Politics of adoption, consensus in PDP North-east congress

The North-east zonal congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), took place Saturday, May14, in Jalingo, Taraba state and adopted Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as its national chairman. STEPHEN OSU writes on the behind the scenes story.

The beginning
Before the zonal delegates congress proper, the state congress took place Tuesday, May10, but before the state congress,  there were that of the ward and local government both at different dates, though the contest was not tensed  amongst the contenders as it used to be when it was PDP all the way. However, surprisingly the national chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was not at the Jolly Nyame stadium venue of the congress although physically present in Jalingo.  The state congress prepared the ground for the delegates that will participate in the zonal congress and later national congress in Port Harcourt Rivers state.

At the Jalingo airport the following day, Sheriff told reporters that he was in the state preparatory to the zonal congress and was going to be back during the weekend. By Friday evening the airport was again busy as both the national chairman and the governor of Gombe state flew in that same evening, the arrival of both men was not made public but all that it concerned were to meet briefly that evening at the banquet hall of government house Jalingo.
Stakeholders from the six states were seated by 8:00pm that evening, the waiting game continued until at about 10:00pm when the national chairman, his host the governor of Taraba state, the Gombe state governor as well as the zonal chairman of the party senator Alhaji Girgiri Lawan drove into the arena marking the beginning of the expanded meeting of stakeholders, the meeting lasted till 3:00am the following morning.

At the Jolly Nyame stadium
By the announcement placed by the chairman organizing committee and speaker Taraba  state house of assembly, Hon. Peter Abel Diah on the local media in Taraba, the event was to commence by 11:00am, but as early as 9:00am there was struggle for space as security arrangements were complete, just like security , protocol was in perfect shape, every other person that had no serious business to do in the congress was simply asked by the tough looking security guys at the venue to stay outside to avoid confusion and unnecessary congestion, all these orders were obeyed and the arena was set for the main event.
The chairman organizing committee and Speaker, Taraba  state House of Assembly Peter Abel Diah arrived the venue as early as 10:00am and directed that accreditation should commence, and first to be accredited were delegates from Gombe state, followed by Yobe, Borno, Bauchi and Bauchi and finally  Taraba delegates were allowed in, journalists were also thoroughly screened before entrance was allowed.

By exactly 11:00am protocol was completed, delegates were already seated. Without any fuss the place witnessed a pin drop silence for some minutes before it was later altered  by  low voices of curious delegates who posed some un answered questions as what is the problem? What is delaying the commencement of the congress?
The Taraba state chairman of the party Hon. Victor Bala Kona, in company of Alhaji Lawan Gana, Alhaji Shetima Shehu , Alhaji Ibrahim Yarro and  Barr. Joel Adamu the PDP states chairmen of   Yobe, Borno, Bauchi and Gombe states stormed the indoor sports theatre complex venue of the event , they were followed shortly by the deputy governors of the two states of Gombe and Taraba. The audience waited with patience until the arrival of the national chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, in company of the state governors of Gombe, Taraba and Barr. Solomon Ewuga the chairman of the Appeal Panel of the zone this was about 2:20 pm.

The event proper
The dull atmosphere became lively once again as everybody upstanding to welcome the leaders of the zone, the shout of bulldozer ‘Serkin aiki’ rented the air, there was confusion in the arena with 1000 capacity fill, the event came alive, the master of ceremony introduced the high table beginning with the national chairman and ended with the outgoing  zonal chairman senator Girgiri Lawan that marked the beginning of program of events.
Delivering the opening speech, the outgoing   zonal who was addressing the crowd for the last time as zonal chairman, Senator Girgiri informed the gathering that the essence of the congress was to elect new executives for the party in the zone to run the affairs of PDP for the next four years, he also informed the gathering that he was no longer contesting because his age cannot allow him to with stand the pressure of running around to coordinate the party in the zone.

The outgoing chairman went further that the party made a costly mistake of imposing candidates in the past elections and that was the reason why they lost out nationally, so they are organizing themselves to lunch themselves back to power in the next general election so nobody should hold back any filling during and after the election as every issue will be trashed on its merits.
“it is time for both leaders and members of PDP to work very hard to sale the party to the Nigerian public positively so that we can regain our lost glory, I call on the two governors that will have in the zone to support the new exco that will emerge today to succeed”
The speech of the chairman came to its peak when Lawan disclosed to the delegates that as a mark of brotherliness, the stakeholders of the party in the zone agreed to zone positions, he went further to break it down that the position of the national chairman was zoned to Borno state, Zonal chairman according to the chairman was zoned to Taraba secretary to Yobe and treasury to Gombe state.

