Last Sunday was a busy day for members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Imo State. The members who had been having quiet rests after the contentious Imo Governorship election were woken up from their slumbers following a meeting fixed at the Mall, Aladinma, Owerri. This gathering was spear- headed by former Governor of the State, Chief Achike Udenwa, former PDP State Chairman Dr Alex Obi, former SSG, Nze Imo Umunna and others. They called themselves Coalition of True Imo PDP Democrats.
Hardly had the news of the meeting filtered out than the sleeping State Executive Council, led by Bar Nnamdi Anyaehie hurriedly fixed its own meeting too, simultaneously with that of the Mall.
Whatever be the case, the Udenwa Group has at last woken up the Imo PDP into action. The party since after the elections had gone on break as if a political party is a communal organization.
This, even when Tribunal has been nullifying and fixing rerun elections involving the PDP in the State. Presently, PDP has a re-run in Owerri West and in the entire Okigwe Senatorial zone. Yet the State party office is usually deserted, except for a sprinkle of staff and officers who look in once in a while.
Now that the State Working Committee has been nudged awake, what would it do, and do differently?
There is no gain saying the fact that the PDP is the dominant political party in Imo State, if we judge from the number of elective positions swept by the party. PDP has all the Senatorial seats, won the entire seats in the House of Representatives, except for in Ehime Mbano/ Obowo/Ihitte Uboma and Ideato North and South Federal Constituencies respectively.
But unfortunately, the party lost the Governorship seat, which is very important not only to the party, but to its teeming members.
Since 2007, the PDP has continued to lose the Imo Governorship election in name, but yet, it is the PDP that has master-minded and supported any political party that won the Governorship seat.
Looking at the statistics of results in Imo State since 1999, the PDP has dominated the elections in the State, except the Governorship seat. Therefore, the important question is this; why has PDP failed to produce the Governor of Imo State since Chief Achike Udenwa in 1999? Is the party ready now to correct this anomaly, and how?
This seems to be the driving force behind the Udenwa Group that convened a parallel meeting last Sunday. The Group said that it has discovered the main ill tormenting Imo PDP from sweeping the stakes. They called it lack of internal democracy in the PDP. But is that really the issue? I will say No, not entirely.
No matter the stones thrown at Udenwa and his Allies, they should be thanked for arousing the present PDP Executive into action, which may prompt the Imo PDP to look into what has caused the PDP the major diadem for twelve years now: the Governorship seat.
As usual, the State Working Committee has appointed a Reconciliation Committee headed by Prof Ndubuizu, with the usual terms of reference; collect memoranda from aggrieved members and reconcile all. Old story!
For Christ sake, does the Imo PDP not know what have been tearing the party apart and hindering her from repeating its feats of 1999 and 2003, when it swept the polls in the State? Why can anybody be asking how a Bird feeds, when the mouth is there?
Now, if the PDP does not know why it has been fumbling in elections recently in the State, let me give them some reasons.
Since Dr Alex Obi was replaced as Chairman of the party, the PDP has preferred pure technocrats to man that position, than a combative politician who can take and give all you bring to the table.
How could Imo PDP make Bar Nnamdi Anyaehie State Chairman and expect miracles? A good man he is, but not cut out for party Chairmanship brouhaha. What is Anyaehie’s pedigree in practical and field politics? Has he contested election before? Has he chaired any PDP Committee before? Chairman who can lead the party through thick and thin. And this must begin from the grass roots; the Ward levels.
Every Ward Chairman should be able to read and write. There is no Ward in Imo State that you will not find up to one hundred Graduates. How can a daft be made a Chairman of educated people, simply because such a Buffoon has one big man in PDP as friend or relation.
The party must allow a free and fair congress, where the People’s choice are produced. Any Leader who wants to contest election in the future should wait to lobby when the time comes, not now to foist stooges who will divide the party with their presence. Everybody in the villages know who- is who. Let them make their choices.
Politics is absolutely local. Every Big man has a locality where he or she votes. He should go there and wield his influence. A situation where big men leave their Wards to influence what happens in other Wards causes trouble. Let each Ward be left alone to determine who emerges as officers, so that during elections such Leaders would be held responsible for whatever happens in their areas; because they elected the officers.
