By Tochukwu Okorie
The way they abandoned the presidential project was as if it was hot potatoes. The discordant tunes between the party leadership and the presidential campaign team resonated beyond the Atlantic just as the opposition, as it then was, taunted without ceasing. The paradigm of the PDP National Working Committee was completely in contradistinction to the presidential project. It was rumoured that there had been an agreement for them to teach Jonathan a lesson or two about how not to mess with party hierarchy.
Before then however, as if deliberately plotting it’s own defeat, PDP callously snubbed the very names that could guarantee their victory especially at the governorship and National Assembly levels. Or how does one explain that Barnabas Gemade the second National Chairman of the party was brazenly denied the ticket to re contest for a position he was already occupying and I which he had also at least gained even more significant influence in his senatorial zone? It can only happen in an environment where people are mad. That’s just one example. PDP National Working Committee performed similar (de)feat across the country. They gave the ticket to the highest bidder in an unofficial and very compromising bid process known only to those that received the money. It was a bazaar.
Long story short, the elections came, went and the rest is now history.
But it is not all history just yet. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Goodluck Jonathan incurred the wrath of his fellow partymen when he stubbornly decided to plot his way back to office instead of promoting the return of power to the north, the very reason the nPDP emerged. The emergence of the nPDP was no flash in the pan at all. It was the outcome of a long brewed conspiracy allegedly led by the former vice president. The exit of the 5 governors and their loyalists in both the state and national legislative houses left a deep cut that did not heal and has yet to heal as at this moment. Although the G-5 left the party, their tentacles remained to keep undercutting Jonathan and his men. This snowballed into greater discontent following widespread speculation by the party officials that upon return to power, the President was going to ditch them. The composition of the presidential campaign team without their input was not only considered a slap on their faces and a vote of no confidence but a confirmation of what to expect if the administration returned. And so they waited to take their pound of flesh.
About Tochukwu Okorie:
He is an Economic Policy Expert and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Management.
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Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 yymqn