APC vehicle needs gas now!
Since February 6, 2015 when the All Progressives Congress was formed following the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and elements of the New PDP as a vehicle for wresting power from […]
Since February 6, 2015 when the All Progressives Congress was formed following the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and elements of the New PDP as a vehicle for wresting power from the Jonathan-led government of the PDP, the APC has remained what it was at the beginning —just a vehicle. All hopes that it would transform itself to a vibrant political party with solid social democratic credentials are fizzling by the day as the original merging camps refuse to lose their identity, resisting the political alchemy that would have dissolved the various tendencies into one. Now the falcon faces one direction, the falconer another.
APC was swept to presidential victory on the wings of change. Capitalising on the ineptitude of the former administration made more odious by the unprecedented level of treasury looting, the then opposition party promised to run an accountable government with the fear of God, preserve national unity, work towards an egalitarian society, build strong institutions, ensure social and economic justice and promote participatory democracy.
The party caught the imagination of Nigerians with its seven cardinal programmes: War Against Corruption; Food Security; Accelerated Power Supply; Integrated Transport Network; Free Education; Devolution of Power; Accelerated Economic Growth; and Affordable Health Care.
Apart from the war on corruption which many Nigerians have commended the government for initiating and prosecuting with vigour, most of the other deliverables are still — to use a favourite Nigerian cliche — in the pipeline. The party that is supposed to drive many of the key points of the manifesto and lean on government operatives (including the president) to live up to the promises on which basis victory was secured, is itself in need of a healer.
The Buhari government has etched its name on the right side of history with its anti-corruption crusade. At no time in the short history of representative government in Nigeria has government had to contend with so many thieving moneybags with enough filthy lucre to bring down the government as we are witnessing now. So pervasive has corruption become that we now have lawyers openly advertising themselves as defenders of looters under the guise of being human rights activists. Every profession has its pro-corruption faction.
While I would score the Buhari administration an ‘A’ in the anti- corruption war, I cannot say the same for other areas of national life. And indeed there are elements within the administration who ought to be scanned with the magnifying lens of the EFCC. There is no party or political persuasion that is immune to the corruption bug and we have to openly demonstrate that what is good for Harry also applies to Hadi.
In a normal setting, the government relies on the party to show direction. APC has not been able to play that role. The internal contradictions that could have been resolved through political brinkmanship by the presidency are left unresolved because of the wide gulf between the president and the party. And I won’t place the larger chunk of the blame on the doorsteps of the chairman.
Chief Odigie Oyegun appears to be a good man and I have never heard his name listed among the coterie of eminent thieves. But the challenges facing the ruling party demand more than a chairman’s ethical rectitude. Going forward, whenever it can summon the courage to hold its postponed national convention, APC would need to instal a political version of Humphrey Nwosu (the man who delivered the June 12, 1993, elections in spite of unspeakable hurdles mounted by the same Babangida government that gave him the task).
Sadly for Nigeria, the opposition is also in disarray. Apparently, power and largess sharing were the twin adhesive holding PDP together. Out of power, with nothing more to share and plenty to cough up, PDP chieftains have resorted to political cannibalism like mutating caterpillars of the monarch butterfly. But Nigeria needs a strong party and power and an equally sturdy one in waiting.
The snail speed, lopsided appointments, policy tentativeness and closet mistrusts bedevilling APC had better be resolved without further delay for the sake of Nigeria. A dysfunctional party cannot produce a functional government. Let the leading lights of the unprecedented political engineering that removed a sitting government from power come round the table and weld together the disparate elements they used to achieve change. This sputtering APC engine can do with some gas right now.
FOR ANTHONY OLUWAFEMI JOSHUA
Last Saturday, Anthony Olufemi Joshua, the British heavyweight boxer of Nigerian descent, conquered the world. He defeated the big Ukrainian, Vladimir Vladimirowitsch Klitschko (a.k.a. Dr. Steelhammer) to unify the IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO Heavyweight boxing titles.
Although born in Watford to a Nigerian mother and a British father of Nigerian and Irish descent, Joshua spent his early years in Nigeria before returning to the UK to continue his secondary education. He was a great sportsman in school and was fondly called Femi, a short form of his middle name, Oluwafemi. I do not blame Britain for claiming him but it is also important to remind the world that Nigerian blood flows in his veins and also in his cousin, Ben Ileyemi, who is similarly unbeaten in the professional ranks. Congratulations, Nigeria!