Nigeria’s Political Arena: When the Government is Everything By Aliyu A. Ammani
This October, particularly the week
beginning Monday the 6th, history repeats itself. The sitting
Secretary General of the largest opposition political party in Nigeria,
ANPP, Senator Kumo, alongside the party’s Deputy National Chairman
(South), Prince Ayuk and the young son of the National Chairman of the
party, Mr. Chineme Ume-Ezeoke joined the PDP lead so-called government
of national unity as special advisers to President Yar’adua. This act is
a manifestation of the character typical of the leadership of the ANPP
since 1999, when the then national Chairman of the party, Senator Mamudu
Waziri, dumped the leadership of the party to serve as Special Adviser
to President Obasanjo. Apparently, it has now become a tradition of the
party leaders to exhibit a bizarre desire of crawling into bed with the
ruling party at the slightest opportunity.
Towards the end of the week in question,
ANPP’s Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi of Zamfara State was formally
invited to join the PDP by the State chapter of the party, an invitation
the Governor, the state chairman of the ANPP alongside the predominant
ANPP membership of the State House of Assembly are “seriously looking
into”. This event is a smack of happenings in the last 2 years when two,
then sitting, ANPP state governors: Saminu Turaki of Jigawa State and
Adamu Aleiro of Kebbi State, both now senators of the federal republic,
crossed-over to the PDP.
A closer look, however, will reveal that
this unwholesome trait in the character of the leadership of the ANPP is
typical of almost all political parties both within and outside of
opposition in Nigeria’s political arena today. The Military misadventure
in our political arena, to a greater extent, coupled with the
circumstances of our national economy, collectively battered beyond
recognition the mindset of our political class. Thus, the emergence of a
class in whose psyche the doctrine of chop I chop reign supreme.
The ruling PDP fully understand and
appreciate that the leadership of the opposition parties will always,
like mice, never resist cheese. They know the fickleness of the
leadership of the opposition parties and how easily they can be swayed
by the lure of office: money and power. In Nigeria today, government is
everything: it is the alpha and omega. Past and present experiences
shows that in the allocation of anything government’s: credit,
fertilizer, poverty alleviation packages, and above all, juicy
contracts; the basis of one’s standing vis-à-vis the ruling party is
paramount. So, by hook or crook, the PDP hold on to power; knowing fully
well that once it has the power in its hand, it will have the leadership
of the opposition political parties in its pocket. Perhaps, this is what
inspired the former national leader of the PDP, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
to publicly declare that holding on to power at all cost is a do or die
affair.
Through the subtle use, or blatant abuse,
of the carrot and the stick, as the situation demands, the ruling party
has succeeded not only in suppressing the opposition to the point of
impotency, but also in intimidating internal opposition within the
party. It is ironical, a political party whose slogan is power to the
people and whose middle name is democratic, find it difficult to stomach
the emergence of candidates within the party through democratic means;
it rather hide under the guise of consensus to impose candidates on both
the party and the general electorate. Party members are forced to toe
the line. Any dissenting voice to such imposition is ruthlessly dealt
with under the pretext of party supremacy and discipline.
The reality of our political arena and the
conduct of our democratic process, leave a lot to be desired. The
Government is everything, power is ultimate. Political parties are
driven not by ideologies, but by greed. Electioneering
process, stage managed; elections results, predetermined. Our votes
never actually count; counting them never really matters. As someone
rightly observed, what we have in Nigeria today is not a democracy; it
is a civilian rule.
The circumstance of the emergence of
‘Yar’adua as PDP’s presidential candidate; the conduct of both the PDP’s
primaries and the 2007 general elections, culminating in his
inauguration as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed forces on
the 29th of May 2007 is enough to give any right thinking
Nigerian a food for thought.
Is there any Nigerian foolish enough to
think that Obasanjo’s third term agenda was foiled because we had a
strong opposition or a vibrant legislature? The failure of Obasanjo’s
third term bid has more to do with divine intervention as the PDP became
a house divided against itself: the fracas between President Obasanjo
and Vice President Atiku Abubakar on the one hand, and the presidential
ambitions of political juggernauts like General Ibrahim Babangida on the
other.
Nigeria is gradually becoming a one party
state; and the stage is systematically being prepared for the emergence,
perhaps in the very near future, of a civilian dictator. A Frankenstein
monster is slowly but surely being created. To break the neck of this
monster all hands must be on deck. We can only continue to ignore this
issue stark reality at our peril.
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