The jury did its job and has since
gone to sleep on
the Peoples Democratic Party. The question now is not
whether the party is guilty as charged; the question is about the length
of its punishment. The crux of the matter was how much the PDP had
failed Nigeria. The defendant, the PDP, claimed it has had only 14 years
and several trillions of naira to change Nigeria, but the 112 million
poor Nigerian souls insisted the PDP had to go. The jury decided and
granted the wish of the Nigerian masses.
The PDP has failed Nigeria! It failed us
yesterday, it is failing as we speak and it has borrowed enough money
to get the future of our children started on the path of failure. Some
political parties fail you today but they offer you hope of success
against tomorrow, the PDP fails you today with enough doom and gloom to
last into many tomorrows. Anyone who argues against this will one day
argue whether an above-the-law petrol cabal truly deprived Nigerians of
trillions of naira
in 2011. That the PDP has failed is a documented
scroll in the archives of time, sealed by the laws of Medes and
Persians, under the weight of the trillions of naira stolen since 1999
and being embalmed by the blood of innocent Nigerians lost to the
politics of “do-or-die” enshrined by the forefathers of the PDP.
Except for those who share genetic
traits with the Israelites of the wilderness era, most Nigerians do not
think we need another 26 years of the PDP to complete a 40-year period
of walking in a barren wilderness. The Israelites had God at their beck
and call; we have God as our kalokalo, making money from the poor in His
name. Fourteen years is enough and by 2015 it’d indeed be 16 years of
brigandage, of blood and bullets, of waste and economic hemorrhage.
Sixteen years of dilapidated infrastructure, of hospitals without drugs,
of schools without students, of universities without lecturers. It
would be 16 years of the ugliest display of nonsense since the word came
into existence in 1799. Nigerians want change so bad, but they must
wait till 2015 except President Goodluck Jonathan resigns, which will
never ever happen or there is an Egyptisation of our Nigerianised
democracy. Which also is a rarity considering our peculiar nature of
“suffering and smiling”. God forbid, but the top hierarchy of our
military has become fat so that one sef no go happen.
2015 would be about one thing and one
thing only; Change. Any individual or political party that wants the
trust of Nigerians in 2015 must come in the form of change. This is
where the All Progressives Congress is currently failing itself. You
cannot come promising to be an angel, yet appear in a garb with horns.
While the APC continues to form, the Action Congress of Nigeria, one of
the bigger parts of its whole has since lost its way in its use of the
media. The ACN has allowed the mediocrity of the PDP to drag it down.
The PDP has nothing to lose, it is right there in the mud but instead of
the ACN to stand away dignified, it keeps going down the muddy path of
the PDP.
The PDP may be foolish and clueless in
the art of effective and productive governance, but it is wise enough to
know that it cannot afford to discuss policies with the opposition. The
PDP cannot afford not to talk dirty. Logic will fail it, decorum will
fail it, only distractions can save it. This is where the ACN, the
Congress for Progressive Change and the rest of them have lost it. You
cannot beat the pig in a game of dirt. Where you expect the APC through
its forming parts to offer the alternative, it comes in the cloak of the
same, the PDP. “PDP accuses APC of being Muslim” and then the APC goes
ahead with something like, “Worry about the decaying carcass in your
front yard.” The engagements have followed this path. Of course it’d
take a Nigerian without the independent ability to see and think to
accept that the APC is set up to be a Muslim party. There are just as
many Christians and Muslims in the APC leadership team save for the odd
number. What the APC and its constituents must understand is that the
PDP will not seek to engage them on ideas or policies; it will engage
them in distractions and ijakadi. In this game, there can be only one
winner and you already guessed who.
If the APC wants to be taken seriously,
there are realities it must take without kid gloves. Bola Ahmed Tinubu
may be politically powerful but he is not the type you want to represent
your image. He has not been proved to be corrupt but there is a strong
perception of corruption around him. He set the foundations for the
current transformation of Lagos State but he also ensured his and the
future of his family are well taken care of. It is alleged that taxes,
roads and hospital payments in the state somehow have their way of
keeping his wealth well-milked. The APC needs him but it does not need
him publicly displaying his obvious might. The Ekiti State issue was
avoidable. You don’t tell anyone to step down; let democracy decide. You
cannot claim to be different from the current order by doing things
according to the same order. The democratisation of the APC would be its
biggest argument for genuineness and brand differentiation. Let
democracy decide. Always.
On another side, you cannot come to
Nigerians in 2015 on the altar of change by presenting the same
sacrificial animals that have kept Nigeria at its feet. The APC cannot
continue to take every Tom, Dickhead and Lootocrat that comes from the
PDP just because it wants to show it is the new bride. If they are not
careful, the old bride will look like the new bride if it continues to
shed its ugliness on the cosmetic table of the new. The APC must define
itself and set out a political ideology that sets it apart. If you must
take from the PDP, take the part of it that looks good to Nigerians, not
old losers who lost in the PDP power game.
The APC itself must know that it is not
the ideal. It is at best a pragmatic solution to Nigeria’s current
leadership quagmire. At its best, with a developed political ideology
and democratisation, it would only be the lesser ugly of two beasts. We
need not fool ourselves, this is not the politics we want but this is
the one we are stuck with for now. Nigeria needs a viable alternative to
the PDP hegemony. We are desperate for change but we will not close our
eyes to the glaring failings of those who paint their faces with the
colours of change, but have the nucleus of the old order. If the APC
does not show itself to be different from the PDP in truth and in deed,
we might as well prepare for another four years of PDP in 2015. The only
thing worse than that would be a PDP led by the incumbent, globally
renowned, incompetent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Local and International Issues and Personal Development.
No comments:
Post a Comment