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On Buhari's PDP is Haram Sermon By: Khalid Imam
If there is any Nigerian politician, in the last couple of months, who has been in the forefront of waging a sustained campaign against the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) that person, without doubt, is the formidable opposition leader General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), in the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections. Interestingly, General Buhari, a few months before the unfortunate Boko Haram crisis that rocked some parts of the North, he declared the PDP haram not only to himself, but to all his teeming, loyal TBO members and avid supporters across the country. In his effort to make the best out of the bad situation he finds himself in the ANPP, as a result of what many believe to be more like an in- house betrayal, which the leadership of his party meted on him, the General tasked his fans or rather sought their counsel on the right steps to consider regarding the contentious issue of staying or leaving his party, the ANPP. Although, Buhari resolved to turn to his supporters to advice him, like every good democrat would do, the soldier in him still manifested glaringly, when he instructed them not to contemplate the PDP as one of the optional parties for them to seek political asylum. Indubitably, Buhari’s anti-PDP sermon seems to be, in the opinion of some political observers, more like a ban or a vote of no confidence passed on the ruling party. Oh yes, the PDP has failed us whether one is a card carrying member of the party or not. As Nigerians, PDP seems to be the nightmare we are all forced to live with. Some may call it a tragedy of the time. Since the controversial, almost head to head verdict issued by the Supreme Court dismissing Buhari’s 2007 election petition, the Daura-born politician’s “elusive quality of momentum” continues to wane with an alarming rate largely due to some obvious reasons. Some argue that Buhari ultimately possesses the dogged optimism and political conviction required to be a good leader, but he severely lacks the critical idiom of politics, and oratorical prowess to pull us together as Nigerians. Hence, his political relevance, since 2003, is only felt in the north-western part of the country where he comes from. In my view, whether Buhari’s acerbic criticism against the PDP’s devious monopoly of our political space is critically relevant is not in doubt, what seems not to be in serious conflict is the ineffective, unsystematic approach he (as a leading opposition voice) is deploying to convoy his message to us in order to galvanise us to free this wretched country of ours from what many would call “the PDP madness” or “the PDP hurricane.” Honestly, Buhari’s language of politics conscientiously or unconscientiously is riddled with offensive vitality. For example the General is fond of saying: The choice before the Nigerian masses is to “su kasa su tsare” (they should protect their votes, instead of saying WE should protect OUR votes) for us to sack the PDP or “jiki magayi” (meaning we shall bear the brunt). I deem the masses are like a herd of sheeP, they need a shepherd to cage them from the predatory hyenas around. And the shepherds here, are the Buharis. So the real brunt of leading us out of this mess, is to have leaders who appreciate the effect of using the plural of respect “mu” (we) not “su” (they or you) in calling people to action. Having said that, as this piece would rightly submit PDP is haram to anyone who strongly believes in observing the tenets of democracy or anyone who is conscious of his/her universally acceptable fundamental democratic rights or freedom and that of others, there is no gain saying the fact that PDP, unlike the South African ruling party, the Africa National Congress (ANC), is a party standing on quick sand or a time bomb since the only unifying factor that seemingly binds all the phoney, strange bed fellows that populated the PDP as members, is ravenous greed. Loyalty to the rudderless sinking PDP, a party which its members proudly called the biggest party in Africa, is purely based on patronage one regularly enjoys or not. True, avidity and graft seem to be the only philosophies of the party, as many writers, before me correctly expounded. For instance, the visionary ANC unlike our rudderless PDP (and all the INEC registered political parties), is truly a national party whose guiding philosophy, according to the Madiba, is to “fight against the domination of the blacks by the whites; as well as fight against the domination of the whites by the blacks”. An ideal such as the aforementioned one, which accords man his full right as a dignified human being, not an animal is what all democratic parties should aspire to uphold tenaciously as well as practice with all the sincerity they could muster. To rig an election, as the PDP repeatedly does since 1999, is not only a breach of our constitution, but an erosion of our fundamental rights as citizens of Nigeria, which further confirms the charge that PDP has no business in Aso rock and other state government houses under its control, since the party lacks any cogent manifesto. But having said that, if the complete absence of a good manifesto, ideology or philosophy is what makes PDP haram, is Buhari’s ANPP halal? Or is the mega party he is in cohort with others to hastily established going to be halal? In Buhari’s view, if I may ask, what actually makes PDP haram: Is it the party’s unpardonably criminal institutionalization of rigging, violence, and all forms of election malpractices in our body polity? Or is PDP haram for its woeful failure to sincerely review our flaw electoral laws? I ask: is PDP haram for its unsuccessful attempts to transform the life of the poor, address the rot in our education, health and power sectors in the last ten years of our newly found democratic dispensation? Unless if Nigeria is a herd of buffoons, the opposition and all patriotic Nigerians who have shake less belief in the “Project Nigeria” must, as a matter of urgency, come 2011, sack the PDP from Aso Rock. According to American President Barack Obama, “If you want to win in politics - if you don’t want to lose – then organized people can be just as important as cash.” Since the General Buharis cannot march the powerful rigging machine of PDP cash by cash what legitimate reason do they have not to mobilise the masses to wrestle power from them wit by wit? The amateurish approaches our ostensibly complacent Nigerian opposition adopt persistently proves ineffective because we carelessly turn blind eyes to the effectual examples provided by more innovative, vibrant and organized opposition parties in other democracies across the world. For example, what wrong is there if the Buharis deploy relevant strategies Barack Obama deftly used during his campaign to raise fund and domesticate them to serve purposes and needs. Chapter four of Obama’s book: The Audacity of Hope titled: “Politics” is a quintessential food for thought for us. Sadly, most of the loudest voices among our opposition politicians are not well grounded at the grass root politically. They are champions only on the pages of newspapers. Even though the media is so powerful in politics, but as one of the most revered American judges, Justice Louis Brandeis once said “In democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen.” So, in that case, what stops the Buharis from collaborating with and seeking the endorsement of religious groups like CAN, JNI, etc or trade unions, CBOs, NGOs such as ASUU, NUT, NBA, ANA, NUJ, Textile workers Associations etc; or dialogue with organized group of individuals like students bodies and professional organizations, local farmers unions, commune of business cooperatives, etc; all in the bid to put heads together, to find a lasting solution to our embarrassing yet avoidable myriad of problems. As 2011 approaches, the opposition must be ready to present better alternative proposals to us on how to fix the mess in, say, our schools or hospitals to the teeming Nigerian electorates. To continue to ignore our critical constituencies, crying for rescue in the hands of PDP is to be culpable of its crime too. Unless the opposition leaders like the Buharis realise the wisdom in the aphorism: “a house divided does not stand” and trim the number of those impotent over fifty registered political parties to a more reasonable number, a vote for them too in 2011, is equally haram. The fact that PDP won’t relinquish power willingly on the flatter of gold without a fight is a trite. Our ability to convince the masses to join the fight is a trust we must not compromised. |