests of powerful party people.

The average Nigerian politician serves himself and not the people. When American politicians for instance, make public service the core of their ambition, seeing their election as the people’s benevolence, politicians here lord it over us. In their minds, they do us a favour by going into public office. We are the servants, they are the rulers, yet they will give anything to attain those offices.

Like the Scorpion, the Nigerian politician is pathological in the promotion and protection of self-interests. He is ready to sacrifice anything including the peace of the country to attain that ulterior goal.

Unfortunately, when the PDP misses the opportunity that August 17 presents as it seems poised to, it would most likely be beyond any form of redemption. This should ordinarily not be a bother to anyone except that it would deny Nigerians, the opportunity of a viable opposition for the main part of the tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. That is the pain of this political inconsideration.

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