Time For ‘De-Pdpification’ Of The Nigerian Polity

By

Muhammad N. Aliyu

anfaninilmi@yahoo.ca

The World, it is said, is now a global village. And, thus, any happening in one corner easily reverberates across the globe. Same for coinages, catch-phrases and clichés; they are readily borrowed, adopted or adapted to fit local climes without much difficulties. For instance, Nigeria’s last football encounter with the Algeria’s Dessert Warriors was appropriately tagged: “Operation Dessert Storm” (borrowed from US first attempt to overthrow Saddam in 1991). And in a remarkable coincidence, the EAGLES actually made a mince meat of the Algerian team, yet, (as Senior Bush failed to dethrone Saddam then despite expelling him from Kuwait), the victory was not enough to secure Nigeria an assured berth at the next 2006 World cup in Germany. It is now to the same tragic Iraq that I owe the adapted title of this piece.

It would be recalled that one of the potential landmines in the path of the American teleguided Iraqi constitution (which is still a work-in-progress) is the provision for the De-Baathification of the Iraq polity. The Sunni Arab minority elites, who were the principal beneficiaries of the Saddam’s 25 years brutal reign, vehemently kicked against it and have, on that account among other exceptions, vowed to torpedo the referendum scheduled for October, 2005. The strenuous efforts to bring them on board the Iraqi political process were hinged on the hope that their involvement could temper the unabetting insurgency that has now reduced Iraq to contemporary approximation of the Hobesian state.

 We may need to refresh our memories on the Baath phenomenon, as some of our readers may be at a loss about the term.

Al-Baath, not unlike Nigeria’s PDP, was a grassroots revolutionary movement with noble beginnings. Its main ideological objectives are secularism, socialism, and pan-Arab unionism. Thus, the Baath Party was, from the beginning, a secular Arab nationalist party. Socialism (not Marxism) was quickly adopted as the party's economic dogma. From its earliest development, the motivation behind Baathist political thought and its leading supporters was the need to produce a means of reasserting the Arab spirit in the face of foreign domination.

Gradually, however, absolutism became its hallmark under Saddam Hussein, who came to power in 1979. He headed a very brutal regime that dehumanized its people and caused them untold sufferings through gangsterism, and unprovoked aggression against its neighbours. After a long and costly eight year unprovoked war with Iran (1980-1988)- at the behest of the West and its regional lackeys, Saddam launched into yet another wrong- headed invasion of Kuwait. In stark contradictions of its pan-Arab origins therefore, it became an instrument of subjugation in the hands of the, then, two competing imperialistic ideologies-Western capitalism and Eastern Communism. The rest is now history, which we are all witnessing; in anguished disbelief and horror.

Very much like PDP also, the Baath party could, and more rightly so, claim to be the larges t party in the Middle East. For, at its demise in 2003, about 2.4 million of Iraqis were estimated to be Baath Party members.

De-Baathification is therefore a legal attempt, through a constitutional proviso, to exclude the murderous cabal of the Saddam era from participation in the new polity-post invasion. And that has, naturally, drawn the ire of the clique, who is thrashing about in the most gruesome anarchy ever unleashed on mankind in contemporary times.

Drawing a corollary here at home, it is hereby posited that, despite our self-destructive amnesia (this partly compelled Segun Adeniyi to pen down, for posterity, those years of shamelessness in his recent book-the last 100 days of Abacha), there should be quite a few Nigerians that can recall the noble beginnings of the PDP. It’s roots are traceable to a group of courageous politicians under the aegis of G18, and later-G34, led by Dr, Alex Ekwueme, which confronted the shenanigans of the militicians under the Abacha transmutation agenda and  openly challenged the goggled one to hand over power to a truly democratic civilian regime.

On the death of Abacha, the group was joined by a motley crowd from different and divergent political persuasions, with the unifying interest of easing out the military. The congregation was therefore accommodated under the famous national umbrella called the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). And it gained a truly national and pan-Nigerian mandate, resulting from the tinkering with the party rules and regulations in order to promote the candidacy of General Olusegun Obasanjo, against the more popular Alex Ekwueme. Even non-politician followers of then unfolding political development conveniently turned a blind eye to those irregularities.

And that ‘convenient’ oversight (or is it short sightedness?) has now returned to haunt us all. For, through one sorry event after the other, from the emergence of Gemade followed by the expulsion the venerable Awoniyi, through Audu Ogbe and then Col. Amadu Ali, the founding fathers and all principled members were either hounded out of the umbrella, they painstaking erected for all, or silenced into oblivion  through bared - faced intimidation or machinations. And this litany of errors was inexorably ‘crowned’ with the tragic illegalities and blatant criminalities of 2003, which has bogged us down today in deep political crisis. (Archbishop John Onaiyekan at the plenary session of the bishop Episcopal meeting held12-150905)

