Ohakim
By COLLINS
Ughalaa
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State may
implode before the primary election. I have strong feelings about this. I have
talked about the PDP imploding before the 2015 elections and said that such
implosion would cost the party the much needed 2015 governorship election. But
recent developments in the party have shown that the implosion may happen
quicker that I had prophesied. The party may implode just before the primary.
Yes, that is how quick it can happen. The party, from the look of things is
sitting on a keg of gun powder and what we are waiting for is the slightest
ignition, the least contact with friction or fire or any such thing that can
cause the implosion. It is not as if the ingredients for the implosion are
scarce, no; they are in quantum supply, and we have them in excess. The supply
is more than the demand, as the economists would say. The only reason the party
has not imploded so far is the tiny thread that is holding the party. And this
fall will be worse than that of 2011, because it will reverberate all over the
country, that PDP, the once glorious party, has fallen, like Babylon The Great.
The PDP should hold on to the tiny thread and ensure
it does not cut; ensure that it is not stretched to the limits; ensure that the
thread is not held on loosely. But I am afraid. I am afraid that the PDP may
let this tiny thread cut; sorry, the PDP will cut this tiny thread and disgrace
all of us. For one, the PDP is not behaving like a party that was forced to
play the opposition for a period of four years. The party seems to be
unconscious of the fact that it is an opposition party and that it is facing a
formidable candidate from the All Progressives Congress (APC) who is the
Governor of the state, and who has the masses following him. The PDP is
behaving like soldiers drinking and dancing in the face of a fierce battle,
just like in the days of Noah when men were drinking and getting married,
ignoring the warning from Noah and the impending destruction of the world. They
did not mind what Noah said to them. They did not care that their world was
about to be destroyed; and they continued to enjoy, to get married, and perhaps
insult Noah and call him all sorts of name. But they couldn’t stop the
impending destruction of their world. God did not continue to tolerate them,
and he wasted no time in destroying that world. And they all perished, save
Noah and his family and some animals.
As it is now, about 19 aspirants have picked their
nomination and expression of interest forms. This is a reduction from the more
than 26 aspirants that were in the media space for some months now claiming to
be running for the governorship of the state under the PDP. We knew some of
them were pretenders. And they have bowed out after enjoying the euphoria and
after some people have addressed them as His Excellency. And perhaps they will
continue to enjoy this title. That is what we see in our clime. If you want to
be addressed as Honourable, no matter how dishonourable you are, buy some
drinks and some meat pie and call friends and announce to them over the drink
and the meat pie, that you are running for the governorship or the presidency
or the Senate or the House of Reps; and the next thing you see is that they
will begin to address you as Hon; His Excellency, etc,etc, etc.
As at my last count the following
persons have picked their forms and are set to fight for the party’s ticket;
set to tear down the party’s umbrella: Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, Rt Hon Emeka
Ihedioha, Prof. Jude Njoku, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Hon Bethel Amadi, Chief Charles
Onyeagbako, Chief Humphrey Anumudu, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, Chief Jerry Chukwueke,
Lady Clara Njoku, Chief Charley Amanze, Engr. Emma Ojinere, Chief Chris Brown,
Chief Charles Onuoha, Dr. Ngozi Olehi, Chief Ken Ojiri, Barr. Ken Njemanze,
Benjamin Nzimako and Chief Mike Ahamba SAN.
These are heavy men and they are set
to scatter and leave the party breathless, all in the mad race for the
governorship. No party can house these big men and escape an implosion. It will
take only an act of God to keep off the implosion. 19 aspirants is too much for
the PDP in Imo State; it is an unnecessary number, and this shows how ill
prepared the party is for the daunting task ahead. If the party is thinking of
winning the governorship election in the state in 2015the 19 aspirants it has
for the primary election is unnecessary. The party does not need it. How can 19
elephants fight without pulling down the house, without destroying the
platform? How do you get 19 men to lock horns without the house collapsing? How
do you house 19 powerful men in one umbrella without tearing the umbrella? That
is the matter with the PDP now; their blessing has become their curse.
But how do men change their own
blessing to become a curse? How do men change their advantage to disadvantage?
How do men make their strength become their weakness? That is what the PDP has
done, and by this reckless action they have placed themselves on the ugly road
to perdition, on the road to hell. And hell does not hold any sweet experience.
The Christians, not the Bible, say it is a place of torment, anguish and
gnashing of the teeth.
I had expected the state chairman of
the party, Barr Nnamdi Anyaehie, to come up with a position on the number of
those aspiring to contest the governorship election. I had expected that the
party should have said “this is our position as far as the election is
concerned”. I had hoped that the leadership of the party in the state would
come up with a policy direction on what to do to get the state from the APC.
