After Saturday, November 1, 2014, we shall all know the route the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Imo state is heading towards winning the elections in the state in the House of Assembly, Federal House, Senate and Gubernatorial Seats in 2015 elections.
Saturday is the long awaited day those going to vote in the primaries will emerge. It is the day delegates that will elect Aspirants that will emerge as candidates will be selected. That is, if it holds.
But as usual with PDP, even before the Delegate Congress is conducted the list of Delegates had emerged. Aspirants and their PDP Ward chairmen, LGA chairmen and other cohorts have produced lists of those they think will vote for them in the primaries not based on party hierarchy or democratic principles in the Wards. And these lists must be forced down the throat of other PDP members, to swallow hook line and sinker.
In producing these “Delegates” whose elections were held in private Hotel rooms in Owerri, fire has been ignited again in Imo PDP as the elections approach. Imo PDP also looks blind, deaf and dump to ominous problems each time what needed was wisdom.
From the developments emerging from various Wards in the State, PDP is approach the 2007 and 2011 Armageddon again that stretched the party to its elasticity. I am fore seeing a situation where the party will shoot itself on the foot again, and in the end begins to ask what happened, even as it is so clear that the Leopard can never change its colour.
You do not repeat same action and expect to have different results. Political selfishness has set in again in Imo PDP, whose result will be an inferno that will consume all.
If the Big Shots and those running Imo PDP can have a reflection as per what the party and its members have passed through these three years, the story emanating from the issue of Delegate election would have been different. But Imo PDP takes its members for granted, only regarding those they see as the Leaders of the party, forgetting that democracy is all about number. In Democracy while the minority have their say, the majority have their way.
Tomorrow’s “election” of Delegates, which would be conducted on the open field is nothing but a formality, a sham, because those who will emerge had already penciled down months ago.
Unfortunately for Imo PDP, in pursuance of selfish interests by each Aspirant who controls a given part of Imo state, the party is being decimated beyond redemption, because there may not be that time to heal wounds, as the election prober approaches.
Presently, as each Godfather writes his or her own list for onward movement to Abuja for final approval, disgruntled members, the real owners of the party, the masses, the electorate who stand on the sun an rain during election days, who do not have God fathers, but contributes immensely to the party’s success in their communities are watching with keen interest.
For instance, how proper can it be that a strong PDP member, who funds the party in his Ward, lives up to expectation within the PDP responsibility, merits to be a Delegate, is left out because one Big man does not like his face? What encouragement does such people have to continue to spend their personal funds on the party? What enthusiasm can such people have to continue to work for the party, only to be humiliated and left out when it comes the time for him or her to enjoy a little benefit from the party?
Why does PDP behave like a Crocodile who eats its Babies when it is hungry, only to begin to frantically look for them after it had eaten full on them?
Let me say it that morning tells the day. The way Imo PDP is going shows that the party has not learnt any lessons from its past mistakes. The party deludes itself all the time that ad-hoc approaches to issues are the only way to solve problems. The party tried it in 2007 and failed. It tried it again in 2011 and did not fare better, yet it lumbers on its misfortunes as if it can go away with a wave of the hand.
Now let us go to the basics. Does Imo PDP realize that since Chief Achike Udenwa ruled Imo State for eight years from 1999 to 2007 the party has never won any other Governorship election in Imo state?
Because of how things are in Imo, many PDP members do not realize this serious matter. They wallow is fools paradise believing that all is well.
It is very unfortunate that despite the tough terrain under which PDP trails in Imo, the party is yet to have a self-discovery.
In 2007, Chief Ikedi Ohakim won the Governorship seat of Imo state. Was he a PDP person when he won that seat? No. Though he was a PDP man and frustrated out. He joined the Peoples Progressive Alliance PPA under which platform he won the Governorship in 2007.
Therefore, when you go to the archives of Imo state, the record there is that Ikedi Ohakim was of PPA.
We are aware how Ikedi Ohakim became the Governor of Imo state, therefore, I need not bother you about that. But I won’t fail to mention that the man behaved like a gentle man and returned to PDP with his mandate and thereby gave Imo PDP members the opportunity to restitute themselves and enjoy the leverage of a political party in power in Imo state.
In 2011, the demon entered PDP family again and the party threw away the bath water with the Baby, by working against one of their own and again, the 2007 debacle repeated itself as PDP lost the Douglas House Owerri.
Like in 2007, another PDP “Son” frustrate out by the “Father” joined another train and arrived Douglas House to the detriment of PDP.
Because of political subterfuge, conspiracy, jealousy and greed, Owelle Rochas Okorocha under the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance APGA was able to shove PDP aside and till date occupies Douglas House. So, technically speaking, the PDP has not won the Imo Governorship election since 2007. True of False?
