CHAIRMAN of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, is not new to tough political assignments, especially for the PDP.
He has always been associated with them so much that cracking political hardnuts has become his second nature. Many would even swear he thrives on them.
Over the years, Anenih has shown an uncommon willingness-commitment if you like-to take on the usually inconvenient job of ensuring that members submit to the larger interests of the party.
This has defined his politics as much as it has brought him in confrontation, severally, with those who waver.
Many refer to him as “The Enforcer” in admiration of his strict insistence on the collective interests of the party, or derogatorily as a political arm-twister, depending on who is involved.
As a politician who leads by example, he maintains the dual character of a quintessential leader as well as a loyal follower, all at once. While many, especially those in opposition parties, will always choose to vilify him, only a few conceal the fact that he is one of a kind for which they envy the PDP.
Among the reasons Anenih was favoured to return as chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, in addition to his unquestionable loyalty to the party, is his untiring efforts to ensure the party speaks with one voice. His return on February 25, 2013, to the position he vacated nearly six years earlier was, therefore, apt coming at a period the party was beginning to speak in discordant voices.
With a section of the party leadership seriously aggrieved and as many as eight of its governors rumored to be seeking alternative political platforms, along with Senators and House of Representatives members from their states, Anenih’s second missionary journey could not have happened at a more auspicious time.
Indeed, the scenario of a divided party is obviously one that is contrary to his ideals as a stickler for cohesion and consensus.
Though he has paid visits to some high-profile Nigerians and leaders of the party since stepping in the saddle as BoT Chairman, Anenih’s peace initiatives have focused more on the PDP governors, many of whom are either disenchanted with the party or are being swayed by political calculations towards the 2015 elections.
Some of them, who reportedly claim they are being marginalized and have lost confidence in the party leadership, had stayed away from the reconciliation parleys organized recently in their geopolitical zones by the national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
The BoT under Anenih’s leadership did not need that to know that all was not well with the PDP. The presidency and the PDP leadership guard realized that; and, which was why the new BoT chairman was requested to drive the process of genuine reconciliation in the party.
The policy of genuine reconciliation by readmitting returning members who fled the party in the heady days of the Obasanjo presidency was being implemented half-heartedly, just as little has been done in resolving the crises in almost all the state chapters of the party. This development is what the Anenih-led BoT has been asked to address.
But, indeed, it is the governors’ recalcitrance against the party leadership that has bothered Anenih the most.
This recalcitrance has incrementally manifested in recent times. For instance, in Tukur’s first major outing with them-a meeting he called at the party’s Legacy House in Abuja-only five governors had attended; a scenario that played out again when only three (Theodore Orji of Abia, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and the late Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna) were present at the launch of his (Tukur’s) biography, the Global Villager to mark his 77th birthday anniversary.
His quarrel with Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the forced enthronement of the Mijinyawa Kaugama-led state executive in Adamawa PDP also did a great harm to Tukur’s relationship with governors who regard Oyinlola and Adamawa governor, Murtala Nyako, as two of their own. The boycott of the party’s one-year celebration of the enthronement of its National Working Committee at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, which attracted only two governors, brought matters to a head and clearly raised the alarm.
As events have proved in the past three weeks or thereabout, Anenih’s BoT has proved that it is in a better stead position to seek the governors’ attention, speak with them jaw-to-jaw and assuage their grievances. For the first time, some of them are making their complaints open, a situation that makes appeasement possible.
The decision to engage the governors individually and behind closed doors, has also built confidence and created a better environment for them to open up. Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu, for instance, who hosted Anenih and his team recently, emerged from the meeting a stronger and more committed PDP member.
It has also come to the fore that Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who, along with Aliyu, is reported to be nursing presidential ambitions, views the arrest and prosecution of his son by the EFCC as political persecution, while Kano Governor, Kwankwaso, is angry that he is not consulted when federal appointments are being made in Kano.
The manner in which statements were brazenly made to foreclose the 2015 presidential contest may also have rankled many of the governors when it is obvious the preferred option of consensus in such a sensitive issue is not imposed but forged with patient negotiation.
It may be too early in the day to evaluate in details the effects of Anenih’s political shuttles to reconcile aggrieved PDP Governors but the signals are positive. An indication that he is succeeding has come from the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, who disclosed that the tour of some states was already yielding fruitful results.
Another is the recent public commendation by the party’s National Publicly Secretary, Olisa Metuh. In conveying the party’s commendation of his role, Metuh said Anenih had indeed lived up to his reputation as a consensus builder and strong believer in the supremacy of the party.
Indeed, for a man whom, in the worst type of situations, has never contemplated an alternative political platform, Anenih occupied a high ground from where he deploys a certain moral force in his arguments.
Even when he was schemed out of the BoT Chairmanship by Obasanjo in 2007, his loyalty to the party and successive governments of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan never waned. And there he is today, back to the seat he was unfairly denied and vigorously investing his energy and resources in the enterprise of building united and peaceful party.
With this, it is easy to argue with the governors that jumping ship is never an option on issues like this. What is paramount is demonstration of the spirit of give and take. Reports have so far indicated that Anenih is making significant progress in the reconciliation effort, extracting commitments from the aggrieved governors and making concessions and/or compromises on behalf of the party.
When, in the next few months, the PDP under the leadership of President Jonathan strikes a rhythmical chord, let not the opposition parties try to orchestrate political shenanigans about the good fortune of the behemoth which the ruling party has personified
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