
PDP crisis: Shekarau, Lamido, Nnamani, others plan new party

Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau
The crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may have assumed an irredeemable dimension with strong indications last week that some top leaders have been meeting to discuss plans to form a new political party.
The plans, it was reliably gathered, are being spearheaded by the trio of former governor of Kano State and former Education minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, former governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido and former Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu.
Others mentioned in the scheme include former minister of the Federal Capital Territory Senator Bala Muhammed, former deputy governor in the old Sokoto State Ahmed Muhammed Gusau, former governor of Bauchi State Isa Yuguda, former governor of Cross River State Donald Duke, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, Senator Ibrahim Ida, Adamu Maina Waziri, Ibrahim Idris, Aminu Wali, Abba Dabo, John Odey and Aniete Okon. A former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, is said to be the interim leader of the group.
Mallam Shekarau was understood to have last week hosted 23 members of the group in his house in Abuja while there had also been meetings in Nnamani’s office.
“Yes, we are trying to rebrand and weed out bad eggs in the party and it is the process that will lead to the formation of a new party,” said aide close to Shekarau. “Initially, we had two options, that is, whether to rebrand the PDP or form a new party.
“Arguments are in the favour of the formation of the party, hence resolution of our bigwigs. The direction now is the formation of a new party but we will definitely draw for the resources of the PDP to make headway,” he said.
While many of the names disclosed to be on the list did admit that they gathered to discuss the crises in the PDP, they all denied that the focus of their meeting was to form a new party. But some of the bigwigs gave enough hint to indicate that some like-minds in the party are regarding other members as no longer worthy to fraternize with politically.
Shekarau’s media aide, Sule Yau’Sule, when asked on his principal’s hosting of PDP leaders in Abuja, promised to get back but never did.
The PDP has degenerated to a bedlam since the party lost the general elections to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections. It didn’t take long after its defeat that the PDP crisis began to fester. On May 20, 2015, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu resigned his position as the party’s chairman after he had been under pressure from some members who accused him of treachery and held him responsible for the party’s defeat.
Mu’azu wrote a letter to the Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, saying that due to the abysmal performance of the party in the elections, it had become necessary for him to leave for peace to reign. He suggested in his letter that Secondus step in as Acting National Chairman in line with the party’s constitution. Secondus’ assumption of the acting chairmanship office, however, left the PDP without a principal officer from the North-East zone in its top hierarchy.
Secondus’ reign as Acting National Chairman has been bedevilled with centrifugal developments which culminated in a faction led by a former Political Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, storming the Wadata House headquarters of the PDP last Wednesday to oust Secondus and claim leadership.
Gulak, fro
