The immediate past National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned the newly inaugurated National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to be wary of powerful forces in the party.
The former National officers said strong party leaders who installed the chairman could also remove him from office.
Ayu, a former Senate President, and other newly elected national officers were sworn in on Friday. They took their oath of office at a ceremony held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
The chairman of the Deputies Forum and former deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Diran Odeyemi, gave the advice in his valedictory speech at a session held during the week to mark the end of the tenure of the former NWC.
He said, “Advice for incoming national chairman: please be just, fair and seek God’s guidance on issues that come to your table. The system that enthroned you can remove you at any time. It is our style in the PDP; (They chorus) Hosanna today, Crucify him tomorrow. In whatever position we find ourselves, let us be reminded that there will be tomorrow.”
Odeyemi recalled how they (deputies) were unfairly treated, saying they all came into office with excitement and were determined to serve but ended up being “unused extra tyres, redundant and useless.”
He said regardless of how they were sidelined, they complemented the efforts of their bosses where requested, adding that the embattled former chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, didn’t carry them along.
He added, “I want to place on record that as deputies, we met officially with the former Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, only three times. He was never ready to meet with us. Our complaints about engagement were rebuffed, hopes to serve were dashed and we were rendered inconsequential.
“We had to rely on rumours and hearsay for information about our dear party. We had to lobby for engagements and assignments. Of course, our position as deputies did not come with any monetary allowance and so we were not given. Even when there were social outings, we were never taken along. It was that bad.”
Odeyemi expressed the forum’s call for a review of the party’s constitution to either scrap the position of deputies or give them roles.
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Meanwhile, the advice by the Deputies Forum seems to be predicated on the fact that in the history of the party, none of its national chairmen completed the four years provided for by the constitution.
Dr Alex Ekwueme, who was the first elected vice president of Nigeria, was the first chairman of the party in 1998. He left the position to take part in the party’s presidential primaries which he lost to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was succeeded by a former Governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar, who was in office between 1998 and 1999. Senator Barnabas Gemade took over from Lar and was in office between 1999 and 2001 when Chief Audu Ogbeh took over from him.
Like those before him, Ogbeh also did not complete his tenure as he was forced out of office due to the crisis in the Anambra State Chapter of the party which the then President, Obasanjo, said was not well-handled by the party chairman.
The first Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Senator Ahmadu Ali, succeeded Ogbeh and was in office between 2005 and 2008. But a former National Secretary of the party, Vincent Ogbulafor, was elected as the national chairman in 2008. He was forced to resign in 2010.
Then, a former governor of Enugu State, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, was merely in office for one year when he was sacked and was succeeded by Dr Haliru Mohammed, who also did not last one year before he was succeeded by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, a former national secretary of the party.
Baraje was in office between 2011 and 2012 till Dr Bamanga Tukur took over from him and presided over the affairs of the party between 2012 and 2014 before he was forced to resign under former President Goodluck Jonathan due to the crisis that engulfed the party as a result of defections by some governors to the newly formed APC.
A former governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Mu’azu, was in the saddle of the party for just a year, 2014 – 2015, during which the party lost the presidential election for the first time since 1999. Till date, there were speculations that he worked for the APC, an allegation he denied. He is now a member of the APC.
Also, a former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was installed as the national chairman in 2015. His tenure was characterised by litigation and accusations that he was planted by the APC to derail the party. Sheriff, who was sacked by the Supreme Court in 2016, is also a member of the APC today.
Sheriff was succeeded by a former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who served as the caretaker committee chairman, midwifed the convention that ushered in Secondus as the national chairman in 2017. Secondus-led NWC was on Friday succeeded by Ayu.
