by Onuoha Ukeh

…Since the governors are more interested in visits, to grab newspaper headlines, I would not be surprised if they storm Ochanja Market in Onitsha… and other markets across the country, one of these days, to tell traders that Jonathan should not go for second term.

It does seem that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has murdered sleep and, therefore, would sleep no more. Whether it’s the Main PDP or the New PDP, what is obvious is that no member of the political party, no matter how pretentious, would rest.

Yes, those in the Bamanga Tukur camp would not have their peace, just as the Kawu Baraje/aggrieved governors’ faction. And for the latter, you could say this: A child, who says his mother would not sleep, would certainly, not sleep.

In the last couple of weeks, since former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and seven governors of the PDP hosted a parallel convention in Abuja, the same day the Main PDP also held its special national convention, it is apparent that the centre would not hold in the political party. This is even moreso since the faction led by Baraje has stuck to its guns, even when the Tukur team appears to be softening in its disposition.

That the war, as it were, continues, after President Goodluck Jonathan and the seven aggrieved governors jointly read a communiqué, after their closed-door meting, wherein they stated that their grievances would be sorted out, is an indication that the parties to the crisis are not only pretending but also do not want it to end. This is amazing, for what is a family if disagreements cannot be sorted out?

I suspects that members of the Baraje/aggrieved governors’ faction of the PDP sees themselves as holding the aces and, therefore, carry on in such a way to indicate that they know what the outcome of the struggle for power and relevance in the ruling political party would be. I say this because since August 30, members of the New PDP have not only continued visiting individuals and groups, in what looks like a mobilsation campaign, but also making statements that portray them as belligerents.

With such disposition, the pertinent question is: Do these people really know what they are doing and that the fire, which is being ignited now, may go out of hand and consume everybody, including them? I ask this question because I have this feeling that members of the New PDP are on a suicide mission and, like all kamikaze, do not give a damn what happens in the end.

Yes, some of the grievances of members of the New PDP are founded. Much is wrong with the PDP. Certainly, a political party that has not done much to show that it believes in internal democracy and independence would not get anybody’s commendation. However, I have not come to terms with the fact that a group of people has adopted a strategy that would upset the polity, in their attempt to frustrate one man.

After meeting with President Jonathan and other stakeholders of the PDP, Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Chubuike Amaechi (Rivers) have continued doing things that have caused anxiety in the country. They have organised visits and made comments, which are provocative.

No doubt they are enjoying it, but they may not know that they have, by what they have done lately, directly and indirectly, lost the sympathy of some Nigerians, who, hitherto, believed in their cause. By the way they are carrying on, they have eroded the support they had initially. And if they continue that way, they would soon find themselves alone in the struggle.

As they are blowing their goodwill, I am persuaded that Baraje and the seven governors are not tactical in their approach. By their conduct, they appear to be more interested in the media hype, which has made them to play to the gallery. For example, what did they think they would achieve by their visit to the National Assembly, as they did when the federal legislature resumed sitting, after the break, last week?

In that visit, Baraje and the seven governors met with Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, where they stated that President Jonathan would not get another term in office, as that would be his third term. One of the outcomes of that visit was the fisticuff among members of the House of Representatives. Also, there was a near exchange of blows on Wednesday, at the Senate, when the Main PDP and New PDP tendencies clashed over Senator Danjuma Goje and Smart Adeyemi’s altercation. Now, what has the Baraje group achieved with this?

This is also how the seven governors went round the country, visiting former Nigerian presidents and heads of state, like Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Alex Ekwueme and Theophilus Danjuma, among others. They got the publicity then, but they have not got the majority of members of the PDP to join them. Also, they have not succeeded in having their demands met.

Therefore, since the governors are more interested in visits, to grab newspaper headlines, I would not be surprised if they storm Ochanja Market in Onitsha, Anambra State; Balogun Market, in Lagos, Kasuwa Bechi (Central Market) in Kaduna and other markets across the country, one of these days, to tell traders that Jonathan should not go for second term. I would not also be surprised if they visit military barracks to explain to soldiers that Jonathan is not only ineligible to seek re-election in 2015 but also that the country is not being run well. However, I must caution that members of this group, in their puritanistic world, should not forget that a raging fire does not have any friend.

The fire they are stoking is capable of destroying everything that has been gained in the last 14 years. It was this kind of campaign, against a sitting president, that truncated the Second Republic. And everybody, including the politicians that caused it, suffered the consequences.

I do not think that it’s the number of times these aggrieved governors and their supporters shout about their opposition to President Jonathan’s second term that would make it not to happen. PDP candidate for the 2015 presidential election would be determined at the political party’s primaries. And the person, who would be president in 2015, would be chosen by Nigerians, in an election.

Since the governors feel so impressed that Jonathan should not continue in office beyond 2015, they should have spent their time mobilising members of the PDP, so that at the primaries, their will would prevail and Jonathan would be stopped. If they think they would not succeed in stopping Jonathan from picking the presidential ticket of the PDP, they should devote their time and energy in mobilising Nigerians to vote against him in the election, if his name is on the ballot.

That’s what politics is all about. Good politicians spend more time strategising than provoking sentiment that would, eventually come to nothing, as the aggrieved governors are doing.

To be sure, the activities of the seven governors and the Baraje group have put a wedge on the country, to the extent that governance is gradually grinding to a halt. Now, the seven governors spend their time travelling across the country, in their campaign against Jonathan, while governance suffers in their home states.

These governors still have about 18 months left in their term of office. They should use it to serve their people because they would, eventually, be judged by what they have achieved as governors and not as the prime movers of Nigeria’s revolution. And if their campaign ends up causing the country the democracy it has, of course, history would judge them.

I did say, in an earlier article, that what is happening in Nigeria calls for caution. We have to have a country before a political party. We have to have a country before a president. And we have a government before the people who will serve in it.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.