Until finally, the PDP became a party without a soul; foisting on the nation a ‘militical’ dictator; a conquering, tempestuous and all-knowing emperor, who is completely oblivious of the realities of his subjugated subjects. In his characteristically witty prose, Garba Deen Muhammad  of Weekly Trust summed our relationship with OBJ – and by extension the PDP, thus: "There is definitively a disconnect between Obasanjo and Nigerians. We may be living in the same country but that is about the only thing he shares with us. Our expectations, our fears, our hopes, our dreams and our welfare are of no interest to him" 

Despite this glaring misgovernance by the ruling cabal, so incorrigibly wicked and cruel, and so averse to the notion that provision of welfare is essential to good governance, the PDP (People Deserve Poverty) at its last NEC meeting ( 9th September, 2005), which was held amid palpable tension arising from the Atiku-OBJ comeuppance, passed a vote of confidence on OBJ. The publicity secretary, John Odey, who briefed the press on the outcome of the meeting stated that the vote was necessary “in view of the quality leadership the PDP government has given the country in the last six years.”

PDP’S SCORE CARD

And what is the result of this ‘quality leadership’ by the PDP? The best testimonial could be found in the most recent UNDP Report of the Human Development index. For, though the administration is adept at lying with statistics, and despite their strenuous efforts to discredit the latest from their pay masters, we can not be deceived.

The report ranked Nigeria among the 20 poorest and most vulnerable nations worldwide. Using life expectancy, literacy level and Gross Domestic Product to rank 177 countries, Nigeria took the 158th position in UNDP’s prosperity index. Nigeria thus dropped by seven points below the 151st slot it occupied in the organisation’s 2004 rating.  The Nigerians life expectancy has also dropped to 43 years, down from 54 years.

The picture is most ironic for the sixth largest producer of petroleum, and the only OPEC member in that ignoble group. Especially at this point when the preoccupation of government seems to be the accumulation of billions of Dollars in foreign reserves, while Nigerians die of hunger at home. It should be reiterated that the current budget, passed by the Nigerian National Assembly and signed into law by the President, had projected the price of crude oil at $28 a barrel. Only recently, crude was selling for nearly $70 per barrel. This is a time of unprecedented earnings for Nigeria. Yet, the level of unemployment and poverty is the highest it has ever been in the history of Nigeria, except for the period of the Nigerian Civil War. What has happened to all the money, another writer quipped? The President and his friends ought to be held accountable.

My Dear brethren, it should be expected that the end of any reform should be towards alleviating the problem of the people and that unfortunately is not what obtains right now when we are suffering at a time we are making so much money from crude oil sales. Yet conventional wisdom teaches that when the family income increases, members of the household should naturally enjoy better standard of living which is never measured by how much the family has in their bank account.

As if the UNDP Report was not enough indictment, the World Bank has ranked Nigeria as one of the least countries that are business-friendly in spite of Nigeria’s decades of so-called economic reform and the much touted transparency and acountabiliy.

The World Bank survey recently released in Washington (Tuesday -110905), covers from setting up a business, to dealing better with construction licenses, improving property registration, hiring new workers, paying taxes, contract enforcement and bankruptcy and access to credit, ranked Nigeria as 152 in terms of registering property among the 152 countries covered by the survey.

"Doing more to improve regulation and help entrepreneurs with far-reaching reforms streamlining business regulations and taxes, but African and Middle Eastern nations with high youth unemployment rates continue to thwart small and medium businesses with heavy legal burdens and piecemeal reforms", according to the World Bank Group.

Yet it is in a bid impresss these shylock institutions (IMF, World Bank, etc), and on account of their prescription, that the PDP government  lunches from one excruciating policy to another, in complete disregard to the vulnerability of the people or even  outright contempt  fro the Poor’s plight. Living in a society with no safety net for the poor, it is expected that the government would be more humane and circumspect in implementing its policies, no matter the anticipated long term gains. Are there any? Recall that SAP made the same promises. And where did it land us?

Add all these to a new report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) published by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the summary is all a litany of woes! The ECA report has excluded Nigeria from a few West African countries that are likely to achieve the MDGs by the year 2015. The report named Ghana, Botswana, Uganda and Burkina Faso as countries likely to achieve ‘Goal One’ of reducing poverty by half by the deadline.

 The ECA report indicates a positive leap compared to A previous report by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which stated that only about six Northern African countries are showing some positive signs of attaining the MDGs.

Sadly, ( a recent punch Editorial  reiterated), while a privileged few swim in obscene wealth and revel in profligate lifestyles, based on their unethical access to public treasury, the majority rot in grinding poverty.

Much of the violence and soaring crime wave in the country, which affects life expectancy calculations, are believed to be rooted in the injustices perpetrated by the corrupt haves against the less privileged have-nots. Unless good governance is sincerely embraced at all levels and fighting corruption ceases to be mere rhetoric, the nation’s future is at risk. The FG should reflect on its economic reform project that has worsened, instead of improving, living standards in the past six years.

