What next for the new faction?

[Mirror]

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has remained the dominant party in the present political dispensation with its victories in the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections.

But despite the seeming 'absolute control' of power at the centre, the party, which prides itself as the largest political party in Africa usually gets polarised close to every general election, especially over its presidential flag bearers, as already being played out in the build-up to the 2015 elections.

Although it had always wriggled out of such crisis in the past, the present crack, which saw former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and seven serving governors forming a faction within the party, is surely a development that will define the future of the ruling party.

Already, leaders of the Atiku-led 'New PDP' have said there was no going back in putting a new leadership in place for the party to reposition it in line with the intention of its founding fathers.

But how far they will go in this task remains unclear, as the factional National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has described them as self-seeking and treacherous individuals pursuing neither regional nor religious agenda but personal interests.

Against this backdrop, the question many are asking is: what next for the breakaway group, as some of its leaders have been linked with the recently registered Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, and the yet-to be-registered Voice of the People, VOP.

While the PDM was alleged to be Atiku's 'Plan B' in his quest to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, the seven governors in the 'New PDP' are said to have applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register a new party to be called Voice of the People, VOP.

As it stands, the 'rebels" are likely to come under hammer of the Tukurled faction, however their saving grace would only be if they would be able to close ranks and unite under a common front; either in the PDM or the VOP.

National Mirror