Free advisory: PDP cannot bounce back with the same tired & tainted faces
During the past week or two, the media (Print & Electronic), showed PDP leaders in different meetings. They carried several banner headlines and different stories. But the one that attracted my attention was the statement made by the immediate past President, Good luck Jonathan. He was quoted as having said that” PDP ‘ll bounce back again” and that ” losing the Presidency is something temporary. We should be able to get that position back as long as we get our acts together”
As a leader that led his party to defeat in the last general elections, it is very much expected of him to try and encourage his party members and to give them hope. All over the democratic world, citizens desire an opportunity to change any government that is not meeting their aspirations or indeed any government that has stayed long in power. No matter how good a government is, time comes when the people yearn for change, though sometimes they get a negative change instead of a positive one. They could then regret but they would have had their way- the right to change any government-for better or for worse.
Thus it is always important to have more than one political platform through which leaders can emerge. In developed democracies, the parties come with different ideologies. In the less developed like ours, there is little ideological difference between the leading parties. That is why a so-called progressive can overnight join a conservative party and become the leader-no qualms, because they are ‘same same’. Experience shows that choice is easier for the citizens if there are two or three dominant parties as we have in the USA and the UK.
In Nigeria, since the 4th Republic started in 1999, the PDP had been the dominant party. No other party had been able to compare in terms of national spread and fungibility. The nearest was the ANPP, which metamorphosed into the CPC, fused with ACN and the ‘rebellious New PDP’ to form the APC. Immediately, Nigerians saw a true match for PDP in terms of national spread and deep pockets. APC ran a high pitched campaign mixed with a simmering dose of hype and propaganda to dislodge PDP, bringing to an abrupt end, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor’s (one time chairman of the party) boast that they would govern Nigeria for 60 years without break.
PDP governed Nigeria for 16 years (Obasanjo-8, Yardua-3 & Jonathan-5). These governments succeeded in several ways but failed in some other ways. Paradoxically, despite the fact that the PDP government established the EFCC and the ICPC – in attempt to deal with the corruption monster in Nigeria, they lost the election essentially for the reason that they were seen as being soft on corruption. The other matter that dogged the PDP was the apparent slow response to the Boko Haram onslaught. APC harped on these two major areas of apparent weakness to de market-PDP, and in the process promised Nigeria- Edorado, where there will be no hunger, no unemployment, no insecurity, no robberies and where one Naira will be equal to one dollar.
Have they delivered? The evidence is clear that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated”. The war on corruption is certainly on, seems to be gathering momentum but many complain that it is still lopsided and shallow. What else? Sure efforts are being made but we are nowhere near Eldorado. In truth, we were nearer Eldorado in 2014, than we are today. Of course, there are many excuses that can be made to explain the hardship in the land. Thus, many Nigerians are having a rethink. Did they make a mistake? Were they sold a dummy? As 2019 draws closer, some are wandering if APC deserves their votes again? Opinions may still change as we move on and the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan of the Buhari administration gets implemented. But for now, there is a rethink by many. That’s why there were series of civil society protests recently, followed by that of the labour unions- NLC & TUC.
I believe that this is what may have added impetus to the current frantic movements of PDP to reorganize and restrategize. This is what may have inspired the speech by President Goodluck Jonathan. Well, well, it is not that easy.. oo! To bounce back and dislodge APC so soon will be a hard job, a really hard job. But to be sure, keeping the same old, tired and some tainted faces I saw on the newspapers and on television as leading the bounce back will make the task impossible. Nigerians were not just worried by the long reign of PDP, but more so by some of the faces, some of whom have been in active partisan politics since the first Republic and some of whom have held either party or government positions over the 16 years PDP was in power at the federal level.
My candid advice is that all these old warriors should be retired with full benefits, so that they do not go through the humiliation of changing parties because of “stomach infrastructure”. They can still be assigned advisory roles, especially those who still have any significant following, because judging by the 2015 elections, many of them seem not to have any electoral value any more. I had harped on this theme in my earlier intervention on this page. I believe that the perception of unbridled corruption blighted the great work done in the Economy in the PDP years, especially in the years of President Jonathan. To be true, that is about the main grouse, Nigerians have against PDP. And all the recent revelations regarding large sums of money being found in the bank accounts and in the homes of past ministers, past GMD of NNPC and even in the homes of senior Judges accentuate the feeling that our Nation was raped under the watch of PDP.
Therefore, if PDP hopes to make a comeback, then it must reinvent itself and distance itself from the past. Most of the faces that seem to represent the Party leadership at the National level only remind Nigerians of this ugly past. A new genre of leadership must emerge that can capitalize on the economic achievements of PDP, but without the baggage of the corruption perception. Today the party has the additional challenge of the division in the party caused by the refusal of the monkey to return the cup after drinking water that was freely offered it. The lesson is that the Party must never give power to cavaliers and known perverts because of expediency. They must seek out the best among the younger generation and hand them power both at Party and at electoral positions. I believe that the current contrived division will end someday but that is not the greatest challenge of the party in my opinion. The real challenge is how to peacefully replace the old, tired and tainted faces that still represent the Party. Until this is done, I do not see any hope for a come back, certainly not soon.
Mazi Sam I. Ohuabunwa OFR