Now that APC is a political party

It means that there will be option open to Nigerians to choose from and would reduce or possibly eliminate the arrogance of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP which has provided a tragic leadership in the last fourteen years of civil rule in the country.I said if the politicians are serious because in the immediate […]

It means that there will be option open to Nigerians to choose from and would reduce or possibly eliminate the arrogance of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP which has provided a tragic leadership in the last fourteen years of civil rule in the country.
I said if the politicians are serious because in the immediate past, the nation was faced with numerous circus shows which in the end became more or less exhibition of dangerous tendencies of the politics of the moment characterized by complete absence of direction and goodwill.
Instead, politicians have exhibited immeasurable quantum of greed and seriousness by their rush for material adjuncts of politics putting in abeyance the major focus of politics, which is service to both plant and animals. The polity was massively commercialized and virtually all politicians wore price tags. It was clear therefore why the opposition itself became severally compromised first through the deliberate infiltration of the central government under General Obasanjo beginning 1999.
We saw how the opposition parties notably the APP and AD gradually denudated and dissolved into wings of the ruling PDP. We saw how the Southwest for instance chickened out in 2003 in favor of the candidate of the ruling party while the region was in opposition then and the consequence of ‘operation sweep Southwest’ through massive electoral fraud from the center but couldn’t be contained by the AD as a regional power in government due to that syllabus of error.
The APP metamorphosed into ANPP while the AD eventually became AC and later ACN. APGA, the supposedly Southeast political vehicle could though not gain massive regional symbolism was able to serve the role of an alternative to the PDP at times of disputes especially originating from intra party squabbles.
In the last fourteen years of civil rule, I can comfortably be said that one dangerous thing that the governments have done was the complete erosion of political party solidarity which is more than anything responsible for the arrogance of the government in Abuja and the installed leaders of the PDP and possibly the inherent weaknesses of the so called opposition parties.
I am of the view that if the political class especially in the opposition would put aside the excessive tilt to political commercialization and materialism, Nigeria would achieve the much needed political atmosphere to test the political class and thus see the emergence of credible elections where the voters would determine representation at every level against the tragedy that was the rule since 1999.
Let me repeat here that all the noise about a good election in 2011 by both domestic and international forces was a farce as it was like all elections since 2003 severely flawed. The fact is that the rigging went the way of the noisy segments of the Nigerian society.
There is no way the voter turn-out in the Southeast for instance during the presidential election would be over 90% while in subsequent elections which were more relevant to the electorate in the sense of personal knowledge of the aspirants recorded less than 50% turn out.
Imo State was one ready example. The voter turn-out during presidential election was about 95% while in the two other very hotly contested governorship election and the run off, the turn-out was far less. In political science, this is unjsutifaible. The outcome was possibly legally right but certainly it was politically fraudulent and that is the reality that the nation is forced to live with.
In my view, the failure to ensure credible elections in the country owe more to the failure of strong political parties to check the dominance and excesses of the ruling party which saw the need to kill opposition parties as central to its perpetuation. Again, this act in itself resulted in the proliferation of cancer as opposition from within the PDP and what we have today in the polity and government at the center clearly reflects that.
What Nigerians expect from the new political party is that it should ably and capably provide the needed balance to guarantee politics of representative government of service through responsible franchise throughout the natation. It must generate the required condition to stabilize politics and governance in the country.
It is not possible for the political groups that saw short circuiting as the essential vehicle of truncating peoples will and sanctity of votes to willfully change. That must be changed by the people and the new order and I hope that the new party would not waste time in power struggles amongst and between the various configurations that brought it to being.
What Nigerians ought to expect is a brand new or at least a major breakthrough from what the PDP has made dominant in the years past. The APC can do things differently and I do think that is what will make it different and reinvigorate the interest of citizens in the nation’s electoral democracy.
It will be most disappointing if the old order is continued in the new system. I am not unaware of the schemes from the state and its agents to throw spanners. This was taken to height during the registration process of the new party. It took efforts on the part of the leadership of the INEC to boldly dam the distortions to register the new party.
The anxiety that greeted the registration should be the point of encouragement so that those at the helm of affairs of the party are genuinely excited to do things differently and Nigerians in the next election have their say through their votes.
The excitement is that Nigerians expect things to happen differently with the new development is understandable. Things shouldn’t be done the way they are currently otherwise the meaning of the development would be unexciting and may further dampen the spirit of those who desire to see things change for the better. A view that I believe is in the majority.
APC must be democratic. Regardless of whatever election may bring, it is strongly suggested that the party must hold elections to elect its leadership at all levels. Consensus has since been made stupid by the ruling PDP and anything short of election in the ascendency of leadership of the party at all levels would only be a replica of the rule on ground and I am sure Nigerians hardly can be captivated under that scenario.
The coming into being of the APC if properly put to use is capable of rejuvenating the political space and governance in the country. This, the PDP will do everything possible to truncate. How to get it right is squarely what the new arrangement need to do and as soon as possible so that the nation sees a new lease and way of life.
Politicians must provide the required leadership to propel the people and mobilize them into greater political participation as a panacea to nation building. Certainly it is only the PDP that does not seem to know that all is not well in the polity and government in Nigeria.
We await the opportunity that avail the opposition groups and hope they cash in as soon as possible. The most important quality of western liberalism is not just in pluralism but also the periodization of elections so that change remains the only permanent thing and not this trash the PDP is telling us every day that they will rule for sixty years.
We welcome the development for the sake of Nigeria and pray that in the few years ahead, Nigerians would appreciate the beauty of multi-party democracy and civil rule where politicians and political parties would have as their priorities the desires and aspirations of the people.