PDP’s 14 national chairmen in 18 years
T he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was registered as a political in 1998, alongside other political parties, in preparation for the return of democracy after many years of military rule.
At that time, its founding fathers envisaged that when fully established, the party will serve as the biggest political party on the African continent. And when the party won the 1999 presidential election, and also produced many governors and local government chairmen across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), some of the leaders were carried away by the euphoria of their success, to the extent of bragging that the PDP will remain in power for 60 years.
However, 14 years down the lane, the party did not only lose its firm grip at the centre and in many states and local governments, but wittingly or unwittingly plunged itself into crisis, culminating in the emergence of 16 people as national chairman and still counting.
If the lifespan of the party is to be shared among the chairmen it produced, each of them spent an average of 13 months in power! And of all the leaders it produced, only few had a glorious exit; most of them were forced out of office in controversial circumstances.
Dr. Alex Ekwueme
He was the protem chairman of the PDP when it was formed in 1998. He administered the affairs of the party for only three months before he stepped down to pursue his presidential ambition on the platform of the party. Ekwueme was the vice president of Nigeria on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) between 1979 and 1983.
Chief Solomon Lar
The first civilian governor of Plateau State, Chief Lar was a prominent member of the Group of G34, led by Ekwueme. When the group transformed into a political party and adopted PDP as its name, he became the first substantive national chairman of the party. He reportedly left the post after enduring a prickly relationship with the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Lar later became a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) in 2004.
Chief Barnabas Gemade
Barnabas Gemade took over from Lar in 1999. Gemade, a Benue State born politician, later threw in the towel when he was no longer in the good books of then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Gemade, who had completed his first tenure of two years, was planning to gun for another term when the bid was scuttled. He vacated the seat at the party’s 2001 national convention.
Chief Audu Ogbeh
Chief Ogbeh, who is also from Benue State, took over the PDP chairmanship in 2001 when Gemade vacated the office. Preparatory to his emergence, the PDP amended its constitution to allow for a four-year term for the position of chairman. Ogbeh enjoyed his office for a long time. But, towards the end of his tenure, he reportedly landed in the bad books of Obasanjo because of his comments on the excesses of government. In the last quarter of 2014, the nation was kept openmouthed by the standoff between the party chairman and the president. Ogbeh could not withstand the heat and resigned in January, 2005.
Ahmadu Ali
Ali, an ex-military officer, former education minister and senator, replaced Ogbeh in acting capacity until March 2, 2005 when he was elected as the substantive national chairman of the party. Observers believed that with a military background, Ali was able to work with Obasanjo with less trouble, until his tenure eventually ended in 2008, following the zoning of the party’s chairmanship to the South-East.
Prince Vincent Ogbulafor
Ogbulafor came in in 2008 and was kicked out of office in 2010 after the death of then president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua. His tenure was not dramatic because of the president’s illness and subsequent death. Ogbulafor was thrown out not long after he made a statement in 2010, to the effect that in 2011, the presidential ticket would return to the North after the death of Yar’adua. The statement was considered an abomination by then president, Goodluck Jonathan and those close to him. The zoning was later manipulated in favour of Jonathan who ultimately won the presidential election.
Dr. Ezekwesilieze Nwodo
Nwodo, a former governor of Enugu State, took over in 2010 as PDP boss and was removed shortly after the presidential primary election that produced Jonathan. Nwodo met his waterloo when he purportedly started initiating policies that would halt state governors from funding and hijacking the party. The chairman also had a disagreement with the then governor of his state, Sullivan Chime, over who takes charge of party structure in the state. The intrigues that followed led to his unceremonious ouster.
Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed
Following Nwodo’s exit, Mohammed took over in 2011 in acting capacity, following the resolution of the 56th National Executive Committee (NEC). He was in charge until he was appointed minister of defence in July, same year.
Alhaji Kawu Baraje
Baraje took over from Mohammed in 2011 also in acting capacity until the election of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur at the March 2012 convention of the party. However, Baraje later became leader of the New PDP (nPDP) which emerged following intense crisis in the party.
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur
Tukur’s tenure was characterised by crisis which led to the defection of five PDP governors to the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). As a result of the prolonged crisis within the party, there was also division in it, leading to his resignation in January, 2014, following pressure from party stakeholders.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu
Mu’azu assumed office as PDP national chairman in January 2014 and resigned on May 20, 2015, after the party was defeated at the 2015 general elections. PDP governors and other stakeholders mounted pressure on Mu’azu who was left with no option than to throw in the towel for leading the party to a humiliating defeat by the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
Prince Uche Secondus
Secondus, who was the deputy national chairman of the PDP, took over the party’s leadership in acting capacity following Mu’azu’s resignation in May, 2015, and was supposed to run the party for three months for a substantive chairman to emerge. He, however, refused to leave office until he was ousted by an Abuja High Court which ruled that his tenure had elapsed.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff
Senator Sheriff’s emergence was greeted with serious bashing and crisis within the rank and file of the PDP, considering that his name was not among the nominees sent by the Northeast caucus to the party’s national leadership. He was appointed in February, 2016, to complete Mu’azu’s tenure (he had thrown in the towel on May 20, 2015). He, too, was expected to serve for three months but chose to stay put, a development that plunged the party into more turbulence. At present, he is claiming to be the chairman of a faction of the PDP.
Senator Ahmed Makarfi
On May 21, 2016, Makarfi emerged as chairman of the national caretaker committee comprising seven members at a convention held in Port Harcourt. Makarfi is also claiming to be the chairman of a parallel PDP.
Senator Ibrahim Mantu and Prof Tunde Adeniran
At the heat of the crisis, a former deputy Senate president, Ibrahim Mantu and Prof Tunde Adeniran emerged as co-chairmen of the party at a national convention of the PDP held in Abuja on May 21, 2016, same day the Port Harcourt convention was held. However, the cochairmen later declared support for the Makarfi-led caretaker committee.
However, yesterday’s declaration by an Abuja High Court voiding the chairmanship of Ali Sheriff implies an apparent vacuum. But, the reaction of the Sheriff camp to the effect that a superior judgment from another court subsists to back their legitimacy is the next issue to be decided.