Anenih Leads PDP Team to Woo Obasanjo, Danjuma, Others

PDP’s BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised a team, headed by its Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, to reach out to aggrieved party members who have adopted a lukewarm attitude towards party activities.

The reconciliation committee, which was set up after a national caucus meeting of the party on Wednesday night at the State House in Abuja, is expected to reach out to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was Anenih’s predecessor as PDP BoT chairman and former Minister of Defence, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, among others.

The meeting, presided over by the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, also  discussed in details how to restructure the party in the face of the fresh challenge  posed to its future by the coming together of opposition parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It was learnt that as part of the repositioning exercise, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has moved to curtail the excess of governors elected on the platform of the party with the planned introduction of e-registration of members. The PDP governors are against the e-registration, which is also aimed at attracting funds to the party.

Sources said Thursday that at the national caucus meeting, President Goodluck Jonathan and Anenih hammered on reconciliation and how to move the party forward.

The meeting also commended the setting up of the PDP Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF), describing it as one of the strategies to restructure the party.

The meeting agreed to set up a six-man committee, headed by Anenih, whose members would comprise two governors and three other members.

The objective of the Anenih committee is to reach out to aggrieved party members, who have left the party and others who have adopted an indifferent attitude towards the party’s activities.

One of the sources said the committee would commence its assignment with a meeting with  Danjuma at a later date.
Also, the Anenih committee will meet Obasanjo and other prominent members of the party that have either left the party or are indifferent to its activities.

Another phase of the reconciliation agenda involves the PDP-GF Reconciliation Committee, headed by Katsina State Governor, Alhaji  Ibrahim Shema, who has been mandated to commence work immediately in finding ways to restore peace in the South-west chapter of the party.

As part of the directive of the national caucus of the party, the South-west Reconciliation Committee was billed to meet with aggrieved members of the South-west of PDP at the Katsina State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the party’s NWC   has approved that a test run of the e-registration should commence with the registration of members in Anambra State, where the governorship election is due in November.

According to a source, the decision to adopt the e-registration is to give room for all members who were hitherto denied registration in their respective states by their governors who felt   threatened by the re-admission of such party members.

The source said the decision to introduce the e-registration was also taken to free the party from over-dependence on the governors for funds and ensure financial autonomy for the party.

When the party under the former National Chairman Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, moved for the e-registration of members, the PDP governors opposed it.

The decision to use the e-registration was based on a paper entitled: ‘Deepening democracy through internal party democracy: Strategies for conducting credible, free and fair party congresses and primaries,’ by Nwodo in which he advised the party to embark on e-registration.

Nwodo had said in the paper “For the party, as an electoral body to act independently and equitably, it must have ways and means of raising its own funds. We all know that he who pays the piper, dictates   the tunes. There are known ways enshrined in the constitution of the party by which the party is funded.

“What we are not used to in Nigeria are innovative ways of utilising these avenues. I have consistently advocated e-registration as a way of raising funds for the party.

“By this module, nobody is disenfranchised from registering in the party. The registration fees and annual dues go straight to the coffers of the party.