PDP On Edge As Decamped Members Reject Offer To Return

At the inauguration of Mr Iyorchia Ayu as the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in 2021, he vowed to bring back all members, especially foundation members of the party who had defected to other parties.

But four months after, and as the 2023 general election approaches, anxiety is beginning to mount over failure to woo back to its fold former members of the party as part of the rebranding process.

At his inauguration, Ayu had urged members who left the party to come back home.

Unfortunately, while none of the high profile members who long defected had returned, the chairman has unsuccessfully tried to bring back the fresh defectors like governors Ben Ayade and Dave Umahi of Cross River and Ebonyi states respectively.

But the moves have hit the rock, THE WHISTLER can report.

According to a source at the PDP National Headquarters, Ayade was approached with a promise that he would be given the opportunity to restructure the party in the state and be the leader of the party (an opportunity he lost before decamping).

He would also be given the privilege to have either the senate or presidential ticket of the party in 2023.

However, These overtures did not sink in well with some stakeholders of the party in the state such as former governors, Messrs Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke, being notable party leaders in the state.

An aide of Governor Ayade told THE WHISTLER that he was not prepared to listen to them in the first place because “you can’t trust the PDP. You can’t trust these people; we know them.”

He explained that the governor was okay with his membership of the APC and was at home, noting that, “He’s treated with respect; he’s treated with courtesy.

“He was allowed to create fresh structure for the party. The governor selected, by consensus, all the elected party executives APC has in the state today.

“That’s why there’s peace in Cross River APC, not the infighting he faced while in the PDP.”

But an aide to Imoke told our correspondent on phone that the former governor was not against Ayade’s return and accused Ayade of fabricating lies to decamp.

Not wanting to be quoted, he said Ayade “bastardised leadership in Cross River State” and had nothing to offer, adding he governed the state like his personal fiefdom.

He said the personalisation of leadership in the state where the governor appeared unquestionable was the reason for his defection plus “his ambition of being Nigeria’s President because he was promised APC presidential ticket, which he bought into, but he won’t get it.”

While sources in Governor Umahi’s camp have hinted that the governor was disappointed with the development in the APC and had approached some PDP leaders with conditions to return, the governor himself had denied the rumour.

He vowed never to return to the party saying, “With all these enormous achievements I have made under the All Progressive Congress (APC); what will make me to go back to Egypt, called PDP?

“For that, I pray that God will never forgive the person who initiated the fake news that I have plans to go back to PDP,” he had stated.

With Ayu’s moves hitting brick walls in Ebonyi and Cross River states, a member of the National Executive Committee of the PDP confided in THE WHISTLER that it was the wrong move because the party should have been seen doing something different to be attractive before the journey to return defected members to its fold.

He pointed out that members who are returning to the PDP at the state level such as Bayelsa, Rivers, Lagos, Cross River among others, saw that PDP “is the best structure, that’s why they are returning.

“We must rebrand first. We must reposition the party and give it to the Nigerian masses instead of looking for big fishes.

“The big fishes were those that finished the party, so why make them a priority to return to the party?

“Let’s allow the masses decide the fate of the party by engaging them to take part in the affairs of the party. That’s my take.”

Ayu’s journey to rebrand was also met with cold treatment on Saturday when he led a team, including four former governors to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The former president told them he will never return to the party saying, “Since the day I tore my PDP card, that was the day I ceased to be a member of PDP. That day I vowed not to be a member of any political party.

“I will continue to be a statesman.”

Even Ayu’s blackmail approach of saying, “If you leave PDP, the blood of PDP will never leave you,” could not make Obasanjo change his mind.

While the current PDP leadership has agonized over it failure to return defected members to the party, there are also fears that other top members may defect to get premium benefit in sharing elective positions in the coming election.

A PDP member revealed that there has been fear in the party that former minister and governor of Kano State, Mr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, could leave the party to the APC.

Kwankwaso had expressed disappointment with the conduct of the party towards his camp in Kaduna State when the North West caucus of the party held its zonal event.

He said, “I’m not being treated well and my followers are being denied their due,” with the PDP under Ayu upset that he took such a complaint to the media instead of approaching the party to discuss the matter.

Several visits to him by long time ally, who’s the current governor of Kano State, Mr Abdullahi Ganduje, have also set the rumour mill on overdrive that he will likely defect.

Ganduje has visited Kwankwaso four times in the last few months for several reasons but observers say it was to mend fences and bring back Kwankwaso so they can team up to upset the balance of power in the party against the Ibrahim Shekarau faction in the state.

Also, the schism besetting the Ekiti State chapter of the party could spell doom for the party as former governor, Mr Ayo Fayose and Senator Abiodun Olujimi continue to fight over affairs of the party in the state.

The PDP leadership is said to be afraid of developments in Osun State, where Mr Ademola Adeleke is fighting to get the party’s governorship ticket in the coming governorship election in the state as this weaken the party’s chances.

It was gathered that should Adeleke fail to clinch the party’s guber ticket, he might decamp to the Social Democratic Party, SDP, to see out his ambition, which will further deplete the strength of the party.

Similar scenario is playing out in Imo State as former deputy speaker, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, who was removed by the Supreme Court as governor, is said to be strategising to decamp to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to actualise his 2023 governorship ambition.

Ihedioha though has denied any defection plan but his close aides have revealed that plans are on as he, alongside some of his political associates, see APGA as a more formidable party to dislodge the Hope Uzodimma government.

They cited the victory of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Charles Soludo, as blowing fresh wind of change in the South East geopolitical zone, and that APGA leadership including Soludo were willing to accept him to ensure the party takes control of governance in the zone.

While Ayu may be short of time to carry out his bid to return all members before the 2023 general election, some members have criticised the approach saying it was not necessary, advising that he moves away from the usual practice as it has never worked.

But the spokesman of the PDP, Mr Debo Ologunagba told THE WHISTLER in an exclusive interview that, “When you start a conversation, it’s not for the public. If conversation is going on to bring them back, it doesn’t happen in one day, it goes on because it’s a process.

“You know negotiation is a discussion process, it’s not a computerised process that you press a button and get a result.”

On Obasanjo, he said, “Nobody went to Abeokuta to woo anybody. The man (Obasanjo) said it clearly that he’s a statesman and he remains so not only in Nigeria but all over the world. And it remains so. His statements are very, very clear.”