Getting battle-ready for 2015
In fact, CPC’s double whammy doesn’t stop there; the former National Chairman of the party, Senator Rufai Hanga has secured a court order to eject the party from his property, which serves as the National Secretariat of the CPC. With big financiers like Hanga and Aliero gone, will the CPC have the logistical capacity to […]
In fact, CPC’s double whammy doesn’t stop there; the former National Chairman of the party, Senator Rufai Hanga has secured a court order to eject the party from his property, which serves as the National Secretariat of the CPC. With big financiers like Hanga and Aliero gone, will the CPC have the logistical capacity to fight the PDP in 2015? And worse still, with the party’s national leaders playing the ostrich, what will remain of the party’s fortunes? Given the untidy manner the party has been mismanaged by myopic and self-righteous leaders who have contempt for other opinions, it is hard to explain how the party can effectively overcome the many political pitfalls that lay ahead.
No political organization can run effectively without money. In 2008, President Barrack Obama of the U.S. had to organize fund raising efforts, which raked in about 150 million dollars from ordinary Americans that donated because they believed in his cause and competence to change their lives. Do the people around General Buhari have the skill, the strategy, competence and good will to produce the same results? If General Buhari doesn’t want money from rich members of his party (where he doubts the sources of their incomes), his only alternative is to raise his campaign funds independently. Can he, with the kind of men with old-fashioned ideas that are holding him hostage?
The fundamental and fatal error committed by the CPC leaders was the introduction of the policy and substitution and imposition of candidates, which took the rights of voters to freely choose their leaders for granted. Freedom of choice is the heart of democracy; once you thrust a rapier of imposition through it, democracy dies. Despite giving their time, energies and resources to build the CPC in their States, Mohammed Abacha, Lado Dan Marke and Dan China were deliberately frustrated to make way for the anointed candidates of the party leaders, despite the fact that these officially favoured candidates didn’t enjoy grassroots support.
How can any wise party destroy its main political assets? Imposition of candidates is alien to democracy and the interest of a few selfish leaders should not override the rights of voters to freely choose their leaders. The party took the choice of the people for granted and eventually paid dearly for that arrogant disregard for voter sovereignty. Candidates imposed by the party at the governorship and House of Assembly election were abandoned by CPC voters at the polls. In fact, aggrieved voters either stayed away in protest or cast their votes for the ruling PDP to get back at the CPC leaders who unwisely imposed candidates on them. Primaries were duly conducted under the supervision of INEC but the party disregarded the wishes of the voters.
The CPC national leaders are still battling to come to terms with the consequences produced by the policy of substitution. In fact, some major grassroots backers of the party such as Lado Dan Marke have formally abandoned the party because the national leaders lack the democratic credentials to build the party into a formidable national structure to capture votes. Despite his immeasurable sacrifices to the party, Mohammed Abacha was betrayed and unjustly treated by the national leaders of the party. Deserted by real grassroots politicians who can deliver the votes, the party leaders are themselves overwhelmed by the magnitude of the needless crisis of confidence their undemocratic actions have cost the party.
Even the Nasir El-Rufai Renewal Committee doesn’t seem to have the magic wand to save the party from its present internal crisis. Instead of blaming the PDP for the crisis, the CPC leaders must be honest enough to take responsibility for the mess they threw the party into. No matter the length of extension of time granted the El-Rufai Committee to complete its assignment, there is no evidence to suggest that the current leadership of the CPC enjoys enough confidence to carry members and supporters along. They are not trusted because of their open anti-democratic tendencies.
How can you rebuild the CPC when those responsible for the internal crisis are still shamelessly holding office at the National Secretariat? With General Buhari too irresolute to show them the door and let younger politicians with vision, popular good will and vibrant ideas to take over the party, only a miracle can save the CPC from its internal crisis. General Buhari’s indifference or reluctance to intervene and save the party has dampened the enthusiasm of members and supporters who were once determined to work to the knuckle bone to build the party. A word is enough for the wise.
Bilyaminu wrote from Unguwar Dosa, Kaduna