By Taiwo Adisa
Sometimes last year, I was in a conversation with a former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was in the thick of the steep cluelessness of the party’s leaders about the way out of the myriads of crises threatening its livelihood. The main opposition party had lost its bite, and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was prowling around the horizon as the lone Trojan. The PDP was daily losing its members in the National Assembly to the ruling party, and it was almost certain that its name would soon be driven into oblivion.
When I expressed the view that the PDP was heading for the Golgotha, the former NWC member, who is from the North-Central geopolitical zone, refused to concur. He said, with a mark of assurance written all over his face: “PDP will not die!” But I insisted the party was already a living dead and that only a thin line separated its state at the time from the situation in the mortuary. The PDP chieftain told me that at a stage, stakeholders of the PDP would rise to rescue it from the brink and that we should expect a rejuvenated party before the 2027 polls.
Somehow, after that discussion, the situation within the party worsened. Apart from losing more members to the APC in the National Assembly, the party lost two governors earlier in the year. It was looking as if at a stage the whole of the PDP would just get swallowed by the APC. The governors of Delta and Akwa-Ibom States dropped the flags of their party and picked up that of the APC, on what many see as pure political excuses, and the dwindling numbers of the opposition parties, especially the PDP, were almost handing the APC a clear two-thirds majority in the Senate. As the political opposition remained disillusioned as to the way to go, I kept remembering the words of the party chieftain and NWC member who stated categorically that the PDP would not die! But when you kept seeing the hangman’s noose tightening around the party’s neck each passing day, the trust in those words would only continue to diminish.
But when the party rose from its 102nd NEC in Abuja on Monday, August 25, and announced it was zoning the 2027 presidency to the South and retaining the NWC positions as presently constituted, it appears to have lifted a heap off its own back. Even though, in line with the convoluted nature of politics, the decision is being seen by a segment of the party as another way of troubling the waters, for now, it may not be difficult to conclude that the PDP has arrived at the starting point of the 2027 race. How it will perform in the race is not what anyone can easily hazard as we speak, but it would appear that the party is seeking some solutions to its mountain of challenges.
At the 102 NEC, leaders of the PDP thought of a way out of a key existential problem facing the party-the direction of the 2027 presidential race-and it resolved to adopt the zoning it threw to the winds ahead of the 2023 election. The party announced it was ceding the presidential ticket to the South and also decided to retain the NWC position in the current state, after adopting the acting national chairman, Umar Iliya Damagum, as a substantive chairman. As innocuous and far between those decisions may appear, the party chieftains know they hold the key to certain doors that could lock the party out of relevance in the 2027 race. One of such issues is can be trusted by the contending tendencies in the party at this time. Who would not possibly rock the boat of the PDP Governors’ Forum (PDPGF) in the march towards the next general election? Remember that members of the 2015-2023 class of PDPGF trusted Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as chairman, and got their fingers burnt as they later became sworn enemies during electioneering. So, the party structures settled for Damagum, in ‘the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know’ mode, and they also adopted the zoning formula, which some party leaders believed worked against it in 2023. To reduce tension and friction in the ranks of party members and leaders, the NEC also retained the NWC positions in the current state.
However, among some northern followers of the party, the decision is fast looking like a stamp on the tail of the viper, as members from the North-Central rose in defence of the right of the presidential aspiration of Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, who has equally granted media interviews to insist that the zoning arrangement was a ploy to return President Bola Tinubu to office. While such sentiments have also been expressed by some others from the North, it appeared as if the party would stick by the adopted formula, as indications from within had emerged. Insiders in the party believed that the decision had a more general appeal than the 2023 scenario. The chairman of PDPGF, Senator Bala Mohammed, who is the governor of Bauchi State, had announced the cessation of his 2027 presidential aspiration as a sign of respect for the party’s decision, while some leaders like Chief Olabode George from the South have also hailed the decision.
Whatever the type of cloud that may form over the decision of the 102 NEC, some leaders of the party are thumping their chests for adopting “eggshell strategy” to douse the simmering tension that nearly snugged life out of the once octopodal PDP.
There are feelings within the party that it was able to achieve the “truce” reached on August 25 because of the decision of the PDPGF in May to launch a reconciliation bid through the eight-man National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee headed by the former Senate President Bukola Saraki in the aftermath of the failure to forge ahead with the party’s 99th NEC on the heels of the dangerous altercations. That was at the height of the threats of the party’s annihilation, following the defection of Delta and Akwa-Ibom governors. The hemorrhaging within the party’s fold continued amidst relentless battles over who occupies the national secretary post between Senator Sam Anyanwu, the South-East anointed claimant Honourable Sunday Udey-Okoye, and the PDPGF appointed Hon Setonji Koshoedo.
The PDPGF had, apparently sensing the prolonged bad blood could consume the party, mandated the Saraki-led committee to work out a resolution to pave the way for a rancour-free 99th NEC meeting to lead to a unifying National Convention. Other members of the committee include Governor Calab Muftwang of Plateau, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, Peter Mbah of Enugu, former Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, former governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Seriake Dickson, former governor of Gombe State, Senator Ibrahim Dankwanbo, and former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.
The “eight wise men” who were mandated “to address contending issues within the party ahead of a successful hosting of the May 27, 2025, 99th NEC Meeting,” are today being credited with the behind-the-scenes moves that midwifed the “eggshell strategy,” providing strong outer defences and delicately managed interiors as the way forward. PDP leaders who credit the committee with the conclusions the party reached at the 102 NEC, said that its members approached tasks assigned to them with dedication and that they tackled the issues, including the resolution of the contentions around the 99th NEC; widespread consultation of stakeholders to engineer resolution of grievances and the need to ensure successful NEC meetings and rancour-free national convention with gusto. “From the beginning, the chairman of the committee, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had maintained that the party should avoid moves that can cause anybody to resort to court actions to challenge the party,” a chieftain of the party had said.
Some of the silent tactics deployed by the committee were said to include the decision to meet with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resolve the national secretary imbroglio and the series of consultations with stakeholders across the geopolitical zones. Somehow, it was determined that the party would avoid further court cases and rocking of established boats, and that a meeting held ahead of the August 25 meeting in Asokoro, Abuja, featuring Saraki, Bala Mohammed, and other stakeholders, had concluded that every member of the party stands the risk of losing it all if the crisis degenerates further. The common lingo among those stakeholders, as said by party chiefs, was ‘let us work together’, ‘let’s move forward’, and ‘let us forgive and forget’.
It was said that the resolution of that meeting permeated the happenings at the 102 NEC, leading to the widely circulated resolutions and the bid to commence the constitution amendment process.
In line with the feeling of deja vu among the PDPGF and members of the Saraki committee, the party has announced it was targeting a return of former President Goodluck Jonathan and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, back to its fold to give it a strong say in the 2027 race. While the party may not be near its all-conquering status of the old yet, it is also clear that emerging soundbites of discontent must be well rested to give it that ‘bark and bite’ capability. Even as the leaders celebrate the breakthrough at 102 NEC, they cannot just overlook the grumblings from within over the adoption of zoning and any such discontent. There are still cobwebs to be cleared and cannot be overlooked. The challenge the African Democratic Congress (ADC) poses to the ruling APC and opposition PDP is by no means flimsy. And onward to 2027, we may well be assured of a stiff three-horse race.
