By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327)
In 2012, I covered the special National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the Group Politics Editor of Daily Independent Newspapers. At the end of the all-night exercise that culminated in the selection of governor of the defunct Gongola State, Bamanga Tukur and other officials of the party’s National Working Committee, it was obvious that what happened at the Eagles Square venue of the event, was anything but an election. It was simply a charade. Those of us who saw through what took place, were convinced that the PDP was headed for trouble.
Back in the office, I did a story on what transpired in Abuja, with the headline, “PDP: Imminent implosion of a Behemoth”. I strongly argued that the PDP as a ruling party was simply marking time before hitting the rocks. What informed my conclusion was the level of bitterness on the faces of delegates, including the governors and National Assembly members who were forced to ditch their preferred candidates in obedience to the dictates of the then President Goodluck Jonathan and his Aso Rock acolytes.
When the story was published, I received a call from Olisa Metuh, one of the beneficiaries of the Eagle Square bazaar, who was given the post of National Publicity Secretary. Brushing aside basic courtesies, he went all out, calling me such names, ‘enemy of progress’, ‘prophet of doom’ and boasting that I would live to eat my words.
Few months later, PDP slipped into crises, leading to the formation of the New PDP (nPDP) and eventual exodus of members. In 2015, the party was dislodged by the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC), the first time a ruling party was beaten by the opposition in the nation’s history.
While conjectures were going on over what may have caused the defeat, I put a call to Metuh. After exchange of pleasantries, I reminded him of my 2012 piece and his reactions. The line went off. That was the last encounter I had with him.
Why am I travelling this lengthy curve? Since the selection of former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the APC, I have had this hunch that the party may eventually go the way of the PDP. It is not as if APC had been a political party of conviction before Oshiomhole came on board. If anything, it has demonstrated that it is an organisation that should not be trusted.
In fact, shortly after coming to power in 2015, the party gave out itself as a conglomeration of strange bed fellows merely brought together by the quest for power, even without knowing what to do with it. Its inability to manage the majority it had in the National Assembly, particularly in not being able to settle for acceptable leadership in both the Senate and House of Representatives, was all that was needed to prove that APC lacked basic discipline and internal democracy.
Somehow, the inability of the party to put its house in order, rubbed off on its promises to Nigerians. At its early stage in 2014, APC made a move that advertised it as taking a decisive step into issue-oriented politics. With a 10-point agenda for a new Nigeria, the party listed areas it would focus on to make life meaningful if elected in 2015.
Highlights of the presentation included job creation; anti-corruption fight; free; relevant quality education; agriculture; housing plan; and healthcare plan for children and adults. The list also included social welfare scheme for the less advantaged as well as road, power plant construction.
The Road map read in part: “Roughly, one in four Nigerians, and half of young job seekers are unable to find work. The number of people whose jobs do not cover the cost of food and housing is even greater.
“In addition, major industries that pay higher wages account for just over five per cent of the economy. The lack of jobs is the most critical challenge facing Nigeria today, hurting every community and preventing us from being the truly vibrant and prosperous nation we deserve. Building a diverse economy that allows every Nigerian to earn a living and better care for his or her family is our number one priority”.
Its remedy for unemployment, included immediate creation of 20,000 jobs per state for those with a minimum qualification of secondary school leaving certificate and who would participate in technology and vocational training. There was also the idea of establishing Technology/Industrial Estates fully equipped with ICT, power and other support across the country to attract and encourage small-scale technology businesses and other entrepreneurs.
Regarding security challenges facing the nation, the APC said it would allow states to own local police forces. It promised to establish a serious crime squad to fight terrorism. Coming at a time the nation’s score card in governance, fight against crime and corruption was abysmally low, the intervention by APC offered a window of hope for the obviously traumatised ordinary Nigerian. But that was the much Nigerians would get from the party, nearly five years after. Aside the overdose of propaganda on intangible achievements it has appropriated for itself, APC has not really given the citizens much to cheer about. To worsen matters, its high officials have carried on with some level of nauseating arrogance that reminds Nigerians of the days of the PDP.
The arrival of Oshiomhole, has worsened the situation. Almost two years ago by this time, the former Labour leader, had been prodded and planted on the APC as the best thing to have happened to the party, since its formation. In the ecstasy that had trailed his virtual imposition, the party’s convention scheduled for Saturday, June 23, 2018, turned out a mere formality as the outcome had already been known, three weeks, beforehand. And he eventually clinched the position.
That was precisely the same scene that played out in the 2012 Abuja convention of the PDP. On both instances, opinions of the majority of the members did not matter. They were not given free hands to elect leaders of their choice. All that happened were mere endorsements of officials handpicked by the Aso Rock Villa and some godfathers of the party. Replacing a soberly and urbane John Odigie-Oyegun with an easily excited Oshiomhole who sees every occasion as platform to re-enact his activism days, is a serious disservice to the APC by whoever that was behind the action. This is the root of the problem rocking the party. Because the leadership did not evolve from the people, it is on its part, not accountable to them. Thus, as it was in the days of the PDP, the APC is gradually but steadily taking the shape of a Behemoth in the throes of implosion.
Two things may seem to be tenuously holding the party for now. One is the President Muhammadu Buhari factor. The other is the absence of a clear and purposeful opposition party. None of the two, can sustain the party in the face of a little push, truth be told. The Buhari phenomenon that had appeared a mystique before his coming to power, has with time and misadventures of his administration, withered considerably. The President does not also seem to bother about what happens to the party thereafter, having realised his ultimate ambition on its platform. By that time, the various tendencies in the party will unravel and anything may be possible. But one thing seems glaring – APC may not last.