Very sorry to say it, PDP may lose again next year. It seems the party is satisfied using other platforms to win the Governorship seat than the PDP itself.
But the unfortunate thing now is that while it was the PDP machinery that produced Ohakim under PPA following some agreements then, it was the same PDP that produced Okorocha under APGA but by anti party by its members and conspiracy and therefore no stated agreement with Okorocha.
This is the reason since Okorocha assumed office he has embarked on destroying the PDP. He started by poaching some PDP Lawmakers, including the present Speaker Rt Hon Benji Uwajumogu.
It is only a fool who will delude himself that Imo PDP fortune’s has not decline since 2011 following the firm grip Okorocha has on the state, operating without let and control. He has been able to demystify the PDP if not occasional whimpers from the party.
Under this scenario, Imo PDP needs not be told that its house deserves to put in order, except the party, as usual, wants its candidates in the coming elections to operate on their own devoid of party support.
What do I mean? In 2011, the PDP literally abandoned their candidates to use what they have to get what the want. That was why the party lost the Governorship election including some Senatorial and Federal House Seats, not to talk of House of Assembly slots. And that was the first time the PDP was hit so hard in electoral defeats in the state.
In 2007, despite losing the Governorship seat to PPA, the PDP garnered every other position from the State Assembly to the Senate. Therefore, in 2015, how prepared is the PDP to reclaim its lost grounds? Can the party make hay when its house is on fire?
The Delegate list will tear the party apart if not handled with wisdom. Can the PDP be able to manage the troubles that will be generated from the Delegate Congress Crises, coupled with the fact that the tenure of the Executives in the state, LGAs and Wards will expire this month?
If the party is able to manage the situations as they unfold, then there is the hope that the party will post a good result in the elections. But should the party continue its usual way of seeing its perceived leaders as bigger than the party itself, Imo PDP will live to continue to fumble in the Governorship elections.
The matter is even dicey now because there is a formidable opposition. Whoever sees Okorocha as a pushover among the folks, is doing that at a very high risk.
Even if the PDP is able to push Okorocha out in 2014 it will be a concerted effort, as he is not only the incumbent, but bent on proving a point.
In other words, Imo PDP cannot face Okorocha with a limping leg because the battle will be only for able bodied people. With a crack on the wall, Imo PDP will have only itself to blame.
Let me state it here that the grassroots of the party had waited patiently all these years to see how PDP will fair in 2015 election. They are waiting to see if Imo PDP can do things in the prober way by giving respect to the Mighty and encourage the low. Despite Okorocha’s enticing carrots at the grassroots, Imo PDP members are still patiently waiting giving their Leaders the last chance in 2015. Anything to the contrary may spell doom for the party.
Many things have been working in favour of the party, especially Okorocha’s antagonistic style to governance, which led him to number his enemies and count his friends.
Had Okorocha been a liberal Leader who has a open heart like Achike Udenwa and Ikedi Ohakim to accommodate political opponents, Imo PDP by now would have been picking the pieces.
This Delegate election is a litmus test that will make or mar the party. Sure, there are those who have been funding the party, and therefore seen as the “owners” of Imo PDP. But politics without the masses is failure.
The earlier these leaders realize that even though all are not created same, and therefore can never have the same perspective on issues, the better for these Leaders and PDP. In a democracy all people can never think alike. That is the reason for choice which Democracy professes. There must be internal democracy within Imo PDP. There must be political space for all to thrive to the success and development of the party Trampling on others will cause resistance and trouble. Any implosion within the PDP will enhance the chances of Okorocha and whoever is the APGA candidate.
The earlier Imo PDP realizes that it has not won Imo Governorship since after Achike Udenwa the better for her. There may not be enough time to reconcile aggrieved people, and there is no need waking a sleeping Dog when it already sleeping. If the thunder strikes a third time in Imo PDP in 2015, the party will have itself to blame as the repair will be costly.
Okorocha is the sole candidate of the APC and there will not be post-primary squabbles in the party. In APGA, it is either Chief Emma Iheanacho or Okey Eze. Just two camps.
In Imo PDP, there are about twenty six camps or more of various Governorship Aspirants. They party may as usual say whoever does not want to fall in line should go to hell. It has done it twice now, and twice it paid dearly for it. If PDP is satisfied with “surrogate” candidates from other parties we shall see this time.
But if I were Imo PDP Leaders, they must try and read the pulse of the Imo masses accurately. A party that lost Governorship seat twice in a state is in trouble. It has escaped twice after its usual follies. This time around it may be a costly mistake that may take time to be corrected. Let Imo PDP not take her teeming supporters for granted in 2015. It is very dangerous.
