Old wine in new bottle: New thinking in PDP

In a bid to bolster itself against difficult tides, the former ruling party resurrects
the online registration of members project. It is a scheme that would inevitably
strip the party’s governors of direct control of the party. Will it fly?
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
It was in admission of the tight grip its governors hold on the party, that the
acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Prince Uche
Secondus said last Wednesday that the e-registration of party members would
open the party to all Nigerians.
Even more remarkable, Secondus said that all members would through the
process have equal rights. That is, ordinary party members would have a say
contrary to the present situation where the powerful governors dominate.
“This party belongs to all. They will have equal rights to vote and to be voted
for. Nobody will be excluded,” Secondus said at the inauguration of the
committee to enforce the project. The committee is headed by media mogul,
Chief Raymond Dokpesi.
The chairman’s claim that the party would be opened to all was reflective of the
fact that the self acclaimed biggest political party in Africa had reached its
tethers and needed to reinvent itself.
File: President Goodluck Jonathan
It was especially so after the election drubbing in the hands of the All
Progressives Congress, APC.
Secondus became the third party chair to project the e-registration exercise
after previous attempts by first Dr. Okwezileze Nwodo in 2010 and Alhaji
Bamanaga Tukur in 2012/13 were aborted.
Dr. Nwodo was the first to conceive the idea of e-registration even before he
became the national chairman.
Party insiders say that he had met President Goodluck Jonathan during the
latter’s first official trip to the United States in 2010 and reportedly advised him
on how he could take away the party from the governors almost all of who had
opposed his emergence as acting president during the crisis that shadowed the
illness of President Umaru Yar‘Adua.
Ticket of the party
Jonathan apparently eager to sidestep the governors in his bid to win the 2011
presidential ticket of the party had bought the idea with aplomb and had as
such supported Nwodo’s return to the PDP national secretariat as national
chairman.
Nwodo was the second national secretary of the party and had exited the party
during the troubles that characterised the regime of President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Nwodo’s submission, it was learned, was that opening the party through the e-
registration of members would not just open the party, but give the ordinary
members a voice in the emergence of candidates.
Jonathan interestingly flagged off the e-membership registration exercise on
August 10, 2010 when he was registered at the PDP national secretariat.
He was registered in the presence of Nwodo, the then Senate President, Senator
David Mark, the then national secretary, Prince Uche Secondus among others.
He praised the party leadership to high heaven for the initiative which he said
would also generate the funds needed to run the party.
Uche Secondus
The president had described as “the best thing to have happened to party
membership registration in Nigeria , in the 21st Century.”
The online registration exercise according to the party was expected to register
at least six million persons as members of the party.
However, the exercise was not long after upturned when PDP governors
mobilised to truncate it. Their grouse was that Nwodo was conniving with
Jonathan to lessen the influence of the governors on the party.
The main thrust of having registered members was to ensure that only
registered members were able to vote and contribute to the funding of the
party. Until then, the party was almost wholly funded by the governors.
The governors saw through the alleged aims of Nwodo and the president and
forced the president to call the party leadership to order and not too long after,
the exercise was aborted.
The bad blood flowing from the aborted exercise culminated partly in the
machination that led to the exit of Nwodo as national chairman. Jonathan
apparently desperate to win the party’s ticket caved in to the pressure of the
governors and sacrificed Nwodo and that became the end of the online
registration exercise.
Tukur who came into office in 2012 also revived the e-membership registration
project and it was not surprising that for most of his time in office he was in
battle with the governors.
Internal retreat
Tukur was won over to the scheme after an internal retreat for party executives
in Uyo in December 2012.
At that retreat where his predecessor, Nwodo delivered a lecture titled
“Deepening Democracy through Internal Party Democracy: Strategies for
conducting credible, free and fair party congresses and primaries,” the former
party chairman had urged the party to revisit the online registration project as a
means of boosting party membership and funds.
“We all know that he who plays the piper dictates the tune. There are known
ways enshrined in the constitution of the party by which the party is funded.
“What we are not used to in Nigeria are innovative ways of utilising these
avenues. I have consistently advocated e-registration as a way of raising funds
for the party. “By this module, nobody is disenfranchised from registering in the
party. The registration fees and annual dues go straight to the coffers of the
party.”
Wrath of the governors
Following the retreat, Tukur commenced moves to revive the online registration
and by that inevitably incurred the wrath of the governors, and not surprisingly,
a year later, he was forced out of office.
Nwodo…
Remarkably, the present National Working Committee, NWC which is a carryover
of the Tukur leadership has now pledged to forge ahead with the project, albeit
reluctantly.
Giving the determination of the NWC to forge ahead with the project, the NWC
in a statement last Sunday said:
“The National Working Committee (NWC), after very wide consultations with
critical stakeholders, and in line with the wishes and aspirations of our teeming
supporters across the country, has approved the resuscitation of the e-
registration project.
“This project, which was initially presented in the 52nd National Executive
Committee (NEC) meeting of our great party on August 12, 2010, is aimed,
among other things, at harmonizing our membership data, returning ownership
of the party to the people and strengthening our various structures at all levels
across the country.
“The NWC believes that the e-registration is indeed a decisive step towards
enthroning internal democracy and giving every member a voice in the party.
“While details of the process will be transmitted to our various structures
across the nation, the NWC announces that Edo state would be used as a pilot
for the exercise. Consequently, the earlier scheduled Edo state congresses are
by this announcement, deferred until the completion of the pilot e-registration
exercise in the state.
“The national leadership, by this, charges all members in Edo state to make
themselves available for the e-registration as well as work hard to win new
members and more supporters for the party in the state. Remarkably, Senator
Godswill Akpabio who as governor was believed to be in the forefront against
the e-registration exercise was named in the Raymond Dokpesi led committee
to supervise the project. Akpabio was not present at the inauguration of the
committee last Wednesday and no reason was given. It is doubtful that the
former governor has been won over to the project especially given his own
leadership of the party in his native Akwa Ibom State.
Tight grip of the party
Given the sensitivities about the scheme it was also not surprising that the
party chose to kick off the project from Edo State, the only state where
elections are expected to hold soon that is without a sitting PDP governor.
It is believed that no sitting PDP governor would have allowed the scheme to
hold in his state as doing so would immediately deprive the governor of his
tight grip on the party.
However, as the pressure on the party continues, it is difficult to see the party
refusing to reinvent itself and its strategies.
As Chief Olisa Metuh, the spokesman of the party said in the statement last
Sunday, the project is aimed at returning the party to the control of the people.
“Finally, the NWC reaffirms its irrevocable commitment towards ensuring that
the control of the party is returned to the people, in line with the ideals of the
founding fathers, while urging all members to remain focused and continue to
work together in furthering the rebuilding effort.” Perhaps, the PDP could again
return to the roots.