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PDP Needs Vigorous And Credible Opposition By Farouk Martins Aresa
We want opposition that will champion the curb of jumbo salary. So we voted takers out. It is an immediate problem that must be instilled in Ebele’s Government through vibrant opposition to point out the structural failure to our purchasing power. Jumbo salary for a few because they are politicians, has created so much inflation in the Country, the new minimum wage cannot cure it. When those in the Joint Houses of Thieves saturate the market with naira and foreign currencies, middle class and Diaspora’s purchasing power is diminished, the working class and the poor can hardly breathe. Until Ebele arrest this unnecessary outlandish salary for politicians, we will just be playing catch-up with inflation.
So, who controls Ebele? Without contradicting the above, they all have some input but a wise Ebele would keep his ears to the ground listening to the masses that voted for him from Sokoto to Lagos. Like it or not, these youths as militia, National Youth Corps, and women must have inputs. Not necessarily for fear of what they might do or not do but for fairness. Their cry of being marginalized and disrespected (disz) must be addressed. If you provide for a woman, you feed a family and if you provide for our youths you feed our future. We cannot feed our people with the present inflation from surplus cash controlled by a few in spite of the new minimum wage competing for the same goods.
If we are looking for vigorous and credible opposition, we may have to go beyond the political parties to labor, professional and youth movements. Whenever Nigerian parties are called upon to join the ruling party for the allocation of juicy positions, they always raise their stakes high rejecting the call by looking for bargaining power within the status quo. There is division within ACN already and CPC vow not to participate. Most of us know both parties will join even if it leads to a split as we saw in Buhari’s former ANPP. The only person that matters in ACN has not spoken since his price to join with Ebele is well known: make sure EFCC back off!
Presidential, unlike parliamentary system is winner takes all especially if the same party controls the Senate and the House. In order to get a credible opposition, we must move forward, not backwards to what many of us had wished for: voting for opposing parties at the State and Federal levels to curb abuse of power. This is the reason our youths and the intellectuals must keep Ebele on his toes as the key credible opposition left without selfish interest. This does not mean that some youths, like Bankole, cannot be corrupted, with the level of our misery index.
Nigerians voted well during the last Presidential Election by voting for an individual rather than for a party. Others have argued that their vote is not logical since PDP is still in solid majority in the Senate and the House. If the PDP leaders are in control of the Party as the leader of ACN, we may be tempted to agree. However, to allay this fear, Ebele may have to prove he has a strong back bone by taming PDP leaders and the likes of Edwin Clark as Yar’Adua did against Obasanjo and as Obasanjo did against the Northern pact. Our expectation must also be balanced in the face of political realities.
There is a difference here though. Obasanjo might have learnt one or two lessons from Yar’Adua and may have been humbled by the fact that he was voted against, as usual, in his neck of the hood. As for Clark that thinks he has a son in Aso Rock, he may need his own advice warning against nomination for Federal appointments by governors. Both Ebele and Clark have differed in the past about gubernatorial candidates and will have more to disagree about in the future. Another clear influence is the Northern jobber losers, like Ciroma, that have been demystified twice: by OBJ and now by Ebele.
Buhari, as we know him, will not join the Government unless he has his way. The price will be too much to bear, so we can rule him out. But Ebele still has to extend his hands to him. Members of his Party will be more accommodating and will yield in the name of some national interest. Buhari really believes that Nigerians want him to rule and return the Country back to its sanity. But his dictatorial tendency turns people off as much as they admire his corrupt free crusade.
In the case of other leaders in ACN, as stated, there is one overriding interest of their financier leader to make sure he is not prosecuted for financial crime. Once he gets that assurance from Ebele, there goes a credible opposition. Already there are conflicting press releases whether to join Unity Government or not. This may depend on the skin of one man going unscratched. Unless there is a coup within ACN, it may be imprudent to expect a vigorous opposition. If we can go by the resolve shown during the election, Opposition falls back on the youths, labor and intellectuals.
It is why PDP needs a credible opposition from our youths and women stronger than those from selfish party interest. We would be fooling ourselves if we think Ebele would ride trouble free without special interests. He has to meet them in a transparent way so that majority of us do not go begging them for trickle down crumbs for sustenance as we do now. In other words, he has to justify his allocations fairly to the North, South, East and West no matter how many godfathers are waiting. What about Niger Delta?
Some people are calling on Ebele to reward them according to how they voted for him. In that case, those states that voted almost hundred percent should dominate in his cabinet and appointments. Others beg to differ. He would be wise to think about the 25 percent spread across the Nation instead. It would bring the far North back into the fold, especially those that voted at the risk of their lives. Though the South-west voted for ACN in state elections, they voted for Ebele except for Ribadu in Osun State.
We also have Federal character, no matter our reservation, it comes into play here.
In reconciliation, there are few areas Ebele did not even make twenty-five percent of the votes cast. Only those playing old unreasonable politics would call for those areas to be deprived of Federal projects or influence. The voice of reason must prevail. |