Gov. Tinubu was hus very apt to assert that the level of poverty at a period of oil boom "constitutes the greatest threat to democratic sustainability and national security in Nigeria". He made the declaration while receiving the message of LASACO during the anti-Obj rally on 14^th Sept., 2005. Therefore,  Nigerians must collectively seize the initiative to rescue the nation from inevitable anarchy. For, where all hope is lost, then that would be a recipe for chaos. God forbid!

From the fore goings therefore, I’m sure very few Nigerians will disagree that that Nigeria desperately needs a large dose of the Iraqi brew: we urgently need to ‘De-PDPify’ Nigeria if it were to regain its soul from these rapacious clique without compunction. As Rev. Moses Iloh, a Pentecostal cleric and President of Eclectic Network rightly pointed out during a recent Press Conference, ‘only the extermination of the PDP will save Nigeria!”

This is a historic challenge. It is also a collective responsibility. It is beyond the calling of any single class of Nigerians to champion. It’s a fight for all. And a fight to FINISH!!!!

THE WAY FORWARD

Most Nigerians may wonder; how do I come in or even proceed? How do we PDPify the polity? After all, we are not all politicians. Besides,’ they are not only in power; they are also in ‘control’ (IBB).  

Well, I’m not suggesting the Iraqi version of a constitutional provision, especially as it’s least feasible in Nigeria now. But he who wears it feels it. The average Nigerian is the voter, the politician only ‘mobilizes’ the citizenry or INEC. The Nigerian, in the urban areas at least, spends endless time on the queue in order to vote. And that’s where his power lies. But only if he’s ready to protect and ensure that his vote is not only counted but also make his vote count. Else, we’ll be saddled with this rapacious clique until thy kingdom.

To this end I wish to align myself with George Shabazz (pen name), a Columnist with Leadership, who clarified that the imperatives of the times meant that true contenders for power must rely on mass support or majority following to succeed. He thus recommended that radicals and progressive forces must come together and brainstorm on the necessity for mass action, work out and authentic programme for actualizing it, and play for patience.

But I foresee a snag there, which reminds me of my alma mater’s motto: ‘anfanin ailmi aiki dashi’. It was written in Hausa, and I believe it encapsulates the problem with Nigeria. The English meaning; ‘Education is only beneficial if it’s utilized’. And that, my dear brethren, is the crux of the matter! While most of the elites-the vanquished middle class, parade chains of certificates, and at every opportunity is ready to debate with ‘bombastic verbosity’ about the fate of our nation, we rarely use our heads where it matters most. We have failed to defeat the ‘Divide and rule’ instruments of elite domination. Tribe & religion has been used with clock-wise precision in this country. And could still be used to maximum effect to scupper this golden opportunity, if we let them.

Adagba Onoja, a columnist in the Daily Trust, in his piece of sept. 5^th, 2005 entitled: ‘Why more money, more misery’, lamented thus: ‘it is surprising that the prolong sufferings in the hands of the military dictatorship (and the PDP- I must add) has not shaken Nigerians out of their grand prism when dealing with such issues as fuel price hikes (and other cruel policies of the govt.). Otherwise, how could a people who feel ethnic and religious pains and go to great lengths to slaughter each other for minor infractions on their ethnic and religious consciousness be always unable to reject pain in the hike of price of petroleum (and other inhumane policies) in an economy like Nigeria? He added that the nature of citizenship is not unconnected with the low class quality of the power elite, as exemplified by the atrophied middle class.

But must we continue this way? No, we shouldn’t, and this is how:

I had another favourite cliché of from the ‘dreamy’ 90s-when everything was ‘achievable’ by the magic year-2000. It says ‘each one teach one or fund the teaching of one’. I propose an adaptation of this catch-phrase in the battle for the purification of the polity. For it’s the battle of the head, not of the heart. And wits. Therefore, let ‘each one influence five (at least) or ‘ fund’ the influencing of five’ to reject the PDP and anyone that parades its colours at the next election!

Having endorsed all the regime’s actions since 1999, no PDP member should plead any extenuating circumstances. After all there is hardly any true political party in the political firmament now. As ex-President Shagari rightly observed  at the recent Conference of Political parties : “Only a few people knew what the constitutions and manifestoes of the existing parties are all about.” Therefore those who still associate with the tattered PDP umbrella are all culpable for its crimes. And they should go into the dust bin of history as a congregation. Let no one preach tribe, region or religion to us. Theirs in one creed: greed. And power for its sake.

Nigerians have done it with the NPN. The once all-conquering party (remember its landslides of 1983) are now a mere footnote of history. We can replicate that with the PDP; for therein lies our salvation! After all, it is said that wherever there is a will, there is always a way!!!

And that’s the beauty of democracy; to reward performers and punish the laggards-with defeat and oblivion. PDP has failed the nation. Most woefully so. They deserve nothing but our deserved and collective punishment. They should be out rightly rejected at the next polls!!!

Muhammad N. Aliyu

anfaninilmi@yahoo.ca

Garki Village, Abuja