What opposition parties must do presently — Political scientist
In this interview, a professor of Political Science and public affairs analyst, Gbade Ojo, spoke on the need for the opposition to reposition itself. How would you describe the opposition parties in Nigeria? Presently, opposition elements are not virile in Nigeria. In a democracy, opposition is not supposed to be an irreverent critic of […]
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In this interview, a professor of Political Science and public affairs analyst, Gbade Ojo, spoke on the need for the opposition to reposition itself.
How would you describe the opposition parties in Nigeria?
Presently, opposition elements are not virile in Nigeria. In a democracy, opposition is not supposed to be an irreverent critic of the government; they are supposed to operate as an alternate government. But Nigeria is drifting towards a one-party system because opposition political parties don’t get their acts right. The kind of internal crises, lack of internal democracy and lack of father figures in the opposition parties make them very weak.
Interestingly, the results of the last elections made the All Progressives Congress (APC) a dominant political party in Nigeria. Going by the number of parliamentary seats won by opposition parties in the country and the number of states they control, we have weak opposition elements; and it is not good for our democracy.
The only thing they are doing is criticising the sitting government; that is why I called them irreverent critics; they don’t offer an alternative government.
They are supposed to give us alternative viewpoints. How they could have done certain things better, rather than saying the way the sitting government is doing it is not good. How would you do it better if you were the one there so that in the forthcoming elections, Nigerians would have a better option? My appeal as a political scientist is that they should learn how to run opposition political parties, not the way things are presently.
The main opposition party used to be in power, but since its defeat by the APC, it has been struggling…
Ab initio, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was very weak, in terms of propaganda, communication and publicity. They were very weak, even when they were in government. Don’t forget that what the APC used to displace them is what it is doing today. Fuel subsidy removal then was turned into a serious problem for the party as the then opposition, APC, was able to mobilise Nigerians to protest against the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. On the contrary, the PDP has not been able to mobilise Nigerians against APC’s policies. The PDP has been unable to mobilise fine writers to do the work for them. And the stronger you are in terms of propaganda, the better in terms of controlling the mind of the electorate. The APC is controlling the mind of the electorate more than the PDP.
What is the way to go for the opposition to regain their strength?
My advice to the opposition is to first of all resolve their internal wrangling. If they can resolve internal wangling within their parties, it would be better for them. Without that, they cannot be good machineries to fight their cause.
The ruling party is equally enmeshed in internal wrangling, but that of the PDP is more because they are not in government. Not only that, they should prepare their mind that discredited politicians should not be in the forefront in the next elections. Nigerians are getting wiser. Discredited politicians should be done away with.
In our national democracy, one major feature is what I call ideological fluidity. Nigerian politicians don’t have any ideology; many of them are like hungry animals. They are ready to support any party in government because of relevance and what they would eat. That’s why they are ready to move into any political party in government.
Do you foresee the opposition parties coming together and forming alliances?
Nigerian politicians are difficult to predict. Nothing is really impossible; and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. So, we are watching and waiting.