From Steve Nwosu (Backpage of The Sun)
And talking about sickening documentaries, who paid for that one that ran on Peter Obi on one of the local television stations on Monday? What was that supposed to achieve?
What is the big deal about Obi saying he will never leave APGA and then leaving? Which politician hasn’t said unprintable things about one party (or opponent) in the afternoon and ended up in bed with the same opponent at twilight?
In fact, every time this issue comes up, my mind goes to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who is the PDP candidate for next month’s governorship election in Adamawa. Forget what Ribadu said about ACN governors, when he was at the EFCC, or what he said about the PDP when he crossed over to the same ACN (and later, APC) or what he is saying about the APC now that he’s back to PDP. What really left me dazed was what Ribadu (who my mischievous Yoruba friends call ‘Ribadun’ – bribe is sweet) said penultimate week in reaction to former President Obasanjo’s public shredding of his PDP membership card. Stopping just short of saying OBJ was the most corrupt leader Nigeria ever had, the former EFCC czar said OBJ was also very good at covering his tracks. Now, this was the same Ribadu, who issued a formal certificate to Obasanjo, declaring him corruption-free. A clean bill of health. Hmmm, How time changes everything!
Since Peter Obi left office, his only political preoccupation has been the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan. But the same people who refused to give him his due in APGA and literally pushed him out are the ones still demonising him for leaving. Haba! How can you possibly beat a child and still insist he must not cry? Or as my people would say: How come it is the same person who felled a tree in the bush that suddenly ran out to the road to lead the search for the culprit?
Now, if the APGA Obi left to join PDP is also on board this Jonathan re-election project, what point does it hope to score by going all out to discredit Obi, who happens to be a major face of the Jonathan re-election drive in the South-east and who is not contesting any election? What is APGA’s agenda? Or is the desperation to diminish the stature of Obi more important than the claim to support Jonathan?
Of course, this in-team fighting has been the bane of the Jonathan/PDP campaign this time around. People who should be working together for a common goal are being blinded by narrow interests. We’ve seen it in Bauchi State, where the fear of FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, has literally driven Governor Isa Yuguda up the wall. That is why hoodlums would be procured to throw missiles at the presidential rally. The insult was meant for the minister but it was on Jonathan’s face that the soot was ultimately rubbed. Yet, this was a purely PDP-on-PDP skirmish. In Bayelsa, Gov. Henry Seriake Dickson is daily being distracted from the job of delivering the state to Jonathan and PDP by none other than the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who does not want to work with the governor.
Having made it clear that she does not want the governor reelected next year, Mrs. Jonathan has literally split the PDP in Bayelsa, making it so very difficult to now deliver even the president’s home base. It is also this same interference that has put the otherwise massive PDP votes that usually come from Rivers State in serious jeopardy.
We have also seen this trend in Abia where the fear of Orji Kalu is making Gov. T.A. Orji and his hirelings willing to deny Jonathan hundreds of thousands of votes, because those votes would mean working with Kalu. The same scenario is also about to play out in the governorship election where it is now very clear that only crude rigging and outright manipulation of the final figures can return PDP in Abia. We’re now seeing it in Anambra where the APGA establishment that is supposed to be working for Jonathan is busy eroding the very base that would deliver the votes to the president.
The sum total of all this is: If the PDP loses the next presidential election, it would not necessarily be as a result of anything that the APC did or because Jonathan has not performed in the last four years. Rather, it would because the president’s team dedicatedly worked against itself. That is why I’m alarmed at what is coming out of Anambra.
