Adamawa PDP assembly primaries’ logjam

The rigmarole going on in Adamawa state, following the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries in the state represents another disturbing signal to the nation’s democracy. It is a threat to the principle of level-playing field as the nation sails close to the 2015 general elections. For weeks before the primaries, Governor James Ngillari and his foot-soldiers worked stridently to take-over the party machinery, a strategy backed by series of media propaganda against zoning formula of the party in Adamawa state, in disregard of an agreement signed by all stakeholders when ex-governor Fintiri was at the helm. This was followed by a mix-up over the status of the state’s party leadership, in which case Mr Joel Madaki was dismissed by the party’s national secretariat; his insistence that he was not removed and the attendant confusion.

Then came the House of Assembly primaries and events took a new turn, as the Ngillari camp and the opposition indulged in hot exchanges over the alleged use of high-handed tactics against the electoral panel committee’s members. The electoral panel committee chairman, Ambassador Tim Ihemadu, petitioned PDP national chairman over intimidation, stating that he and his panel members were detained by thugs and a purported primary was held by Adamawa state governor’s point-men in collaboration with the state party leadership. He alleged that they were confined to government house and restricted by thugs, who eventually got the panel to sign doctored result sheets under duress. The ambassador’s team, in the widely-publicised petition, admonished the party’s national leadership in Abuja to disregard any primaries election result because no primaries were held.

A day later, the controversial Adamawa state leadership of the party surfaced in Abuja to disown the petition of the electoral panel, insisting that “well-conducted and peaceful primaries” were held and accused the panel chairman of “trying to rubbish the results and malign the hard-earned integrity of Ngilari and the state chairman of PDP, Chief Joel Madaki.” But the panel chairman’s position was re-enforced by another PDP stakeholder in the state, Dr.Umar Ardo, who called for the conduct of fresh house of assembly primaries, describing the result upheld by the Ngilari camp as “illegal”. Ardo, a three-time gubernatorial aspirant, took a different, legal angle to the matter. He noted that the elections could not have been conducted because “both the chairman and secretary of the party as well as its members of the exco were suspended indefinitely by the national leadership of the party”.

This scenario in Adamawa state smacks of indiscipline on the part of the Ngillari camp. This is because the panel had the mandate to conduct the primaries. Ordinarily, the panel is a legal entity and has the final say on the outcome and if it publicly disowns the results bandied by the state exco, so be it. The Adamawa state’s case is worrisome, considering the combative leadership and exco, which could reject its dissolution by the national secretariat. The state party chairman also bought newspaper pages to insist that the results of an election that did not take place should be upheld.

The development in Adamawa state is a smear on decorum and a dent on simple democratic ethics. The culture of do-or-die politics as exemplified by the state party leadership, with the tacit approval of the incumbent governor is an ill wind. The national secretariat of the party needs to assert its constitutional powers by instilling discipline and respect for democratic norms, as opposed to the present combative politics. Once discipline is instilled, the national leadership of the party should make optimum use of the time left, to send another panel for the conduct of fresh primaries. That way, democracy would be deepened in Adamawa state in particular and the nation in general.