A
Nunc Dimittis is a dismissal canticle that is usually offered for the
dead or dying. Every keen observer will be reminded of these biblical
verses especially when you recall the latest happenings in the Peoples
Democratic Party in Nigeria. The recent public exchanges between key
leaders of the outgoing ruling party should make anyone worried.
It
is becoming clear that the party is not (and has not been) in good
health and if nothing is done to salvage it, it may be a matter of
months before it disintegrates. Now, given that I am not a member of
that party, how does that bother me? Especially at this time when it has
become somehow fashionable to belong to or at least to be associated
publicly with the incoming ruling party, the All Progressives Congress? I
am a democrat and I think that it will be good for the Nigerian
democracy to have a virile opposition party to keep the ruling party
under check. At this point, no other party will be able to do that in
the next four years better than the PDP. So the party that once proudly
paraded itself as the biggest party in Africa should not allow itself to
be submerged and consumed by intra-party crises.
In
the last few weeks, the media has been awash with accusations, counter
accusations and name calling among the leadership of the PDP. It has
been quite revealing and many Nigerians used the opportunity to
understand a bit of what transpired in the dark during the elections.
However, those exchanges were absolutely unnecessary. No serious party
settles internal scores on the pages of newspapers. At a point, the
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, was quoted
as pointing an accusing finger at the outgoing President Goodluck
Jonathan. The issues raised by both sides bordered on accountability and
provided useful pointers as to how both the PDP and the Jonathan
government operated in an opaque manner. However, I found it odd that a
National Publicity Secretary for whatever reason could begin to
challenge the leader of the party where he serves as an official.
Part
of the reasons for such acrimonious outbursts could be coming from the
frustrations of losing power at the national level. For a party that has
been in power for 16 years, the loss will only be an opportunity for
some introspection. I am aware that defeating an incumbent party is not a
simple task, however the margin of a little above two million votes is
not such an embarrassing defeat. I deduce that the strategists of the
PDP should be studying their defeat and making strategic assessments to
find opportunities to bounce back in the future. They should be frank to
admit their mistakes and save their party from an imminent
disintegration. Regardless of a poor outing nationally, there were a few
positives that must not be ignored. The victory in Gombe State in a
zone that was swept by the APC during the presidential election offers
interesting lessons. Furthermore, the PDP incursion into Lagos in the
last elections is such that needs to be reviewed further. I know that
there are reports of irregularities in states like Rivers, Akwa Ibom,
Abia etc., but that does not stop the review that is necessary.
However,
I am sure that the PDP can even go further backwards to unearth the
possible reasons that led its support base to begin to wither away in
the first place. Although there are many versions of the political
misunderstanding among the governors, it could do the party a lot of
good to rigorously analyse the crisis and learn from it.
Another
problem that is worsening the public perception of the PDP is the sort
of people who have been speaking for it. With people like the Ekiti
State Governor, Ayo Fayose, speaking for it, says a lot about the party.
I am aware that the PDP is still dominant in states like Cross River
and Gombe. In Cross River, it has a former university teacher, lawyer
and lawmaker, Senator Ben Ayade. In Gombe State, it has a former
Accountant General of the Federation and tested technocrat like Ibrahim
Hassan Dankwambo. In Enugu State, it has the Deputy Senate President,
Ike Ekweremadu. I will not admit that those things that happened during
the 16 years of the reign of the PDP were in the negative. Amidst the
sea of underperformance, it can identify a few projects that can be used
as examples of where the party fared well across the country. Those
examples can form the basis for constructive communication and
showcasing beyond the unnecessary basing and adversarial tactics it is
employing currently.
Finally, it is obvious that the PDP has to
learn how to be an opposition party the hard way and quickly too – by
doing it. There is no amount of blame game and rancour that can change
its fate. The only option before the party is to put itself together,
take stock and start from where it stopped. I am not exactly sure how
far it can go with this but what I know is that that will be useful for
our democracy. We do not want to make a PDP out of the APC. We need a
ruling party that is cautious and result-oriented not only because it
wants to win elections but also because another party is watching it
from the side. There is nothing wrong in one or two persons resigning
from the leadership of the party as far is it is in line with
overhauling the party’s organs and reforming it. The PDP has two
options. Either, it urgently cautions the party’s leadership or it
begins to tread slowly on the path of implosion.
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