Obasanjo/Jonathan rift, governors’ defection, National Conference, others to shape Nigeria’s politics in 2014 (Scene 1)
LaNUBlog NEWS ARENA reviews issues that might shape the nation’s political scene in 2014 in preparation for 2015.
As Nigeria moves towards the 2015 general elections, several factors could influence and determine the country’s leadership, growth, and politics in 2014. Festus Owete reviews how these factors could play up.
Obasanjo/Jonathan rift
The dust generated by the exchange of letters between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck just before the close of 2014 is yet to settle. In his December 2 letter titled
“Before it is too late,” to Mr. Jonathan, Mr. Obasanjo accused the president of failure to deliver on his electoral promises, promote national unity, and tackle corruption. He also alleged that Mr. Jonathan was about to renege on his promise to spend one term of four year in office and is training a killer squad to eliminate political opponents ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The president fired back in a letter dated December 20, dismissing all the allegations; and challenged the former president, his political benefactor, to substantiate them with facts. The rift between both Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders is certain to create some upset; not just in the ruling party, but also in the country. Already party faithful and opposition elements have queued up behind the two. Therefore, how the matter is resolved might determine to a large extent who becomes the standard bearer of the ruling party in the 2015 presidential election.
Jonathan’s political future
Since 2014 is the year that precedes the general elections; Mr. Jonathan might announce his political future. He has repeatedly rebuffed pressures to publicly declare if he will contest or not. Indeed, the
president’s alleged plan to run again has been at the heart of the festering crisis within the PDP. Again, it was one issue that formed the content of Mr. Obasanjo’s letter.
Before Mr. Obasanjo’s letter, the issue of who will be the standard bearer of the ruling party in
the 2015 election had crept into the polity quite early in 2013 with the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, alleging that Mr. Jonathan signed a pact that he would spend only one term in office. Although he wasn’t able to produce the pact, the issue just refused to leave thus inducing tension in the ruling party as well as the nation. Will Jonathan run? Will he not? Whatever he decides will determine the
political temperature of the PDP, and indeed the nation in 2014 and the coming years. This is because if he decides to contest, it will further deepen the crisis in the party. If he decides otherwise, calm
may return to the party and fresh aspirants would be thrown up. It would also be the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent president will decline to contest for a second term.
APC membership and gale of defection from PDP
While playing host to some stalwarts of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, CPC, at the Government House, Kano, late December, the Kano State Governor, Musa Kwankwaso, hinted of the planned defection of more governors elected on the platform of the PDP.
Although, he did not state when the governors would move nor the party they would decamp to, Mr. Kwankwaso, in the remarks, said his own defection alongside four other governors of the PDP last November 26, was merely “a tip of the iceberg,” compared to the impending gubernatorial defection.
According to him, the governors had planned to quit the ruling party because it had lost credibility and potency to take Nigeria to the Promised Land. Two days later, his Rivers State counterpart, Chibuike
Amaechi, re-echoed the Kano State Governor. Speaking in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Mr. Amaechi, a fresh defector to APC, who was definite on the time the unnamed governors would decamp, said the PDP, his former party, would in the coming year become the opposition party.
“Most of you may have known that I have since left the PDP to a better party called the All Progressives Congress because the PDP is a drowning party and the facts remain that PDP is a drowning party,” the
governor said.
“Watch out before March if we don’t have the numbers that we are looking for. So, you can’t call us opposition anymore because there are three arms of government and only two are electable, the executive and legislature.
“Yes, the PDP has the national executive, but we are inching close to having the legislature. Who then would be called the opposition if we have it?
Since November 26 when five PDP governors stunningly decamped to the APC, a gale of defection has hit the nation’s political scene. Apart from Messrs Amaechi and Kwankwaso, the other governors who left the PDP were Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
As Nigeria moves towards the 2015 general elections, several factors could influence and determine the country’s leadership, growth, and politics in 2014. Festus Owete reviews how these factors could play up.
Obasanjo/Jonathan rift
The dust generated by the exchange of letters between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck just before the close of 2014 is yet to settle. In his December 2 letter titled
“Before it is too late,” to Mr. Jonathan, Mr. Obasanjo accused the president of failure to deliver on his electoral promises, promote national unity, and tackle corruption. He also alleged that Mr. Jonathan was about to renege on his promise to spend one term of four year in office and is training a killer squad to eliminate political opponents ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The president fired back in a letter dated December 20, dismissing all the allegations; and challenged the former president, his political benefactor, to substantiate them with facts. The rift between both Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders is certain to create some upset; not just in the ruling party, but also in the country. Already party faithful and opposition elements have queued up behind the two. Therefore, how the matter is resolved might determine to a large extent who becomes the standard bearer of the ruling party in the 2015 presidential election.
Jonathan’s political future
Since 2014 is the year that precedes the general elections; Mr. Jonathan might announce his political future. He has repeatedly rebuffed pressures to publicly declare if he will contest or not. Indeed, the
president’s alleged plan to run again has been at the heart of the festering crisis within the PDP. Again, it was one issue that formed the content of Mr. Obasanjo’s letter.
Before Mr. Obasanjo’s letter, the issue of who will be the standard bearer of the ruling party in
the 2015 election had crept into the polity quite early in 2013 with the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, alleging that Mr. Jonathan signed a pact that he would spend only one term in office. Although he wasn’t able to produce the pact, the issue just refused to leave thus inducing tension in the ruling party as well as the nation. Will Jonathan run? Will he not? Whatever he decides will determine the
political temperature of the PDP, and indeed the nation in 2014 and the coming years. This is because if he decides to contest, it will further deepen the crisis in the party. If he decides otherwise, calm
may return to the party and fresh aspirants would be thrown up. It would also be the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent president will decline to contest for a second term.
APC membership and gale of defection from PDP
While playing host to some stalwarts of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, CPC, at the Government House, Kano, late December, the Kano State Governor, Musa Kwankwaso, hinted of the planned defection of more governors elected on the platform of the PDP.
Although, he did not state when the governors would move nor the party they would decamp to, Mr. Kwankwaso, in the remarks, said his own defection alongside four other governors of the PDP last November 26, was merely “a tip of the iceberg,” compared to the impending gubernatorial defection.
According to him, the governors had planned to quit the ruling party because it had lost credibility and potency to take Nigeria to the Promised Land. Two days later, his Rivers State counterpart, Chibuike
Amaechi, re-echoed the Kano State Governor. Speaking in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Mr. Amaechi, a fresh defector to APC, who was definite on the time the unnamed governors would decamp, said the PDP, his former party, would in the coming year become the opposition party.
“Most of you may have known that I have since left the PDP to a better party called the All Progressives Congress because the PDP is a drowning party and the facts remain that PDP is a drowning party,” the
governor said.
“Watch out before March if we don’t have the numbers that we are looking for. So, you can’t call us opposition anymore because there are three arms of government and only two are electable, the executive and legislature.
“Yes, the PDP has the national executive, but we are inching close to having the legislature. Who then would be called the opposition if we have it?
Since November 26 when five PDP governors stunningly decamped to the APC, a gale of defection has hit the nation’s political scene. Apart from Messrs Amaechi and Kwankwaso, the other governors who left the PDP were Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
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