Worried by the gale of defection of its quality members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general election, the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) moved fast enough last week to reconcile two of its governors that were on war path.
It is no longer news that within a space of months some PDP chieftains across the country had dumped the party for the APC, a development that is giving a serious concern to the leaders of the umbrella association.
Moved to stem a dangerous development from degenerating, the PDP decided to bring Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State (North East) and his Benue State (North Central) counterpart, Samuel Ortom to a round table to embrace each other after a bout of slanging match between them in the last few weeks.
After they had fired several verbal missiles at each other over insecurity, Governors Mohammed and Ortom embraced each other in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, signaling end to bitterness. That was internal politics at best.
The altercation between the two governors on the platform ridiculed the party in the eyes of Nigerians.
Mohammed had recently lashed out at South West governors for what he called the mishandling of the Fulani and herders’ crises rocking the country, also tagging Ortom as the worst manager in the Fulani security matter.
He also said that Governor Ortom’s lack of foresight had triggered the current negative perception of Fulani herders across the country. The Bauchi State governor had further said that the herders were forced to carry AK47 and other guns in order to protect themselves from rustlers.
The enraged Benue State governor had responded with comments laced with more bile. He called Governor Mohammed a “terrorist”. And things began to degenerate; but, the party quickly waded in to halt the conflagration.
Although it would appear that Governor Mohammed was countering Ortom on behalf of the Presidency, whom the later had accused of complicity in the orgy of killings across the country by herdsmen in particular, observers wondered the motivation of the governor, resulting in speculations that Mohammed may be warming up to curry the favour of Aso Rock Villa.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his Adamawa counterpart, Ahmadu Fintiri initiated the reconciliation efforts.
After a closed-door meeting at Wike’s private residence in Port Harcourt, the governors insisted that their arguments were for the good of the country, not to cause an ethnic crisis.
While the face off lasted, many Nigerians had wondered why Mohammed was being more APC than the PDP, the platform on which he was elected in 2019.
The leadership of the PDP, particularly Governor Wike who appears to be a rallying point in the party, waded in to ensure the standoff does not bruise the party more than necessary.
It would recall that Mohammed had defeated an APC governor in the 2019 gubernatorial election in a dramatic way, and his early days in office were characterised by all manner of allegations and distractions from the opposition in the state.
Recall also that it was in his state that Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the House of Representatives in the 8th National Assembly, dramatically dumped the PDP, alleging many things against the governor.
Why he should be seen to be defending the President rather than align with his counterpart on a serious and threatening security issue in the country left many Nigerians tongue-tied.
For Ortom who has changed political camps a number of times, moving from PDP to APC and back to the PDP, the seat of power in Abuja may be sleeping on guard when it comes to the issue of protection of lives and property of citizens.
Ortom has borne the brunt of herdsmen onslaught in the North Central. He has lost count of number of people of his state that had been savagely murdered by herdsmen. He has also lost count of orphans, widows, widowers and internally displaced persons occasioned by unwarranted attacks by invaders.
Ortom has not hidden his feelings over the handling of insecurity by the Federal Government, and has severally called out the President over his silence towards the murderous activities of herdsmen in his state.
With the 2023 general election in view, the PDP would not tolerate a divided house, hence the deft move to reconcile the two governors.
