A few weeks after the 2011 general elections, top politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party have renewed their struggle for the control of the party.
Investigations on Thursday showed the supremacy battle was mainly between groups loyal to former military President Ibrahim Babangida and ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and those loyal to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The IBB-Abubakar group are said to be dissatisfied with Obasanjo’s role in the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate in the April general elections.
Babangida and Abubakar are members of the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum, which opposed Jonathan’s presidential ambition.
It was learnt that the former military dictator and the ex-vice-president thought that the best way to whittle down Obasanjo’s influence in the PDP was to begin the battle against him in his base, the South-West, focussing on the politics of choosing a speaker for the National Assembly.
Investigations showed that the opposition to the former President had been manifesting in the discordant tunes emanating from the zone over ministerial list and speakership of the House of Representatives.
Our correspondents learnt that Babangida and Abubakar had been giving tacit support to anti-Obasanjo elements in the South-West.
Some known anti-Obasanjo-elements include an ex-convict and former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Chief Bode George; a chieftain of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun; and former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose.
Although Fayose is currently in the Labour Party, where he contested and lost the last senatorial poll, there were indications on Thursday that pressure was being mounted on him to return to the PDP in order to swell the camp of anti-Obasanjo politicians in the South-West.
Investigations, however, showed that the anti-Obasanjo elements were being resisted by former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; his Ondo State counterpart, Dr. Segun Agagu; Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala; and the party’s National Vice-Chairman (South-West), Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.
A PDP chieftain in the South-West, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The current struggle between the groups is for political relevance. Whoever loses out will be irrelevant between now and in 2015.
“The calculation of anti-Obasanjo elements is that if the former President is irrelevant in the zone, he will be less of a problem at the national level.”
THE PUNCH learnt that many PDP members in the South-West were
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