The chairman presided over that short session and put a voice vote for the 450 delegates from the six states of the  zone  requesting them to say yes if they agree with the zoning arrangement and those against he guided them to say no and they all chorused yes and the zoning arrangement was adopted and the states provided the candidates for fill the vacant positions.
How the national chairman was adopted as the zonal candidate.
To present the position as the stand of the people of the zone, the outgoing zonal chairman Girgiri requested representatives from   the  six states  of the zone to make the stand of their states known on the candidature of senator Ali Modu sheriff, the first to speak was senator Mohammed Hassan, Hassan  said the ambition of Sheriff is that of the entire PDP Yobe  people and that they are behind him till the end.

For Bauchi it was Hamza Goshi that spoke,   he told the gathering that before coming to the congress in Jalingo, the stakeholders who are mainly the special and elected delegates sat down in Bauchi and agreed that at this critical point in the life of PDP it needed a hardworking , committed and energetic leader to steer the affairs of the party, and that person according to the spokesman of Bauchi state Senator Sheriff suits all the criteria’s.
From Gombe it was Alhaji Harilu Galadin  who said the party saw tremendous improvement in membership, and followership within the short time that Sheriff took over, according to the people of Gombe Senator sheriff is the worthy son to represent the zone as the national chairman of PDP, he also said the experience he has gathered over time both at the national assembly and as chief executive of Borno state are essential ingredients he needed to succeed.

The people of Borno, Adamawa and Taraba states, also spoke through their representatives but all agreed that the party needed a lot of work to be done to change things for better, they all accepted the fact that senator Sheriff possesses the qualities of somebody who will do the needful.  They all point to the fact that the role of opposition is very important in a democracy and PDP as opposition party requires a vibrant leader like Sheriff, to keep the party in government on their toes and at the same time mobilize for political success.
At the stage of the adoption proper when the zonal chairman requested for a motion from delegates, it became the affair of the governors, Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba state moved the motion for the adoption of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the sole candidate of the zone for the national convention coming up in Port Harcourt, his counterpart in Gombe state Alhaji Hassan Dankwambo seconded, the chairman put a voice vote and the 450 delegates chorused yes , and Senator Sheriff became the sole candidate of the zone.

The event began boiling after several hours of waiting and the long speeches of the dignitaries, but life returned in a musical interlude when Zenaib Zuzi was called on the stage, the young tiny girls trilled the audience with her song which lasted just a few minutes, but explored all the important  achievements of the PDP federal government, the Borno born singer traced the political history of the north eastern Nigerian and placed Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in the best position to take the party to the promised land.
The high table  members were driven to their fits when Zenaib summarized a comparative analysis of PDP and APC federal government pointing, economic hardships, fuel hike, Dollar hike, poverty and hunger as the main problem created by the APC federal government but in the sung she asked Nigerians to blame themselves for not valuing the bird they had at hand, she advised Sheriff to remind who ever becomes president from PDP come 2019 that federal government roads are death traps, that half of Nigerians are killed by the Fulani  herdsmen, as she wind down the song , she rounded up by presenting the PDP flag to the national chairman as a mark of victory in Port Harcourt,  and later the general election of 2019 all contained in about five minutes song presented in Hausa language.

Beyond the event
After completing his last assignment as the north east zonal chairman of the PDP, senator Girgiri Lawan called for the dissolution of the old working committee whose tenure he said had elapsed, at this time it was the turn of the Speakers, Hon. Peter Abel Diah  moved the motion for the dissolution, it was seconded by the speaker Gombe state house of assembly, the zonal chairman put a voice vote and the working committee was dissolved.
The congress appeal chairman took charge for a moment, and requested the various states to present candidates for the positions zoned to them as announced by the now out gone chairman, Taraba state presented ambassador Emmanuel Njiwah for the zonal chairman, Gombe presented   Bappa  Kabir  Joro for secretary and  Bauchi presented  Bappa Haruna for treasury.

