Reading the news: PDP splits

Somebody once observed that “Well, with prophesy you got to see what happens”. What has happened and is still happening to the ruling party since his prophesy nearly singles out Ogbulafor as a false prophet. Tragically, too, his prophesy was not self-fulfilling either as Mr Ogbulafor did not last long in office; disgraced not only […]

Somebody once observed that “Well, with prophesy you got to see what happens”. What has happened and is still happening to the ruling party since his prophesy nearly singles out Ogbulafor as a false prophet. Tragically, too, his prophesy was not self-fulfilling either as Mr Ogbulafor did not last long in office; disgraced not only out of the office but has since been facing trial in a corruption case filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). The party, far from having any confidence that it would survive the next election in 2015, is almost shattered into some smithereens, struggling for survival from its apparent self-inflicted lorry load of injustices and internal democratic distortions. With the weekend split of the party, the party’s 15th year anniversary is as dicey, no less than a 60th anniversary. The devil is in the details, according to the chieftains of the “New PDP”.  Nothing is new about the new chieftains of new PDP beyond their stories of woes.
Witness Abubakar Baraje, the new National Chairman, who spoke on behalf of notables that include governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Musa Kwankwaso of Kano, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Babangida Aliyu of Niger. “Not only has the Constitution of the party been serially violated by Alhaji Tukur and fellow travellers, but all the organs of the party have been rendered virtually ineffectual by a few people who act as though they are above the law. “Unfortunately, it is obvious that they get encouragement from the Presidency whose calculations are geared towards shutting out any real or imagined opposition ahead of the party’s presidential primaries for the 2015 elections.
“As leaders of our great party, we consider it a sacred responsibility to save the PDP from the antics of a few desperadoes, who have no democratic temperament and are therefore bent on hijacking the party for selfish ends. While the list of their violations of the tenets of our great party is long, we will highlight just a few:
*The National Executive Committee of the PDP, at its belated meeting of 20 June 2013, approved 20 July 2013 for the conduct of a Special National Convention. However, that date was changed to August 31 without reverting to NEC (the only authority vested with such powers) by a few people, apparently acting on the authority of the Presidency.
*Notwithstanding the fact that INEC had noted that the PDP congresses in  nine states were not properly conducted, the illegal delegates from such states are being paraded at the so-called convention being held today (last Saturday) in a cynical attempt to circumvent the law and further bring the name of the party to disrepute.
*In gross violation of the PDP constitution, which stipulates that the NEC meeting must hold at least once in a quarter, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and a few people have been running the party like a personal fiefdom without recourse to that important decision-making organ of the party.
From now, the new leadership of the party under us will strive to build a fairer as well as a more transparent and accountable PDP that will put the  interest of members and indeed all the people of Nigeria above that of one single individual.
“For all the members of our great party who may have become disillusioned by the anti-democratic tendencies of the Bamanga Tukur leadership, there is a new lease of life in the horizon. It is a new dawn for the Peoples Democratic Party”.
So the rich also cry so loud? Thanks to the democratic process. However, all considered, the weekend split within the ruling PDP and the increasing factionalisation of some of the political parties ahead of 2015 election is a dangerous development to Nigeria’s  democracy, unity and cohesion of the country as a whole. For some the fun may very well be that the ruling party collapses. But the bigger picture is that Nigeria and Nigerian politicians can still not build institutions and agree to disagree. Democracy is definitely about contestation. However, democracy is also about cooperation among the democratic actors. Nigeria’s democracy is tall in political acrimonies (not contestation), executive thuggery, bickering, elbowing, exclusion but miserably shot in inclusion, cooperation, unity, friendship and solidarity needed for the development of a country; under delivering for its people in basic goods and services. It is certainly not too late for the politicians to quickly return to the path of democratic process, contestation and cooperation and prevent Nigeria from the acid test of implosion in 2015. Political parties and their members must simply respect their internal democracy. Elbowing opponents out rather than accommodating them cannot build democracy. We cannot criminalise dissidents. That was the discredited ways of the military, not the tested way of democrats worldwide. The burden is on the president and governors as well as party chieftains to reaffirm commitment to democracy. The missing link is the Nigerian people and the country.  There is so much quarrel and struggle for positions and positioning. It played out during the 36-member Governors Forum election.  So far, the quarrels are certainly not about the universities that remain closed, not about persistent electricity failures that are killing industries, wholesale dumping of goods from China that has killed local industrialisation and not about road accidents on bad roads.  We must return to development politics. So far the difference is not really clear between the “old” and the “new”.