Alas! I don’t think the party has a programme. It appear to me that the party
has left every strategy and programme to winning back the state to the
aspirants, and once a candidate emerges, you would see that the party is
grossly ill prepared for the outcome. This is why the party is left only with
the carcass after every election. That is why the party is always rebuilding
and never held intact. That is why Mr. A leaves the party today and returns to
contest an election every four years. And it is my opinion that Barr Anyaehie
is leading the party to hell. He might be a good leader; he might be
democratic; he might be the legal and legitimate leader; he might be trusted;
but as far as the election is concerned, I don’t see any programme coming from
him yet, except that he has been singing around that he would provide level
playing ground for all. And to the best of his ability he has done this. He has
not stopped anybody from contesting; that is democratic enough. He has welcomed
those who have returned to the party. That is fair enough. He has not
discriminated against anybody. That is wonderful. But are these enough
strategies to keep the party? I am afraid. Are these excellent strategies to
win the election and avoid the impending implosion? I think a hell no!
Every leader who has a mandate to
deliver must have some level of autocracy in his democracy. He must do the
extraordinary. What is more important is the success he records. For example,
in the press there is a rule that a newspaper is not produced by a committee.
There is always one person whose responsibility it is to produce the newspaper,
and he has a deadline. He must do all he can to make sure that he produces a
newspaper that is good, that can compete in the market and serve the society.
This person is called the Editor. It is his job to produce the newspaper; and
if the newspaper were to be produced by a committee the Editor would have to
seek the opinion of every member of the committee on every item for
publication. This is the reason it is also said that there is no democracy in a
newsroom.
If Anyaehie wants to be a nice man,
if he wants to provide a level playing ground for all contestants – that is
fair and democratic – but he should understand that that will also put the
party on the road to perdition. My findings show that Anyeahie has not called a
meeting of all the aspirants. There is no agenda for a consensus candidate. All
the candidates are allowed to pursue their aspirations and I bet that what this
freedom will lead to is implosion.
But why the level playing ground
mantra? How many of the aspirants are ready to compete in a level playing
ground? What Anyaehie is providing is what many of the aspirants loathe. They
don’t want a free and fair election, and it is needless making that a policy.
What the aspirants want is that they want to emerge the candidate of the party
and the only way many of them want to do that is to bend the rules. Bend the
rules they must, to clinch the ticket of the party. Nothing shows the
bitterness that is brewing in the party among the aspirants and the impending
implosion more than the delegates’ election that was conducted on Saturday.
That election has brought to the fore the fear of an implosion in the PDP.
Reports show that in Imo State the election did not hold in many places yet
there are results from those places where the elections did not hold. There are
reports of aspirants fighting each other. There are reports of aspirants
hijacking the results sheets and running away with them. There were all kinds
of intrigues, and that is what to expect in family that lacks organization, in
a family where everyone is big. I have said before that the PDP is populated
with people with big ego and it is this big ego that is leading the party on
the road to perdition.
In a party that is organized, where
there is unity and sanity, the likes of Ken Ojiri would have been prevailed
upon to withdraw from the race. In a party where the members are serious about
their mission, the likes of Chief Charles Onyeagbako would have been prevailed
upon to drop his aspiration; after all they say that the interest of the party
is supreme. And who determines what the interest of the party is? You cannot
determine the interest of the party and push it forward when you are led by the
people that only cut the snake by the tail. Only people that are pragmatic
leaders stamp their feet and say what the interest of the party is and they go
on to propagate it, and by the time you say good morning it would hank sank
into the consciousness of the people, and they will follow. And it will become
a culture, a way of life, and then you achieve.
Yes, the like of Dr Kpaduwa, though
a man of vision and great experience, would have been prevailed upon by the
leadership of the party to withdraw. In fact, the party should have since come
up with a programme of having a consensus candidate. And if the party had taken
that position, the number of aspirants would have been reduced. Yes, the like
of Chief Jerry Chukwueke would have been asked to withdraw. It doesn’t not
matter how rich you are. On the other hand, the leadership of the party would
have come up with an elimination process where aspirants are asked to pick
lots. That would have reduced their number. And the party would have been
safer, better.
And as it is now, the life of the
party has gone out of the hands of the state chairman. It is no more for him to
give life to the party. There is very little he can do because it appears he is
surrounded by men to whom he cannot say no. He seems to be the kind of person
that says yes to all the aspirants because he wants to provide a level playing
ground. It is up to Mr. President and the national leadership of the party to
take actions to save the party from implosion. The President and the national
leadership of the party should not sit on the fence. They should do something
quickly because the life of Imo PDP is in their hands. They should summon a
meeting of all aspirants and have a consensus candidate. That is the only
medication that can keep the PDP alive. And it is no more in the hands of the
state leadership of the party. Abuja should anoint a candidate and let the
other back him.
And the way the Imo PDP is, there
can never be a free and fair primary election. The aspirants have demonstrated
this and we have got their message. If the PDP goes into a primary election the
way it is now, it cannot come out of it. The only thing we will see is the
implosion; we will see the carcass of the party lying by the way side.
Rochas 
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Chris Anyanwu
Kpaduwa