Outside the indoor games theatre
The  inside of  the indoor games theatre of the Jolly Nyame stadium became very restricted that only a handful of people who passed the test of the tensed looking security operatives drown from all the Para-military formations in the state, but the outside arena also served attraction in no small measure, conspicuous was a disabled young man who used his disability for entertainment, a crowd both young and old gathered around him and watch as he rolled the wheel chair systematic and jump with it at other intervals.
Both human and vehicular traffic took over the Jalingo, Yola federal government trunk A road,  both the stadium motel and the swimming pool at the stadium were taken over by the party supporters who could not be allowed access into the arena of the congress.

What the people said at the event
The new zonal chairman Ambassador Emmanuel Njuwah was first to present an acceptance speech, he promised to carry everybody in the zone along and by doing this in the north east PDP will reclaim the zone come 2019, as the only person that was there problem in the zone was Senator Sheriff who is now at the fore front of reorganizing the party.
The former Nigerians ambassador to the republic of Cameroun and for secretary to Taraba state government express confidence in getting the party back on track as according to him by convincing senator Sheriff to come to PDP the party has already completed the most difficult part of their work, he urged the people of the north east to maintain understanding and brotherliness displayed in the zonal congress.
Governor Dankwambo requested the leadership and stakeholders of the party to corroborate with the governments of PDP in the zone to consolidate on the existing peace in the zone for maximum development and aggressive transformation of the zone, the governor also appealed to the delegates to support the two governors with ideas.

Dankwabbo  also urged the national chairman to reach out to all the aggrieved parties through establishing a central reconciliation committee who should go round the states to reconcile the differences in the party just as he requested the aggrieved parties to look at the differences as a one family affair.
Governor Ishaku, insisted that the north eat zone should and must remain one, and act as one block on the issue of the national chairmanship and should not be talking with diverse voices, he observed that the coming of senator Sheriff on board in the party is an act of God because he was not part of the consideration put on the table when issues of the party leadership was discussed.
The Taraba power man commended the foresight of whoever brought Sheriff as a suggestion for the leadership of the party as he has brought stability, mobilization, reconciliation bringing the party close to the people, creating confidence among members preparatory to 2019 general election.

After the speech of the host governor it was time for the national chairmanship sole candidate of the zone to address the delegates, he described his adoption by the zonal delegate as a huge challenge and prayed Allah to give him the wisdom and the capacity to make the people proud by taking the party to an enviable height.
Sheriff appealed for unity among members across the country, he tendered un reserved apologies to all the aggrieved members even though he said he did not mandate anybody to speak on his behalf.
“ I  am prepared to follow everybody that is aggrieved to their houses wherever  they will be and extend my peace appeals to them because it is only through this means we can move the party forward” he said.

Behind the scene
The Banquet Hall of Government House Jalingo became the stage for the unfolding political drama between Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the governor of Gombe state Alhaji Hassan Ibrahim Dankwanbo, the Talban Gombe, the two political leaders of the zone before the zonal congress were on each other’s neck, as the later did not at any point supported the former for the national chairmanship of the party.

All the other positions of the zone were easily shared among the six states of the zone but Gombe state governor according to inside sources did not support the ambition of Sheriff as he perceived it as a threat to his own ambition which he considers more important to the zone than the party chairmanship, before the two men arrived the venue of the caucus meeting in government house, the two governors and the chairman took hours at the terabit governor’s residence  in attempt to resolve the differences but to no avail.

Both parties a source told Blueprint  maintained their stands despite the intervention of the host governor, until an agreeable point of shortening the tenure ship of the national chairman to end in August before the primary election of the PDP to nominate its presidential candidate, the source went further that the meeting that lasted about four hours, the Gombe state governor left the discussion several times to brief the other members of his group believed to be coordinated by Prof Jerry Gana.

Governor Ishaku, briefed the gathering at the banquet hall that night as he broke the news to that the impasse between the two power brokers in the zone was resolved and the group was going to work together, the governor according to our sources appealed to the supporters who were at daggers drawn  to sheath their swords and embrace each other in the interest of the party.
The three politicians snubbed the media at both events, at the banquet hall that night it was agreed that the media will be briefed after the delegate congress but as soon as the congress was over the gladiators closely guarded by aides hooped into their vehicles and zoomed off.