I would have taken the entire opposition political parties at once for this free consultancy job given pro bono as lawyers like to say, but it won›t give justice to the effort for the simple reason that each political party has her own unique placing and hence its peculiar challenges. Some of the opposition parties have gone from minimal activity into a state of comatose. Only God can tell if they will survive the next political tide. Many of them are currently embroiled in internal conflicts. How these would end remain a matter of conjecture.
A big truth about our democracy is that it has remained for too long a fledging «democracy». I put in the quote sign because many us still believe strongly that what we have been practising is not democracy, not civil but civilian system of government. Those in this school of thought insist that what we do and call democracy has nothing civil about it. They go further to allude that we have have brought so much of military culture into a political process that ought to be totally very civil.
When they stretch the arguments, as they do often, they add that what they observe take place in our so-called democracy, the features can›t be found any true democracy. What points do they have? Many and very strong ones at that, they make references to the substitution of mass participation for oligarchy, a political system where power for the final decisions rest with a man or just few men. There is near absolute lack of internal democracy in all the political parties.
This group has a strong point. Their assertions receive a big boost from what we see. Every attention appears focused on the central government but no inquiries is made of state governments, who in a similar manner like the Federal Government, collect huge sums of money every month from the Federation Account without commensurate evidence in terms of physical development.
See what those who made the governorship seat in the states have made out of state assemblies, deliberately created and saddled with the sensitive but very vital functions of making laws for good governance, oversighting the executive particularly any tendency by governors to act ultra vires and to ensure the sovereignty remains where it should be: with the people. The examples we now see show one can produce all members of the state legislature. The past governors boast they nominate and ensure they «win» the general election as they reveal «with their own money.»
No one checks the governors, the outcome is that we now have emperors masquerading as civil leaders. Leaders running riot, no checks whatsoever, because the system made to play the role has been bastardised, torn apart and thrown to the dogs. Anchors have become ineffective. There is free fall all over, individual whims and caprices become state policies and programmes. Under this atmosphere progress is stalled. Massive sufferings everywhere.
A look at the electoral process, especially the conduct of elections, would return conclusions that may spur one to want to call for the abrogation of current democratic dispensation. It is very painful to note that we have chosen to remain perpetually on the learning class. Students do pass to new classes and finally have a graduation date. Our leaders are ever learning. The urge of truncating current political practices is immense but it is too late in the day to follow that way. What is desirable is to tinker with cardinal structures available. They can be redeemed and put back into effective use.
This is where our subject matter becomes very important and where the People›s Democratic Party (PDP) comes into play. Talking about virile opposition, strong opposition is the only bulwark against tyranny, power mismanagement, anarchy and general breakdown of law and order. Opposition is the instrument for achieving desired development. Of all the political parties, PDP remains the only one with requisite strength to challenge the ruling party. It has spread and the structures remain very much across the country.
The challenge of the party, first and foremost, is the fact it was built on quicksand. It was formed by a badly coupled group of pretenders to conservative class. The founders didn›t do enough to make it a home for the business class. Forum shoppers just entered and took over the space. This explains once the party suffered defeat, it lost her fake cohesion. Members began to leave and many of those who are still there have since pledged new loyalties.
This has had its problems. PDP needs rebranding, not the symbolic kind, where they change names and the like. The need for demographic change is imperative but it has been unable to walk this path because of the people still in charge of the party. The party has a group schoolled in the old order, this people can accept changes but not the question that has to do with personnel and style. This is why the party held a first post-elections leaders meeting only few weeks ago, nearly one year after a disastrous outing in the 2023 polls.
That meeting ought to have been very quick in coming. Now it came, the same forces that brought the edifice down are still charged with the task of bringing up a new PDP capable of winning elections in 2027. Tall order. If elections are conducted today the ruling party will win the presidency again. The reason is simple. The unjust political system still in place made it possible for most governors of the party to pledge loyalty to the President whose post-election case was the first to be settled.
Many it will may have taken a pledge to work for the President in 2027. Sim Fubara’s assembly members were all over the place last week pledging loyalty to the President’s possible quest for a second term tenure in 2027. What this means is the territory called Rivers State is already in the kitty as many have pledged support for the President even before the shadow of the 2027 poll comes through.
On a final note, we have seen the Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023 poll, Peter Obi, visit some PDP henchmen, among them Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido and Olusola Saraki. PDP badly would need alliances. Before this, however, it must decide what happens to the electoral body, election laws especially about transmitting all results electronically and the fact that a Southern candidate preferably from the Southeast would galvanize the level of energy that can win them back the Presidency.