“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step,” so say the Chinese. What the Chinese don’t tell us is that if that first step is in the wrong direction, the journey would be a thousand miles of wasteful misadventure. And with it, regrets, sorrows and tears.
This is what we see in the first step of Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), the factional chairman of the PDP. Turaki missed the first step, and he missed it big-time.
For many Nigerians, particularly the discerning, the lingering drama in PDP, once Nigeria’s ruling party, evokes an admixture of emotions: consternation, shock, worry and shame.
And this is why there was a flicker of hope that, with Alhaji Umar Damagun out and Turaki in, PDP might have a change of fortunes, even some redemption. It’s, therefore, regrettable to know so early that Turaki has come to merely consolidate PDP’s dramatic decline: From the spectacular to the spectator and now to the spectacle it has become!
For the erstwhile ruling party that routinely boasted about ruling Nigeria for 60 years, we can exclaim at the spectacle: “How are the mighty fallen!”
Having emerged as a factional chairman amidst internal contradictions and contradictory court rulings, wisdom required Turaki to have started treading carefully i.e. to stitch the badly torn umbrella by courting the factions; to reach out to critical stakeholders, and adopt a conciliatory attitude.
And this is not to say PDP is redeemable or that if Turaki took a better approach, the party would bounce back to political life. No – everything is gambling: PDP wouldn’t bounce back to life, but a more mature and pragmatic approach might delay its interment.
But what did he do? Damning the aggrieved parties, Turaki charged to the PDP national secretariat in Wuse like the proverbial bull in a China-shop, huffing and puffing, ready to crush his opponents – not minding the vehement opposition to the affront of his candidature and/or the Ibadan charade.
What the factional chairman didn’t know was that the factions and forces against him were intent on meeting him force-for-force, blow-for-blow, thug-for-thug and fire-for-fire!
It was a scientist, Isaac Newton, who said every action generates equal and opposite reaction. Turaki is a senior lawyer, so he knows little about science or the science of actions and counter-actions.
But ignorance is no excuse. So, in the end, he and his band of supporters were chased away from the PDP secretariat like impostors, or pretenders to the throne. It didn’t matter that governors numbered among those supporters.
They tried to go to the Legacy House in Maitama, but the Legacy Stakeholders dashed that hope. In the end, it was a deflated, depressed and disappointed Turaki who addressed a hurried press conference. Distracted and stupefied, it was inevitable that he would leave the majors, and begin to major in minors; to hallucinate, to speak without coherence, meaning or substance.
He, most bizarrely, called on the U.S President Donald Trump and other advanced western democracies to save Nigeria’s democracy! But is it democracy that’s under threat or the PDP? Of course, it’s the PDP.
So, the factional chairman should stop conflating PDP with democracy. They do not mean the same thing. One is a party in decline while the other is a system of renewed hope; one suffers from self-immolation whereas the other grows (and glows) from diligent community effort.
As Turaki struggled, unsuccessfully, to shift the blame, Nigerians saw how pathetic he looked; how self-indicting the stage was!
On his right, was Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state; and behind him (Turaki) was the factional National Secretary, Amb. Taofeek Arapaja (the immediate-past deputy chairman, South; on Turaki’s left, was Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state.
This was the cast that undermined the PDP in the run-up to the 2023 general elections, demarketing its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and demonising its then national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu. In fact, they eventually hounded Ayu out of office!
The sad truth is that PDP is realising too many things too late: One is that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Two, an entity that cannibalises on itself will be too weak and emaciated to compete in the arena of contest. And three, the culture of impunity coupled with the arrogance of power will ultimately lead to unmanageable implosion.
PDP knows all these. The party knows that its wounds are self-inflicted. Its henchmen, including Turaki, know that the dividends the party now receives, in full measure, are due payments for years of investment in irregularities, impunity, lawlessness and arrogance.
In plain language, PDP is the culprit, and Turaki knows it. So, the thing to do was to call on one or some of PDP’s “Strong men” and not Trump, to save it!
Turaki said, “For the past seven hours, Nigerians are living witnesses to the struggle we’ve been engaged in with those renegade members of our party that were expelled at our national convention in Ibadan.”
Does Turaki want Trump to come and run the PDP or help him or capture Aso Rock for the beleaguered PDP come 2027? In inviting foreign powers – does Turaki want them to come and reverse the Ibadan black-market expulsions? If he cannot access his office without breaking in, isn’t it delusional to imagine himself accessing the Presidential Villa?
In going international with his unpatriotic outburst, Turaki thought he was embarrassing Nigeria. The truth, however, is that he has only succeeded in internationalising his leadership poverty as well as drawn global attention to his party’s institutional incapacity.
His backers may have touted him as a “caretaker chairman,” but he gives the impression that he is actually PDP’s undertaker. And going global with his unpatriotic cocktails may just be Turaki’s way of singing PDP’s swan-song. And all critical Nigerians say, Adieu!
