Daily Independent (Lagos)
Augustine Madu-West
1 July 2009
(Page 2 of 3)
"I know how painful it is to experience crisis in your party. So, I feel it is absolutely important for the national leadership to understand that anything that will bring disunity in the party in the state should be avoided; we need sincere and honest reconciliation. If people cannot accept themselves or work together, if all party leaders in the state cannot manage their differences, there is no way we can claim to have unity in our party," he said.
Salisu Buhari, also a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, however sees the new step as capable of stoking a fresh round of crisis. His words: "This action is capable of promoting another round of conflicts in the state branch of the party. Kano PDP presently is solid, united and intact with the recent reconciliation of feuding groups. So the dissolution will do us no good."
Indeed, the crisis apart from leading to electoral woes is said to have also robbed the state of some benefits from the ruling government or at best delayed them. For instance, the emergence of a candidate for ambassadorial slot from the state, which obviously had to go to the party, was delayed for several months after other states had filled their slots. This followed a sharp disagreement among party leaders and stakeholders over the list of three nominees for the position presented to Yar'Adua for endorsement. On the list were Kwakwaso, Usman Alhaji and Wada Waziri.
Matters reportedly got to a head when Kwankwaso withdrew his name and allegedly attempted to substitute it with that of his loyalist. Other stakeholders blocked the move, insisting that since the former governor was no longer interested, the replacement must either be Alhaji or Waziri. Kwankwanso reportedly did not want to hear of the proposal. As the issue degenerated to open controversy, the PDP Elders Committee (PEC), Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Baba Danbaffa also wrote the NWC, warning that any candidate for the office from Kano drawn out the list would not be acceptable to the party. Daily Independent reliably gathered that Yar'Adua's desire not to offend any of the parties, put him in a sort of quandary, having reserved China for the state.
Eventually, he had to settle for Wali, who was not one of the three initially favoured. A source said he was fed up with the endless crisis in the party, especially as it delayed his sending an ambassador to a country regarded as strategic to his government.
But even now, questions are still asked as to how far the current measure could go in stemming the tide of discontent in the various camps and prepare the party for 2011.
Last year, Rimi had rejected a congress in which Kwankwaso's camp gained upper hand producing 17 members in the exco, leaving his camp with a mere five members, while Wali, believed to be Kwankwaso's ally got seven.
Besides, Kwankwanso also produced the chairman of the party in Yusuf Chiroma Kutama, Youth Leader, Woman Leader, and the Public Relations Officer among other juicy positions. Dissatisfied with this, Rimi had led seven other aggrieved chieftains and leaders of the party in an organised protest. Those in the delegation that visited Abuja headquarters of the party, to deposit a strongly-worded letter demanding immediate rescinding of the exercise, included Aminu Dabo, former Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority, Senator Isa Zarewa, Dan Hassan, Yusuf Kibiya all governorship aspirants of the party at different times. They claimed that Kwankwaso manipulated the congress in violation of the party's internal democratic process regarding the election of party leaders.
In what looked like their determination to pursue their course to the letter and ensure that the leadership at the state level was nullified, the group had suggested the interim executive arrangement as a precondition for peace.
Rimi in the thick of all these, had actually defected to the Action Congress (AC), where he held key positions until the recent reconciliation exercise initiated by Yar'Adua, facilitated his return to the PDP fold along with his loyalists including Na'Abba. Efforts by the party chieftain in the state to woo back Gwadabe, who also defected to AC with Rimi and co have not been successful.
However, the gains of the reconciliation exercise appeared to have been rubbished by the maintenance of the Kwankwanso structure, while the party appeared headed for a repeat of the 2003 and 2007 fate, until the recent development. Indeed, the ANPP, which had remained the major beneficiary, has not only been enjoying the show in the rival party, but actually digging in the more to gain better mileage from the feud. With majority of the seats in the state and national assemblies as well as local government offices in its kitty, the party looks too good to beat at the moment.
In fact, political pundits in the state had since written off the PDP as a major threat in 2011, so long as the bad blood among the godfathers continued. Their only saving grace, according to them was that the party must re-organise and reposition itself.
It is against this backdrop that many have seen the current development in the party as not only a good omen, but imperative to its survival. Dampass was emphatic that if the unpleasant situation was allowed to persists, the PDP would kiss the state goodbye for a long time or even forever. In fact, he traced the past and present crises in the party to what he described as Kwankwaso's rabid desire to have total control of the party leadership so that he could manipulate it to suit his purpose and interest.
"Kwankwaso had won the election after all. All he wanted is to be seen in Abuja as the leader of the party in Kano. He also wants to show off as one who has conducted a successful congress in Kano. But what Rimi wanted is for the party to have a leadership with credibility that can give the party victory from councillorship to governorship in the state even to the presidency. Kwankwaso has been in full control of the party refusing to give others the chance to contribute towards the progress and success of the party, yet his so-called leadership has been losing in all elections conducted in the state. He is holding the party to ransom. PDP under him has suffered serious setbacks in this situation. If care is not taken the party will go into extinction in Kano. It will be wrong for the party stakeholders and leaders especially the founding members to fold their arms and watch the former defence minister destroy and destabilise PDP in the state. So there is the need for the people to come together strongly united against some of his negative antics which could lead us to self-destruction," he said.
He added: "What we want is to see a strong united, rancour-free PDP in Kano, which will be the pride of every member and which will wrestle power from ANPP. But for one man to see himself as overlord and the party as his own personal property is totally unacceptable to us. Can you imagine that he went to Abuja for the convention with those he called elected leaders from Kano, when there was no election? This is a deceit. If he had gone to Abuja with credible leaders, no quarrel, but for him to have selected people in the name of leaders is fraudulent and we will not take that. We see the whole exercise as a plot by Kwankwaso and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to appropriate the party to serve their selfish interest. Thank God for the kind of leader we have in the country today who does not believe in cheating, injustice and the kind of manipulation the party the witnessed under Obasanjo. The former President from 1999 to 2007 gagged the party thus frustrating its progress in a design to manipulate it in favour of his ambition for the failed third term. It is obvious that Kwankwaso is acting Obasanjo's script all in an attempt to have total control of the party so as to frustrate any opposition against his position as BOT chairman. I think the whole plan is to isolate other key members, those considered as threats and whose influences are a source of concern to Kwankwaso. Unfortunately these are the people who have the interest of the party at heart. Of course, the sole aim is to kill the party because if you alienate the founding members in pursuit of selfish interest, you are jeopardising the soul of the party."
But Wali did not see anything unusual in the controversial congress, which Rimi ands others were complaining about. He also denied any personal rift with the former governor. "I don't suppose we have fallen out. We may have some differences. It is expected in polities. That doesn't mean we are at war with one another. We are certainly very good and close friends. People are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I don't' think there is anything serious that could warrant that kind of noise. Of course in any party there must be differences and we try to sort it out. It is not particular to PDP," he said.
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