PDP and the nation

With 12 states in its kitty, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is still a vibrant political organisation. We may also add that by virtue of having some of the states endowed with crude oil deposits, the party still has something going for it, provided it reins in the internal rumbles threatening to destroy it.

Today, the PDP is controlling one third of the states (12 out of 36). They are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Enugu. Others are Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Ondo, Rivers and Taraba. In a country like ours where politicians go off handle with power, there is the need for a credible, vibrant opposition.

With the All Progressive Congress (APC) on the driver’s seat of the nation’s governance, there is the tendency to go beyond what may be considered acceptable behaviours in power, hence the need for an effective watchdog. It is our belief that the role of a credible opposition in a democratic dispensation is to intelligently challenge government policies that are not working or taking a sitting government to task on account of non-performance in the interest of the populace. The PDP is expected to play the type of opposition that featured in the days of the late Obafemi Awolowo.

As the premier of the defunct Western Region, it is on record that once the Federal Government released its budget, Awolowo would also release his based on facts and figures. In fact, it was said that his facts were always more reliable and superior to that of the government. He was the one who warned that at the rate Nigeria was borrowing, the country would get into trouble in the next 10 years, and it happened.

Since the return of the country to civil rule in 1999, there has not been credible opposition in the country. The situation appeared worsened with the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2014. Up till this moment, there has been a marked misunderstanding of the role of opposition in the polity. For the avoidance of doubt, an opposition is an alternative to the government in power. The opposition being an alternative, critiques government policies, offers its own solution; presents and proclaims its own alternative so that the electorate can be better informed and put in the right position to make a right judgment. It also presents alternative policies for the electorate to see what an ideal situation should be.

It could be safe to say that politicians may have misunderstood the real essence of opposition as they employ uncouth language against the party in power. We really would urge the PDP to up its game, by being a little bit more honourable in its approach to issues. It must be clearly stated that the interest of the Nigerian people would not be served by manufacturing falsehood.

It bears restating for the sake of emphasis that the PDP must play the opposition role by taking the party in power to task – pointing areas of focus; drawing the people’s attention to the promises of government that have not been fulfilled. And all these must be done in a very constructive manner. The place of opposition in a democracy cannot be overemphasised. It is, in the main, to maintain checks and balances in the system. Both government and the opposition complement each other to achieving a credible democratic culture in society. We recall that Ike Ekweremadu, deputy Senate president, had, before the inauguration of the present government, said the PDP would provide credible and responsible opposition to deepen democracy and promote good governance in Nigeria.

And we cannot agree more with Lai Mohammed, a former national publicity secretary, APC, and now minister of information, that the PDP must change its perception of the role of an opposition. It is our candid opinion that the PDP may not be seen as doing well if the party believes it is all about name-calling, character-assassination or misplaced criticism just to be in the news. We sincerely advise that to serve Nigerians well in its present position, PDP must not constitute itself into a nuisance by rushing to the press “with all sorts of hot air statements”. We daresay that it is the quality, rather than the frequency of its interventions that will make the party relevant as an opposition at this point in time.