PDM not meant to be a Political Party — Yahaya Kwande

INEC boss, Atahiru Jega

Amidst public impression that the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) was registered as a political party to provide an alternative party for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, an associate of Atiku says the PDM was never intended to be turned into a party. When the news broke last Friday that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had registered the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political party, many in the public began to make calculations on how it would fair and what it would mean to the strength of other parties. For one, the PDM, which had long been there as an association of Nigerians from different political parties who shared the beliefs of its founder, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua did not look like it was being prepared to be named a political party, until just before its formal registration on Friday. And now that its registration has become history, what happens? How will it impart on the political terrain? The PDM is coming into the political plain as the only party with notable faithful in other parties. The name that comes to mind most readily is Vice President between 1999 and 2007, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The Turaki Adamawa, who is currently in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is seen as the hidden drum beating the tune that PDM is dancing to in the public. In other words, the PDM is immediately viewed as the stand-by political party for Atiku (who is taken as being sure to vie for the Presidency in 2015) should he fail to get the presidential ticket of the PDP. If this is indeed the case, he and his political friends are working hard not to make it obvious. He has himself denied being even directly connected to the idea of making the PDM a political party, contending that he could not stop people from registering new parties.

A close political associate of Atiku, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, who has long been a leading member of PDM as a Movement told Sunday Trust at the weekend that the PDM was never meant to be a political party. “PDM was never proposed to become a political party; it was established to stand as a bridge linking the northern and southern parts of the country and between people in different political parties; a meeting point for people in different religions and tribes, a unifying forum for Nigerians from all walks of life,” Kwande said. The PDM, as a Movement, went into a sort of coma at a time and little was heard about it, but it was recently resuscitated. Making a reference to this and emphasizing that he was not part of the decision to turn it into a political party, Kwande said, “We, members of PDM, are in different parties: in ANPP, in ACN, in PDP, and so on. When we revived PDM (as a Movement), we intended it to continue to play the noble role of uniting the country. How can you register PDM as a party with prominent members of the Movement like Atiku Abubakar and Tonny Anenih in PDP?” Chief Tonny Anenih, indeed, a prominent member of the PDM, is today the chairman of Board of Trustees of the PDP. It will be interesting how PDM, as a party, works out. It will deconstruct affiliations, anyhow. The likes of Anenih, particularly because of the key office they currently hold in PDP, do not look as likely to leave PDP for PDM as the likes of Atiku. Atiku has always been closely associated with PDM as a Movement. He became its leader after the death of its founder, Shehu Yar’Adua, the Number Two man in the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976 to 1979). PDM came handy for Atiku in the countdown to the beginning of the present party politics in 1998 through 1999. It became his background powerhouse even he flew the banner of the PDP as he stood for election and was duly elected governor of Adamawa State and subsequently as running mate to Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election.

Atiku or not, the conversion of PDM from a Movement to a party has a number of implications: The people from various callings who shared a home in it as a Movement who are in other parties no longer have such a home. But it will certainly not be all about Atiku. Atiku or not, the PDM as a party is going to become for many an alternative to their present political parties if they fail to get a space in their present parties when elections come calling towards 2015.The coming to be of PDM will thus affect the also-just-registered All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP, and even the smaller, struggling parties. PDM says it decided to stop dreaming and start acting. A statement by its National Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim said, “Recognizing that it is no longer sufficient to dream good dreams about a great Nigeria, we, members of the Peoples Democratic Movement are conscious of the need for basic attitudinal reorientation towards the preservation of the unity of this nation and the restoration of self-esteem, patriotism and sense of national purpose among the people of Nigeria,” the promoters of the party say in the party’s mission statement. They add: “This consciousness presents us with only one option: to find lasting solutions to the mounting social, economic and political problems of our country through the institutionalization of a democratic culture that guarantees the rule of law, public accountability and the legitimacy of dissent. We must also come to terms with the problem of evolving a durable civic culture that believes in the dignity and autonomy of the human person and his individual rights; a civic culture that promotes trust, tolerance, consensus through accommodation and compromise, equity and justice; a culture that engenders a public spirit and a positive commitment to people as legitimate partners in national development.” The PDM leadership says it accepts that the nature, rate and direction of development of any nation is determined primarily by the people and that a nation that fails to develop its people cannot develop anything else; that the real development or nation-building is nothing else but the actualization of the creative capacity of the citizens of any nation to transform available natural resources of that nation into valuable goods and services; that the enabling environment for national development must be on the basis of national unity, the rule of law, democracy and human rights; and that for any social order to be viable and enduring, it must meet certain basic goals; namely: it must consistently provide social justice and cater for the genuine welfare of the people; that It must ensure total involvement of all citizens in the structure and organization of power and in the decision making processes regardless of their social status or political persuasions; that it must ensure the promotion of national unity by reducing social tension, mistrust, ethnic marginalization, religious intolerance and nepotism; that it must promote the productivity of labor and assure equitable income under a just reward system; and that it must strive towards a national disposition that can defend national interests and command international respect. The PDM says that based on the aforementioned imperatives, it would pursue a set of objectives that will guarantee that economic and political power are genuinely democratized through political grass root participation in the structures and organization of power; that leadership will be sought through a rational arrangement which will be informed by the common good and sustained by the popular will of the people; that leaders must live by example through personal integrity, honesty, sincerity and commitment to fair play in the service of the people; that a new political order is established which will compel the leadership to always balance power and authority with service and accountability; that all economic policies are directed towards national self-reliance; and that all efforts will be made to stamp out corruption, terrorism, indiscipline, lack of national commitment, and avarice.