Jonathan, OBJ battle for PDP control - Who Owns the Party ahead of 2014/2015 ?

AMIDST reported deepening rift, the political camps of both President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo are reported to have launched a spirited bid for the control of the state structures of the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of 2015.

Investigations by Sunday Tribune showed that aside the national leadership of the party, the battle for the control of the thirty-six state structures of the party has commenced with an eye on the presidential convention of the party in late 2014 or early 2015.

While the Presidency is said to be in firm control of the party at the national level, recent rift among top leaders of the party is said to have deepened the struggle for the control of the state structures which are crucial to determining the winner at the presidential convention.

Sunday Tribune was told that the disagreement between former President Obasanjo and President Jonathan is now defining the struggle at the state level with a top political source confiding that “the president`s men are playing fast ones across the states with respect to party structures.

``Well the race is far but near. The picture emerging is that state structures are in the hands of loyalists due to the issue of presidential convention. Those crises happening across the state chapters of the party are meant to decide the winner even before the convention,” the source said.

In the South-west zone, it was learnt that four of the six states were safely in the hands of loyalists of the president, leaving only Ondo and Ogun states as contentious grounds for the anti-Jonathan forces in the zone.

It was learnt that a top PDP chief, now estranged with President Obasanjo, was the one coordinating the president`s camp with reports indicating that those aligning with the former president could find it hard to make headway in electoral contests due to possible restrictions of access to party tickets.

It was gathered that the party could have been deliberately placed in the hands of some top politicians whose loyalty to the Presidency was undiluted and who may be favoured in governorship tickets in return for holding the structures in trust for the president`s camp. Read More on Tribune