AS political romance between the rebel governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) otherwise known as G7 governors and the All Progressive Congress deepens, there are strong indications that the mainstream PDP has foreclosed reconciliation with the Kawu Baraje-led new PDP and had begun working on a post-G7 agenda.
Investigations by Sunday Tribune revealed that the Presidency and the party leadership were working on a theory of irreversible rupture, leading to planning for the 2015 polls from the premise that the G7 governors were out of the party.
The focus of the post-G7 plot, according to findings, was weaning away the South-West from the APC fold; poaching aggrieved APC leaders in the North-West; empowering parallel structures across the new PDP’s areas of influence and consolidating on the president’s power base in the South-South, South-East and Middle Belt.
The president’s point man within the party, who will be handling the new initiatives, is the National Deputy Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, who was the party’s former National Organising Secretary and its Rivers State Chairman from 1999 to 2007.
Other critical members of the team include the new National Secretary of the party, Professor Wale Oladipo and the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisah Metuh.
The team within the party is reported to be coordinating the implementation of the strategies across various platforms such as the office of the Political Adviser to the President and the office of chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, among others.
Political surveillance on the opposition and the new PDP is said to have eased the task of the mainstream PDP in the crafting and implementation of its agenda, as findings showed that the mainstream PDP was a step ahead of key moves of the opposition.
A party source, who described the agenda as top secret, disclosed that “a 2015 winning agenda is already in place without those rebel governors. I cannot say more than that but we had developed a contingency plan in anticipation of their exit from the party.”
While most party leaders were not willing to be quoted on the agenda, Sunday Tribune checks showed that the party and the presidency regarded the South-West as key to its stopping the tide of opposition regrouping ahead of 2015. Findings showed that the administration was pushing to fast-track many of its key projects in the South-West while also scheming for a good show by the party in the 2014 governorship polls in both Ekiti and Osun states.
It was also gathered that the PDP alliance with the Labour and Accord Party in the South-West has been strengthened such that unconfirmed reports had it that there was an expected exit from the APC to Accord and Labour before the 2015 polls.
The report hinted that a sitting APC governor is likely to defect to the Accord Party, while a top governorship aspirant of the APC already has the Labour Party ticket of his state in his kitty.
The national secretary of the PDP, Professor Oladipo, who was reluctant to speak on the matter, said he could only confirm that the party was recording success in its bid to retake the South-West from the APC.
According to him, “PDP is making headway but I cannot be telling you our strategies on the pages of newspapers. I can tell you, however, that the woeful performance of APC governments in the South-West has turned the people against them.
‘Jonathan will rule till 2019’
Professor Oladipo also repeated an earlier assertion by the party’s national chairman that President Jonathan will rule till 2019.
Reacting to enquiries about post- G7 strategies of the party, Oladipo said the assertion that Jonathan will rule till 2019 was based on the geopolitical reading of the national political map and the performance of the president in office.
“I insist that Mr President will be overwhelmingly re- elected in 2015 because the geopolitical map favoured him. Look at the zonal map of Nigeria and you will know that the president will cruise to victory despite all these controversies.
“North-West revolt cannot stop the president from winning. In 2011, it did not stop him and in 2015, it won’t affect him. Mind you, many North-westerners are fully in support of the president. Remember, the president’s men are entrenched in states such as Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara and Kebbi, among others.
“For the South-West, this zone is no longer under the control of one man. Our people have seen the reality. So in 2015, you will see Yoruba rejecting the bad rule of the APC,” Oladipo said.
Aside the South-West, Sunday Tribune findings also showed that leaders of the PDP in Kano and Sokoto states have sent emissaries to former governors Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State and Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, seeking their defection to the PDP.
A party source in Kano, who confirmed the development, said former Governor Shekarau was contacted but that he was yet to respond. The source said: “We told him that the APC national leaders are handing over the party in Kano to the Kwankwasiya group but he has not answered us”
An aide of Shekarau, who also crave anonymity, maintained his boss was still watching the development, especially as Governor Kwankwaso has not joined the APC, saying: “Nothing is clear yet. Kwankwaso, our arch-enemy has not joined the APC. When he joined us, we will know what to do.”
The son of former Head of State, Mohammed Abacha had earlier decamped to the PDP while former House Speaker, Ghali Naaba had reportedly been penciled in for ministerial appointment.
Source: Tribune
