Worried by the unending crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027, Bayelsa State ex-governor, Seriake Dickson, has attributed the infighting to President Bola Tinubu’s adoption of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s political tactics to weaken the opposition.
Dickson added that the strategy was aided by the leadership failures of the State Governors, who claim to be in control of the party, not understanding the plan of the ruling party before hand.
Dickson said the opposition party’s troubles, after changing from the ruling to opposition party, were further compounded by poor leadership strategy adopted by the PDP former National Working Committee (NWC) and a lack of strategic direction by governors, who he accused of sidelining stakeholders and mishandling avoidable crises.
He stressed that both the governors and the NWC’s inability to consult widely for best solution when the crisis was brewing made them walk into Tinubu’s trap to weaken the opposition.
The lawmaker, who made the allegation on Wednesday while responding to crisis rocking the National Assembly’s amendment of the Electoral Act, stated that the president adopted same strategy former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, deployed to weaken the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999 after assuming office, through appointment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike,
Drawing parallels with his experience in the AD after the 1999 election, Dickson recalled how the appointment of the late Chief Bola Ige as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under Obasanjo triggered tensions within the AD, the tension that followed it and what the appointment caused the opposition party during the period.
“From the time a member, a prominent member of our party, in person of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, while being a stakeholder of the party, was nominated minister in the current administration, they should have known how to manage. From that time, they were all dancing.
“I know this because I was a member of the opposition party, the Alliance for Democracy (AD), then. Aside from that, I was a state chairman of AD in 1998, and rose to the position of national legal adviser.
“When one of our leaders, the late Chief Bola Ige, was appointed minister by President Olusegun Obasanjo in his cabinet, we knew how and what that crisis led us to.
“We knew that, and they didn’t learn from it. So the governors had to take responsibility, and other leaders who, even while the house was collapsing, were more interested in calling themselves leaders, and taking positions without consulting people, and without even building structures in their own states to win for the party.
“But they were content being called PDP leaders and members of the NWC, BOT, and all kinds of names. So it’s unfortunate what has happened to PDP.
“What has happened to PDP, you can’t even wish an enemy. That a party formed by great democrats, once you leave the founding fathers, those who fought for independence, and were political leaders in the GNPP, and all those, including my leaders who formed the Niger Delta Congress, once you leave those patriarchs, you talk of the Ekwemes, you talk of the Solomon Lars, Adamu Shiromans, some of them are still alive, they were the youngest, Sule Lamido, they were the youngest of them, Abubakar Rimi and so on.
“The great party that they formed, for all Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity, irrespective of religion, irrespective of even political divides that they had before, they coalesced all of them, formed a big party, and selected Umbrella as a symbol, that wherever you are in this country, the rain and the sun will not touch you, this umbrella will protect you.
“And under that umbrella, Ijaw Niger Delta people got vice-presidents, got Presidency of Nigeria, and that’s why we remain sentimental to the PDP. And as you know, captains are not the first to bail out. Once there is disaster, a true captain stays until all effort to salvage has failed”.
He stressed that the crisis that has reduced the PDP’s influence nationwide did not happen overnight but grew from a series of missed opportunities and internal divisions.
While arguing that the party that once had about 30 governors now has less than 10 across the federation, the former governor lamented that the decline should have prompted sober reflection among its leaders.
“If you had 28 or 30 governors and now you have less than 10, shouldn’t it occur to you that you are not the only stakeholders?” he queried.
“But they kept carrying on as governors and leaders of the party as if they owned it.”
Dickson argued that PDP governors deepened the crisis by taking sides in internal disputes and failing to act decisively when early warning signs emerged.
Dickson described the current state of the PDP as painful for long-standing members who view the party as a historic coalition built on national unity.
He added, however, that the future of the PDP would depend on whether its leaders are willing to “do what is right and reasonable” to rescue what he described as a historic political brand.
“It is very sad what is happening to the PDP,” Dickson said. “But we still hope and pray that people will come to their senses, so that the labour of our heroes will not be in vain.”
