I do not know the presidential candidate that would eventually enjoy the support of the G-5 governors, but I am almost certain that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has lost the group for good and both him and his Party are not happy about the situation. They are like a jilted lover crying and making a lot of fuss about what they can’t get back. But, is there anyway they can really get back at these people?
The PDP has been threatening fire and brimstone should these governors make true their threat of endorsing the candidate of a different Party outside Atiku Abubakar, but if there is anything this shows about that Party, it exposes them as being out of touch with the realities of our politics and electoral laws. The truth of the matter is that the Nigerian Constitution does not give political Parties the kind of power that Ayu arrogates to himself. A political Party in Nigeria, and in every true democracy is a mere vehicle through which politicians attain power, and if these politicians decide, they can align with the political Parties after elections to help her attain her goals, but if they don’t, they could move on and do whatever they wish with that power.
I know that some political illiterates would want to talk about ideal situations or refer to “saner climes” but the truth of the matter is that these people only make up pictures of these saner climes and ideality in their heads, they don’t study the realities of democratic politicking in more advanced democracies. If they did, they would know that no law forbids members of political Parties from holding independent opinions. I will give you some examples;
Currently, Kevin McCarthy who is the leader of the Republican caucus in the US congress is holding meetings with some “difficult” members of his Party to avert a situation where they vote against his emergence as the Speaker of the House, as they have threatened. He has made very critical concessions, including concessions that whittle down his powers as Speaker and even put him on a very precarious position as Speaker. Senators Manchin and Sanders of the Democratic Party, vote mostly as independents and in some situations vote alongside the Republicans even on very strategic issues. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democratic Senator recently left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent. Also, there have been times in recent history where critical members of the Parties refused to support their presidential candidate. A recent case is that of Liz Cheney who has been Trump’s biggest critic even though they are of the same Party.
Expelling Governor Wike and his group of five governors and their followers from the Party would be meaningless and ineffectual because the Independent National Electoral Commission will neither endorse nor recognise such action. If Alhaji Atiku Abubakar feels that he is so popular that he can do without these guys, he should go ahead and mobilise votes to ensure that those of them who have the ticket of the Party lose election and their followers who have the Party’s ticket also lose. That’s the only way they can punish these guys at the moment.
The Nigerian Constitution does not forbid individuals from supporting different candidates for election merely because they are members of another Party and belonging to a political Party does not deprive one of his fundamental human right of freedom of association and choice. As soon as these governors and their candidates have secured the tickets of their Parties, the Party cannot unilaterally strip them of their candidacy. If they do, it would amount to mere political exercise, because not only would INEC not recognise such action, the Supreme Court would trash the action as soon as it gets before them.
Instead of crying and threatening like some jilted girlfriend, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his PDP should quit the presidential race and rather see how they can form an alliance with the incoming President, Mr Peter Obi, to rescue Nigeria, instead of wasting their money and giving themselves avoidable hypertension over whatever decision the G-5 will take.
