Omoniyi Salaudeen
The leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is on the fringe of another round of crisis which may likely mar its capacity to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 general elections.
The rising apprehension within the party is coming on the heels of the controversial list of alleged looters recently released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed. Although the list, which contains the names of PDP bigwigs, including its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, has been swiftly dismissed as mere witch-hunting and inconsequential, there is yet a strong anxiety that it might be a master stroke to sound a death knell on the party.
Sunday Sun gathered that some concerned elders of the party have been uncomfortable with the new revelation at a time when the party is seeking forgiveness of Nigerians for its past misdeeds. This concern was said to have informed the urgent meeting of the BOT member held on Thursday in Lagos. A source close to the party hierarchy told Sunday Sun that members reviewed the events of the past week and debated the strategies on how to forestall the looming crisis in the party. “You know the party has just come out of a protracted crisis. We cannot afford another round of needless controversy that will distract us. For them to have waited till this time to release the new list means that APC has something up its sleeve. Don’t forget also that the crisis that almost ruined the party was orchestrated by some APC moles in our party. This is why the elders decided to convey the meeting of the BOT to deliberate on what can be possibly done to avert another round of crisis. Of course, there are other matters concerning the reconstitution of the BOT members. They are also not overlooking the issue of alleged corruption leveled against some key members of our party,” the source declared.
It will be recalled that Secondus had emerged as the National Chairman of the party out of the prolonged leadership tussle between Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee and Senator Ali Modu Sherriff rival faction. Many stakeholders are of the view that the party may slide into the abyss of the immediate past leadership squabble, if Secondus is put on trial for alleged corrupt allegation. For that reason, the party is not taking it lightly.
In the controversial list of alleged looters, the Minister of Information had claimed that the party chairman collected N200 million from the Office of National Security Adviser in 2015. In a letter with reference number EESE/1/3/18 dated March 31, 2018 and addressed to the minister, the party chairman, through his lawyer Emeka Etieba (SAN), demanded a retraction, apology and payment of N1.5 billion as damages. The letter noted that if Muhammed failed to meet the demands within 48 hours, “we shall within 72 hours from today, proceed to court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate our client’s right under the law and shall further seek the protection of the court against you.”
This counter offensive measure, according to a source in the party, is being taken to prevent the experience of the embattled former national publicity secretary of the party, Olisah Metuh, who has been standing trial for alleged diversion of security funds. Before his current travail, Metuh had been a vocal voice for the defence of the PDP. But no sooner he fell into the EFCC’s net than he lost his voice.
At this time, the source said, “We cannot allow that experience to happen to our national Chairman.”
Meanwhile, barrage of criticisms have continued to trail the release of the names of the alleged looters. A former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, while expressing concern over the lopsidedness of the list in an interview with Sunday Sun said: “It is all about politics. All is geared towards the 2019 elections. And that is the kind of attitude we should remove from our body politics otherwise this nation will not make any headway. Publishing the names of those alleged to have looted should be across board. To make it one sided is very unfair and unjust. That means APC as a party has a lot to hide. Why can’t they publish the names of APC members who have cases in court? It is just unfair. It is an attempt to muzzle the opposition. That is a way of destroying the opposition. Let them have the fear of God in all these things they are doing, otherwise it will boomerang and the effect will be disastrous for APC.”
However, a former Minister of Transport, Ebenezer Babatope, said that the party is unperturbed by the release of looters’ list. “Nothing has changed in the anti-corruption war of the Buhari administration. What we are saying is that they should come out with concrete evidence against those alleged to have looted public funds. As a party, we are not in any way disturbed because it is individuals that are involved in the list and not the party,” he said.
Clarifying issues on the BOT meeting, he dismissed as untrue the insinuation that corruption was the part of the top agenda of the meeting. His words: “I was present at the BOT meeting which was held here in Lagos on Thursday. Honesty, we did not discuss anything about corruption. It is unfortunate that I have to disclose this to you. What we did was just a reconstitution of the BOT of our party.”
Other than Secondus, the second list of alleged looters released by Muhammed included a former minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke (N23 bn; $3bn), Senator Stella Oduah (N9.8 bn), ex-governor Babandiga Aliyu of Niger State (N1.6 bn), his counterpart in Plateau State (N12.5 bn), Senator Bala Abdulkadir (N5bn), among others.
What most PDP supporters found most intriguing about the list is the virtual absence of APC members who also have cases to answer in court.