Nigeria special President Olusegun Obasanjo: has said nothing about a third term but everything points to his wanting one Nigeria Project Obasanjo in full swing Lindsay Barrett on the political situation in Nigeria today. “The sense of ‘imperial right’ being exhibited by President Obasanjo,” Barrett writes, “is what has annoyed and alienated a substantial proportion of the founding elite of the ruling PDP, but at the same time it appears to have captured the imagination of a new breed of political operatives who work closely with the president and are ready to defend his decisions.” 2007 promises to be a very interesting year. igeria’s ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abacha’s attempts to install what would have been a “democratic was founded only after the sudden death in 1998 of the dictatorship”. It is not, therefore, surprising that many of the military ruler, General Sani Abacha, but it emerged from founding fathers of the ruling party are now openly expressing Na process of resistance against Abacha’s attempt to install anxiety over fears that President Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a a so-called democracy through a carefully-plotted self-succession bid. former military ruler, appears to be reviving a similar agenda. This was the main purpose for which the group of elder When Abacha’s sudden demise threw his entire plan into the statesmen and activists who formed the core of the party’s base wastebasket, the founding fathers decided to form a fully-fledged came together and risked their lives and freedom to challenge party to contest the 1999 elections. It may well be that the haste 56 n New African March 2006 with which these elections were organised caused the new parties to power in the 2003 elections. Since then, Obasanjo has engineered the suffer from fundamental flaws. party’s rejection of several members of its executive, and removed his The PDP turned out to be a conglomerate of unlikely bed- own handpicked chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, a seasoned politician fellows right from the start. The founders included conservatives from Benue State who was once considered ripe for presidential like the former vice-president, Alex Ekwueme, middle of the road aspiration. When Ogbeh was replaced with a caretaker chairman, liberals like Prof Jerry Gana, and men of impeccable progressive Colonel Ahmadu, a former military colleague of Obasanjo’s, the credentials like the former Plateau State governor Chief Solomon perception of increasing presidential control began to gain substance. Lar, all of whom were members of a pressure group called G-34, In the last few months, it has become obvious that Obasanjo is and the entire body of the reformist political movement created by interested in gaining further control of the party’s operations, and the late Gen Shehu Yar’Adua, known as the Peoples Democratic most importantly its strategy for producing the next president. Movement (PDM). Several Nigerian commentators have speculated that Obasanjo is As the eventual name of the party suggests, this latter group was dominant “Obasanjo is in its formation. PDM members such as portraying the late Chuba Okadigbo, Chief Anthony himself as Anenih, and the man who became its leader the ‘father of after the death of Yar’Adua, the former the party and customs officer Atiku Abubakar, soon the nation’ emerged as the driving force of the party. and virtually Abubakar’s eventual position as vice- disowning any president under Obasanjo, and Okadigbo’s debt to the PDM. as president of the Senate for a while, He has openly illustrated the ascendancy of the PDM excoriated the in the party when it first took power. Its leader of the members and close associates were deeply PDM, Vice- involved in mobilising the grassroot forces President Atiku that helped the party to win its first election. Abubakar (right), They also played a crucial part in persuading for acts of party members to accept the recently- disloyalty.” released political prisoner, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as their presidential candidate. However, six years later, Obasanjo is Nigeria portraying himself as the “father of the party and the nation” and setting up a situation where he may even be made eligible for a third virtually disowning any debt to the PDM. He has openly excoriated term through constitutional reform. It is widely believed that the the leader of the PDM, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, for acts of president has encouraged the promoters of this reform agenda who Project Obasanjo in full swing disloyalty. Some known supporters of Obasanjo have publicly called have been touting it in the National Assembly. for the vice-president to be investigated for corruption, and he was So far, the most vehement resistance has come from members recently forced to deny that he was involved in a plot to destabilise of the PDM led by the former academician, Prof Ango Abdullahi. the government. His public rejection of the strategies now being put in place by These signs of internal disenchantment have raised the nation’s a new party executive, which was gerrymandered into position political temperature as it has become increasingly obvious that by presidential intervention, has raised fundamental issues. Prof Obasanjo is building the party’s future on his personal political Abdullahi has expressed serious doubts over whether the PDP’s preferences. The PDP claimed such an overwhelming victory at the original intention to install a genuinely representative democratic 2003 polls in spite of widespread electoral irregularities that many of order can be achieved through Obasanjo’s strategic reforms. its detractors suggested that it was trying to install a one-party state. Abdullahi’s protests and analyses are founded on a genuine insider’s Although Obasanjo and other senior party officials denied this, it knowledge and has thus elicited some vehement responses from is noticeable that the opposition parties have been rendered almost apologists for the party and advocates of the presidential agenda. impotent by raids on their leadership, and the infiltration of their Many of these people, such as the highly articulate new secretary ranks by agent-provocateurs. Many of these individuals have been of the party, Chief Ojo Madueke, who served as minister of tourism rewarded with juicy political appointments and contracts by the and later as minister of transport, have insisted that the spectre of PDP government, thus lending credibility to the speculation that a breakdown of order and discipline in the party was real and that they were deliberately planted. Obasanjo’s actions were meant to prevent this. These tactics are part of a clear strategy for internal control Madueke describes Obasanjo’s close watch over the party’s affairs of the party by a tightknit clique known more for its loyalty to as necessary to instil discipline and efficient administrative practices Obasanjo than for its adherence to party rules and regulations. in the affairs of the nation as well as the party. But opponents of the This syndrome became obvious after the PDP was returned to process claim that rather than achieve this, the president has installed March 2006 New African n 57 D i a s p o r a Nigeria special a personality cult both in the country and the party in which there is no room to tolerate dissent or alternative views of governance. The perception of the president’s desire to increase his personal control over the party has gained credibility, especially after his recent utterances concerning the mode of selection of his successor. In a speech to the party convention held in Abuja in early December, Obasanjo asked party members to trust him to interpret the issue of selection of the appropriate presidential candidate, although he did not suggest that the party would follow any laid down formula. This statement gave many observers food for thought. Although the convention was the most orderly of any such gathering in the party’s short history, it insisted on following what is known as the method of affirmation of a pre-selected list of aspirants for party offices. When this method was first mooted, several party members went to court to challenge the proposal to hold state congresses and a national convention where lists of preferred candidates would be presented and affirmed rather than elected. They won the case. At that point, the party executive, claiming that they had Once upon a time… it used to be a good team – Atiku (left) and Obasanjo already modified their plans to ensure that the majority of those to be listed and affirmed emerged from an elective process at the state automatically pencilled in to take over from Obasanjo in 2007. congresses, pledged to honour the court decision. However, the state However, it is now clear that Obasanjo is reconsidering any such congresses that took place in early November proved to be highly understanding. He said recently that the minority tribes of the controlled, and there is no doubt that the delegates list and the South-South geo-political zone who have been campaigning that choice of names listed for selection at the national convention were it is their turn to produce the president, do have good reason manipulated to a large extent by Obasanjo’s supporters. for their agitation. This has created a regional divide in the The most important consequence of the above events has been deliberations within the party and helps to explain why there is so that many former top officers of the party have resigned their posts. much speculation over whether Obasanjo is preparing to create the These include the national chairman, Audu Ogbeh, and several conditions for an extension of his own term in office.