In a 1936 speech at Madison Square Garden, New York, the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) of the USA thundered: "We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace, business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism and war profiteering. They had begun to consider the government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that government by organised money is just as dangerous as government by organised mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been as united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred".
Roll forward to 2013, and you discover that the same forces arrayed against FDR are still much around in Nigeria 77 years after. Today, President Goodluck Jonathan has found himself caught in the same web of intrigues, sabotage and open rebellion by some of those who share the same party platform with him. The present cataclysm had for long been foretold by discerning watchers of the polity. So, it did not come as happenstance, when the Trotskyites within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) unveiled their agenda to dethrone Jonathan ahead of the 2015 poll. Sadly, President Jonathan is not FDR, as he is not enamoured to picking up the gauntlets and taking the war to the "enemy" territory. I have always maintained that politics is part war and part propaganda. And you can only rout your opponents when you effectively combine both.
Unfortunately, the President had for long allowed his opponents to ambush him at will. Anyone conversant with the politics of the PDP would have known that what happened last Saturday at Eagles Square had long been in the making. But, either President Jonathan deliberately ignored taking action to neutralise the antics of these fifth columnists or was afraid of the likely outcome of any action till they hit him like thunderbolt. Rebellion is as old as creation and throughout history, mankind has been faced with this augury machination by those who either feel alienated or want to redesign society to fit their own world view.
For example, political observers had in the past 24 months been under no illusions that Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and some of his colleagues in the Northern Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF), have not hidden their contempt for President Jonathan and have been working ceaselessly to put spanners in the works of his administration. Moreover, in their rage they are not leaving any stone unturned to accomplish this enterprise. For example, they have been telling everyone that the President entered into agreement with them to serve for only one term, after which to hand over power to them. Even when at every forum, President Jonathan has denied being a party to such secret pact, the renegades are refusing to accept and live with this reality. Rather, they have drawn the battle line and are openly mounting an existential challenge to the President and the PDP.
Definitely, no one is begrudging their political motive, especially in wanting to wield political power at the centre. But in doing this, they have started exhibiting extreme desperation and taking recourse to the 'Samson complex' of pulling down the entire roof on just everyone to achieve a pyrrhic victory. Curiously, behind this veneer of bravado lurks a morbid fear of insecurity which has so far been on display by this group. Initially, the renegade governors presented themselves as apostles of equity and justice; by evoking a moral burden on the President to honour what they say is a gentleman's agreement. Failing to sound convincing they took to threats of tearing the party to shreds and burying it. Seeing the futility in such magisterial demand, they peeled away to form a party called Voice of the People (VOP).
As part of the game plan, they enlisted former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku to pull out his rump of PDM from the PDP while registering it as a political party. Even after an initial denial of being part of the cabal, it was not long before people saw Atiku identifying with the so called 'New PDP'. Probably, fearing they will not muster enough votes or following to upstage President Jonathan, they are now mounting a rebellion from within. This is where the danger to the PDP lies. From the look of things, this rebellion is not informed by any altruistic motive to reform the party nor underpinned by a desire to save it from misgovernance.
It is all about seizing power through blackmail and intimidation. To achieve this, they are embarking on barefaced threats of denying Jonathan the northern votes in 2015. This is predicated on a false assumption that they have such influence to make that happen. Now is the time to put such lies and propaganda to rest. Parties should be bigger than groups and individuals and must also be greater than personal ambitions. The President and his party must let those trying to pull down the house know this. To ignore the threats and bluster will be at their own peril. Those unwilling to accept the party's discipline must be allowed to go and seek alternative platform to canvass their views. Staying any longer together would spell disaster for the party's 2015 ambition.
National Mirror