Strong indications have emerged that the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party may spill over to the 10th National Assembly which will be inaugurated in June.
It was gathered on Tuesday that some newly elected PDP House of Representatives members might yield to the G-5 governors’ wish when the battle for the leadership of the House and minority caucus begins.
Though the PDP had yet to issue any directives to lawmakers elected on its platform, there were signs on Tuesday that some newly elected members might go along with the five governors’ positions regarding the choice of the minority and the House leadership.
The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, while hosting the Deputy Speaker of the House, Idiris Wase, penultimate Monday, said the Rivers PDP would support the All Progressives Congress at the national level.
Wase is contesting the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“The truth must be told that we are going to support the leadership of your party (APC) at the national level,” Wike assured Wase when the latter visited the governor in Port Harcourt.
It was learnt the other members of the G-5, who also have loyalists among the lawmakers-elect, might align with Wike in deciding the next leaders of the house.
The G-5 comprising Governors Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), had been at loggers-head with the PDP leadership since the party’s presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar emerged after a contentious convention in May 2022.
The governors were insisting on the removal of the suspended PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu to ensure balance in the party’s hierarchy.
A member of the House from Rivers State, Dagomie Abiante, told our correspondent that Wike was expected to play a role in determining who would become the leader of the PDP caucus in the 10th Assembly.
The lawmaker noted that Rivers was one of the few states with the most ranking members in the House.
He said, “Does the party have a choice outside of Rivers and Wike? The PDP does not have a choice outside of Wike. It is not about people jumping around and making noise. Some of us are very calm and quiet. It is our nature.
“The truth has to be told: the party does not have any future away from Wike. In the entire North, how many are returning members of the party? If you are talking about experienced returning members, Rivers has them. Outside of Rivers, where else?”
When asked about the likelihood of the National Working Committee of the PDP ignoring Wike’s loyalists when nominating leaders for the minority caucuses in the Senate and the House, Abiante noted that Ayu was no longer the national chairman of the PDP and could not decide the minority caucuses’ leaders.
Ayu was suspended from office by a Benue State High Court last month following a suit filed by Conrad Utaan, a former aide to Ortom.
The lawmaker added, “There is no PDP without Wike; maybe you are talking about a different party. But if you are talking about the PDP, it is Wike that calls the shot and the truth must be told. They abandoned the party and someone rebuilt the party. Even when they came back, because they were allowed into the house, they did not know where the keys and the rooms were.”
Abiante said the performance of the PDP in the 2023 general elections was “painful to everybody,” adding that instead of the leadership of the party to reconcile the warring factions after the polls, it continued with its hostile actions.
“This is where it has landed us and today, he (Ayu) is no longer the national chairman,” he added, stressing, “If he is no longer the chairman, where is he going to do the nominations from?”
Two ranking lawmakers from Osun State, Oluwole Oke, and Bamidele Salam, declined to speak about who should nominate the minority caucus leadership.
Oke said, “I don’t want to get into such an argument. It won’t help in healing the wounds,” while Salam said, “No, I don’t want to comment on it.”
When told that the nominations for minority caucus leadership positions could compound the crisis in the PDP, Oke said, “We would get over it except we part ways.”
Incidentally, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, where Oke and Salam represent, had pitched his tent with the Ayu-led NWC against the G-5 governors.
Speaking on the possibility of the minority leadership being hijacked by other forces, Abiante noted that the outcome of supplementary elections would go a long way in determining the next leader of the House.
He recalled how the PDP failed in its bid to nominate leaders of the minority caucus of the current 9th House.
Kingsley Chinda and the three others had lost their battle for the leadership of the minority caucus of the House.
The PDP had nominated Kingsley Chinda, Toby Okechukwu, Umar Barde and Muraina Ajibola for the minority caucus leadership.
However, the conglomerate of opposition parties in the House appointed Ndudi Elumelu as Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu as Deputy Minority Leader, Gideon Gwani as Minority Whip, and Adesegun Adekoya as Deputy Minority Whip.