The fall and fall of PDP

The political behemoth known as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), whose chieftains fondly refers to as the largest political party in Africa is now fighting for its life.  At the height of its power and might, the PDP arrogantly projected it was going to rule for sixty years, irrespective of its performance in government. This projection was cut short in 2015 after a sixteen-year rule that was generally characterised by good, bad and ugly times. The PDP is perceived to have failed while in power to deliver on the high expectations of a stable, secure and prosperous Nigerian nation. The most visible failure of the past PDP administrations is seen in their inability to achieve self-sufficiency in power, energy and steel for economic development. The legacy of inadequate power generation, energy output and steel production has made the foundation on which some very modest economic gains were built upon as weak as quick sand.
The fall of PDP from power was not entirely because of its less than average economic performance while in government alone. The political misadventure of the former ruling party was more responsible for its fall from its Olympian height to the abyss of helplessness and hopelessness today. The dominance of PDP was greatly enhanced by an electoral umpire, INEC, which was made heavily dependent on the PDP controlled executive by coercion and monetary gratification of its officials. Security agencies where deployed to serve the partisan interests of the PDP and not the interests of Nigerians. Elections became largely symbolic exercises, which were more of the coronations of PDP candidates whose emergence were not reflections of the free choice of electorates. In a system heavily rigged in favour of the then ruling party, votes cast in an election did not count. Once you become PDP flag bearer, you are elected.

The result of this situation was a complete detachment from the masses by the pseudo elected public office holders. Political office holders held and used their privileged offices for personal benefits. They served the corrupt interests that produced them and not the people’s interest. The PDP gradually and steadily began to assume an anti-people posture. Having systematically conquered the electoral space, the real effort to be elected shifted to the internal process of the party, which throws up candidates for election. Thus began an internal struggle for the control of the party structure by various actors within the party. The bitter struggle degenerated into a situation where the PDP was the only opposition to the PDP. There became enthroned a severe lack of internal democracy, characterised by the imposition of candidates by a dubious, self-seeking to self-preserving process enshrined in the PDP constitution, under the influence of the presidents and governors elected on the platform of the party.
In the ensuing struggle, only the weak, and not the fittest, survived. The strongest and fittest could not be trusted to be loyal. The weak, who were openly unambitious, meek, obedient, and loyal to the emerging order, were trusted and given control of party structures to the chagrin of time tested politicians who had genuine influence and traditional mass following. Dissenting voices were not tolerated. Sycophancy, bootlicking and songs of praise were rewarded handsomely. Truth, sincerity of purpose and fidelity to party members took flight from the PDP. Gradually but steadily, strong politicians began to leave the PDP to join and energise the almost non-existent opposition parties. By that time, the PDP had become a thriving enterprise with guarantee of very high returns on investments. The major binding force of the various interest groups that aggregated under the umbrella was the equitable sharing of loot at the expense of the state treasury. This venture was systematically entrenched by the zoning and rotational arrangement of political offices across board, from top to bottom.
The direct cause of implosion and the eventual loss of power of the PDP was the violation of the zoning and rotational arrangement within the party by former President Goodluck Jonathan by his insistence on running twice, in 2011 and 2015. This less than gentlemanly was poised to distort the equitable distribution of loot and skew it in favour of his Niger Delta region. The last batch of the strongest and fittest politicians, who opposed to the re-election of Jonathan, left the party and joined forces with other interest groups to form the most formidable opposition party in the history of the Fourth Republic, the APC. The combination of a weakened party with a fewer and weaker membership and an extreme neo-liberal economic practice, which enriched a few and impoverished the vast majority, made PDP easily defeated by the opposition coalition and cut short its sixty year rule projection to sixteen.
If the PDP failed Nigerians while in government; the party has failed Nigerians more in opposition. The party is currently fictionalised and embroiled in internal power struggle. The biggest problem today is its governor’s forum; a group that seeks to continue the same undemocratic and unethical practices that brought the party down. Their eyes are not set on the bigger picture of returning the party to a formidable force as an alternative to APC but rather focused on controlling party structures to the exclusion of their perceived opponents. They have turned their various state chapters into personal political fiefdoms. This has strengthened their hold on the party but ultimately weakened it the more. The governors do not inspire genuine followership among the larger society because of their numerous cases of misrule and under-performance. Governance in the states is at the lowest ebb since the advent of the Fourth Republic. There are no visible and viable projects being executed, while there are backlogs of salaries running into several months. The unfavourable perception of the governors is rubbing of on the image of the party negatively.
Until PDP governors begin to play the politics of inclusion by yielding their absolute control of the structures of the party to other relevant stakeholders, the party will never regain strength. After the mass exodus of strong politicians from the PDP, the party is left with weak politicians who cannot win elections without federal might and presidential incumbency. Some members of the party, including some sitting governors, are already plotting their movement into the ruling APC. These weak politicians cannot endure the rigours of opposition. The recent abysmal performance of PDP in the gubernatorial election in Ondo State is symptomatic of the decay and weakness of the PDP, as well as the self-inflicted and deep crisis ravaging the party. In the face of a woeful performance in power by the APC led federal government, the PDP has not been able to draw from its experience in government and clearly articulate an alternative socio-economic policy that comprehensively addresses the current challenges facing the nation. The grim reality of this failure leaves Nigerians no alternative than to live with the reality of another four years of an APC led federal government despite its huge under-performance on its first mandate.

Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja