The Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, was the political machinery put together by the late political icon, General Shehu Yar’Adua, which played a very prominent role in the formative years of the PDP. When Yar’Adua was alive, PDM provided the impetus for his impressive performance across the country during the September 1992 presidential primaries, which were later cancelled by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Naturally, most political soul mates of late Yar’Adua, like Chief Tony Anenih and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, found themselves in PDP. Since 1998, PDM has remained a very influential pressure group within the ruling PDP. But all that was to change a few months ago, precisely on August 17, when the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced out of the blues that it had formally registered PDM as one of the existing political parties in the country.
Apart from Atiku and his very close associates, the announcement took most members of the movement by surprise as they were totally in the dark when a few individuals sneaked into INEC to register the movement as a political party. From the body language and pronouncements of Atiku political pundits are of the view that he played more than a passing role in the subterranean manner the movement was transformed into a full blown political party.
When Atiku was bombarded by the media on the sudden registration of PDM by INEC his Media aide, Garba Shehu said, “While he (Atiku) remains a loyal PDP member, he doesn’t have the right or power to stop others from associating or seeking registration for new parties”.
According to Shehu, “Following press enquiries on the reported registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement as a political party, the former Vice President said he would always welcome the expansion of the political space to accommodate all shades of opinions or political hue. While admitting that many of his political associates are involved in the registering the PDM, Atiku Abubakar explained that he had no powers to stop adults with common interests from coming together to form a party.
“Freedom of association as enshrined in the constitution is the beauty of democracy and that he wouldn’t dissuade any of his followers from seeking a platform to promote their programmes. Political analysts recalled the active role of the PDM in the country’s democratic transition from the Babangida, Abacha and Abdulsalami administrations”.
Whatever explanation Atiku gave has not changed the public perception that he clandestinely engineered the registration of INEC in readiness for the 2015 presidential election. Political watchers are of the view that Atiku is conscious that he is not likely to win the PDP ticket to fly the party flag and PDM will be a fallback position as plan B in case the expected happens during the PDP convention.
On Wednesday, there was a meeting of the chieftains of Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, at the Shehu Yar’Adua centre in Abuja where they reappraised the circumstances surrounding the sudden registration of PDM as a political party. Some PDM bigwigs at the Abuja meeting which was well attended by a cross section of founding fathers and leaders, including among others, Dr Farouk Abdualzeez, Chief Tony Anenih, Chief Chris Agbobu, Senator Hamisu Musa, Senator Abubakar Mahdi, Engineer Afam Nwana, Hon. Dubem Onyia, Alhaji Murtala Shehu Musa Yar Adua, Alhaji Bala Hadith and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume.
At the end of their meeting they issued a strongly worded communiqué and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to reconsider the registration of PDM as a party.
But the Mahdi-led PDM, which said the national chairman of PDM (the registered party) and his collaborators acted clandestinely without consultation and due process, has continued to insist that the movement remained a pressure group in the PDP and the nation’s political space.
The movement resolved to concur with the views expressed by zonal coordinators and state working committees representing 28 states of the federation that “rejected the registration of PDM as a political party without consultation and due process, and calls on INEC to reconsider the registration of PDM as a party for the purpose of withdrawing the registration.”
The movement, according to the two page communiqué signed by the chairman of the meeting, Dr Farouk Abdulazeez, resolved at the meeting to maintain its status as a pressure group within PDP and deploy it in support of all PDP candidates in all future elections at all levels. The movement also noted and appreciated all its members who have kept faith with its original mission and vision.
Expectedly, the PDM (registered party) responded by saying it is false that enough consultations were not made before the registration was agreed upon and accused members of the movement within PDP of using the forum to feather their individual nests and even described them as “former members” of PDM.
“We understand that those former members of PDM who prefer to stay in PDP are aggrieved that PDM has jumped the sinking ship to become a political party in its own right. Now that 2015 is around the corner, they want to use PDM again to feather their nest and sustain a decade-old fraud to remain politically relevant. We are aware a number of those associated with the meeting have fallen on hard times while others are being misinformed and misled. We urge them to seek out the truth and reflect and not rush to judgment. We urge them not to compromise their principles for a pittance and soil their name.
“That some people will insist they own the exclusive franchise to the PDM brand to the exclusion of everybody else is not only undemocratic and arrogant but it is also against the letter and spirit of our Constitution which guarantees every citizen the right to freely associate. PDM is not an exclusive club for the highly privileged and, certainly, not the property of any individual no matter how highly placed”.
Atiku associates in the new party maintained that “to be a political party had always been the dream of PDM’s founding fathers as opposed to opportunists who want to cling to the name and use it only when it serves their selfish interests…Some people have alleged they have not been consulted before this was done. What we would like to know is, do those making this claim have a higher stake in PDM than us? Is PDM a secret club or is it only an instrument for feathering some members’ nest? Why is anyone afraid that PDM is now open to all Nigerians instead of to a very small group? Where were these self-appointed PDM leaders all this time when the organisation and its members fell on hard times?”
Some of the signatories to the PDM (registered party) statement include die-hard Atiku loyalists like Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Amb. Yahaya Kwande, Prince Tonye Princewill and Prof. Babalola Borishade.
However, were chieftains of the PDM caught napping when a few individuals were registering the body as a political party, close watchers of events in PDM believe Atiku’s close associate began the plot as early as February this year after a meeting of PDM in Abuja. The February 5 meeting was held ostensibly to re-engineer the movement and several committees and organs, including a new national management committee, were set up to achieve this.
But from the communiqués issued at the end of the February meeting it was obvious that a hidden agenda was in the offing. The communique, signed by Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, Prince Tonye Princewill and Murtala Shehu Musa Yar’adua, who are PDP members, not only welcomed the then merger talks of opposition political parties but also commended the opposition for its resolve to give Nigerians an alternative political platform.
The communiqué added: “While we are gladdened by the development, we implore the opposition to define its own identity based on progressive ideology, with clear and contrasting policies and programmes capable of pulling Nigeria out of the current state of despoliation, despair and debasement. PDM is developing a clear roadmap for the entrenchment of profound national social, political and economic reforms which will lead to creating jobs, steady power supply, improved security, transparent and credible elections and bring corruption in all its manifestations to an end.
The communiqué further said: “The Movement resolved to open discussions with the organisations of like mind, with a view to finding common grounds on issues of principle, policy and strategy in order to move the Nigerian project to the next level.”
While Nigerians are watching to see how the PDM Movement tackles PDM Party over identity theft, the new party presently has to contend with a case in court instituted by some PDP chieftains from the South West who are seeking the deregistration of the party on several grounds, including allegation that no public notice of the application as a political party by the PDM of INEC’s intention to register the party was given and that the PDM as a known political association has no offices in the 36 states of the federation as required by the constitution and has no members known to the public or to INEC apart from some card carrying members of the PDP.