The impunity in Imo PDP among the Leaders is mind bugling. They treat everybody as slaves, on whose heads they ride to power, only to abandon them after.
Did anybody know that all the elected Imo PDP members were around, until they were aroused to attend the last Sunday meeting? Members were shocked when they saw all the Senators, Reps members etc appear at the State party Secretariat for the meeting last Sunday.
PDP members are disgruntled that their leaders care less about them immediately the elections are over. This is the reason the new Executive, whenever it is constituted, must go round the State to “debrief” the legions of members who have lost hope in the PDP.
Senator Ifeanyi Araraume is one of the factors that have urt. Since then there has been Araraume’s imprimatur in Imo PDP’s failures.apprehension till the last day of the election?
Can anybody deny the fact that Araraume’s last minute movement to the APC did not tilt the result of the Imo Governorship to the favour of Owelle Rochas Okorocha of the APC?
And you know what? It is an open secret that some PDP members are now jostling to succeed Anyaehie, with the promptings of Araraume. Will any body be surprised if by 2019, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume will be among the top members of the PDP that will determine the shape of the party’s Governorship race?
Did anybody imagine that Araraume after costing the party the Governorship election in 2011 will stage a come back to PDP, much more be the runner’s up in her Governorship primaries in 2014?
Can anybody stop Senator Araraume if he wishes to return to PDP before the 2019 election? Even at that, is it possible for anybody to decipher if the Isiala Mbano born Araraume is done with inflicting electoral doom on PDP since the party humiliated him in 2007? Infact, Araraume has discovered that the best way to deal with an enemy is to enter its inner chamber. Araraume is coming.
One of the factors militating against the progress of Imo PDP is the issue of zoning. The party seems to have quietly jettisoned this serious matter. It is very wrong that since Achike Udenwa won the Governorship, Orlu zone has been not too keen in the process any more. The zone has adopted political subterfuge to dribble Okigwe and Owerri Zones.
It still baffles Bookmakers how in 2011 election, the PDP lost the Governorship election in some constituencies in Orlu, while the House of Assembly candidates of PDP won. When has Orlu electorate become this sophisticated? Many said Orlu PDP failed Ikedi Ohakim because he is from Okigwe, as Orlu people wanted their brother, Rochas Okorocha, despite the fact he is of APC.
The same scenario repeated itself in 2015 when the PDP Candidate, Ihedioha could not survive it when he needed some LGAs in Orlu to scale through the hurdle.
For certain, if PDP had won Oru East and West it would have won the re-run election. Was Hope Uzodinma not there? But it was learnt that clannish politics reared its head, and Orlu people went for their brother, Owelle Okorocha.
Therefore, PDP should revisit zoning formula and stand by it as it did in 1999, which led Udenwa from Orlu to be Governor then.
And again, Imo PDP hardly rewards hard work. It prefers mediocres. So long as such fellows have big men and brothers in the PDP hierarchy. How can a party who destroys its bests succeed? How can PDP deny a local leader the right to make a list based on once contribution to the party? How can the man who sponsors the Ward meetings be denied making Delegate list and a woman who sells Akara chosen ahead of him, and you want him to continue to commit his funds and energy on Imo PDP?
How are Leaders determined in Imo PDP? Is it how rich one is or how he makes the party win elections in his/ her Wards? How can Imo PDP nominate a man or woman who failed in his Ward for Ministerial position, leaving others who sunk their energies and funds into the party’s success?
I doubt if the Prof Ndubuizu Committee will see many complainants, because Imo PDP members assume that their Leaders know what bites the party.PDP grass root members are no fools and have been punished enough to realize themselves.
Imo PDP must flow with the tide of time. Electorate are no more gullible like in 1999. Today a good candidate is the major key, followed by the logistics to execute the election, unlike before when it was the other way round.
In 2019, the situation will be tougher as the electoral environment is changing fast. You don’t continue repeating the same mistake and expect a different result.
Now that Alex Obi and Co have woken the sleeping Elephant, it must grab the momentum, or if it slacks again, another Group may also spring up. A political party is not a Pentecostal church. It is like a Roman Catholic Church where no one individual can claim ownership. Soldier go, Soldier come, Barrack remains. If Anyaehie and Co do not know what their jobs are, it is no crime reminding them.
