PDP in make-or-mar decision
Having been the nation’s ruling party since 1999, the PDP has widely been accepted as being paramount to the development of our democracy and ensuring that governance and its benefits are made to reach every Nigerian, including those at the lower strata of the society. But for the PDP to live up to this expectations, […]
Having been the nation’s ruling party since 1999, the PDP has widely been accepted as being paramount to the development of our democracy and ensuring that governance and its benefits are made to reach every Nigerian, including those at the lower strata of the society.
But for the PDP to live up to this expectations, the party has to, in addition to winning elections, ensure that only those with the right mix of experience, capacity, sagacity and leadership qualities are elected as party chairmen. At the moment, there have been several debates about what qualities a candidate for the position of the chairmanship of the party is supposed to bring along with him. While this debate is good, and should be encouraged further, what is becoming tragic in my view as a party loyalist is the attempt to railroad into the party, the perception that only youthful persons are best suited for the job. There isn’t any doubt that some youthful persons have proved their mettle in Nigeria’s journey. But I, being a youth myself, sometimes cringe in shame when I reflect that in the last several years of our democratic governance, most of those who have been guests of the EFCC for one corruption-related matter or the other are youths, be they governors or former ministers, legislators or state commissioners.
I say this so as to warn against the growing agitation against having older citizens, who are still physically active and mentally alert, to be on board to provide useful guide to younger ones. I believe that campaign to throw experience and capacity to the dogs just to pave way for a youthful group that has in some instances proven incapable of providing the right mix of maturity, experience and capacity to help steer the affairs of our nation should quickly be arrested.
It would be the very height of deceit to convince ourselves that just anyone who had held a position in the past or who has built some visibility in the media could wake up one morning and provide the right kind of leadership the PDP needs at this moment to counter or balance the influence of the contending forces within the party, forces whose quarrels and disagreements when not properly managed, had plunged the party and the nation at large into instability and unrest. To put it succinctly, PDP needs the leadership that will act as a stabilizing force. If you like, the party needs people who are father figures to warn, advise, encourage and douse whatever tensions may arise in the course of different politicians pursuing their ambitions within the party.
The PDP used to be the finest model of what a political party should be during the days of its early formation when very patriotic Nigerians founded the party and nurtured it to prominence. This is one fact we seem to lose sight of, often making references to the party’s darkest periods when political ambitions led to unwanted divisions. This is something the party can still regain by tapping into the patriotic initiatives and experience that has helped some of its founding fathers establish it as a formidable force in the nation.
As a party loyalist, my plea to the PDP is to ensure that only the best and most experienced get the nod to become party chieftains. Now that President Goodluck Jonathan has demonstrated a determination to transform the various sectors of the economy and infrastructure, whether we like it or not, the success of his administration is hinged on building a strong party that will help provide stability in the polity, sharpen government’s policies and rally support for same. The PDP must get it right this time.
Isah wrote from 20, Gaborone Street, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja