Learning is seen by many as a continuous action of
positively absorbing the lessons taught by past event and reflecting a change
in the present, such experiences includes the good, the bad and the ugly. The
essence of learning is that it helps not to repeat past errors and promotes a
better, faster and clearer hope for the future.
As expected, the political climate is been charged
up due to the 2015 general elections, political parties have been fielding
different candidates for political offices ranging from the state assemblies,
gubernatorial, federal house of representatives, senate and the prime (office
of the President). No doubt tensions are high as parties’ campaigns and slogans
have been the songs in the mouth of party ‘faithfuls’ and supporters. Different
jamborees and publicity is fast becoming the media ‘cash-in’. Asides these conventional
political strategies, Nigerians who are non-partisan seems to ponder on the
nature of polity politicians play, especially the opposition parties, prevalent
of them is the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The All Progressive Congress which seeks to manifest
a drive for developmental infrastructure is a merger of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN), The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and some faction of
All Progressive Grand Alliance. The essence of this merger is solely to drive
out the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from power especially at the
federal level (Presidency).
This
development was applauded by many Nigerians and the international community,
including myself. Well, the reason for the massive endorsement of a strong and
CONSTRUCTIVE opposition is due to its necessity to allow for checks and
balances in cases of an abuse of political power and democratic aberration by
the ruling party. The question that however beckons the mind of Nigerians is if
the APC has met the expectation of Nigerians first as an opposition before it
could be tested with the power it craves for? What nature of politics has the
APC dragged the nation into (Progressive or otherwise)? What drives the seen
and unseen Leadership of the APC for power? How has the APC tackled issues and
policies of the Federal government? How has the opposition address issues
beyond party interest?...
In any democratic setting, the need for an
opposition party is very important, but the opposition needs to be clearly
understood. In the United States of America, what makes the republican an
opposition is not because it has the name ‘republican’ but because beyond
politics issues are constructively criticised maturely for the sole interest of
the United States of America. Take for example, the ‘Obama-care’ policy, as
much as the republicans show their discomfort in the policy, the personality of
the president was not dragged to the mud, talk less of the office of the
Presidency, policies were directly antagonised in the spirit of nationalism,
not in light of political sentiment.
In the Nigeria contest, the APC is yet to come with
a constructive manifesto as to how issues will be addressed if they eventually
win the 2015 election, they are more focused on tarnishing the image of the
Presidency, the Office of the Presidency and ruling PDP. I am not a fan of
either but a Nigerian who wants good governance and equity, employment opportunities,
good roads and health schemes, constant supply of electricity, etc. These are
what Nigerians wants to hear, Nigerians wants an opposition that could address
the issues not celebrate the problems for political gains through tarnishing
competitors’ image.
In the run-up to the 2011 elections, the then
opposition parties (especially the ACN and CPC) applied the ‘tarnish His image’
approach, they focused more on inciting abuses instead of capitalising on their
manifestoes which obviously was unknown. At every of their campaign grounds;
constructive solutions to issues of basic amenities were not the bane of their gathering but simply a show
to rain curses and abuses of the incumbent, they celebrated the failures of the
incumbent rather than give a better option to tackling those failures.
As 2015 approaches, the APC is unfortunately threading
even stronger not just on the abuse of the Personality of the President, but on
the Office it thirst badly for…indeed unfortunate. Even if the APC wins the
election, one wonders what the worth of that office will look like, that office
has been so fictionally battered by the APC beyond the reality…just because of
2015 election…very unfortunate. How can an opposition party calls a President a
‘kindergarten president’ when it hungers so much for the same ‘kindergarten’
presidency.
Promoting
hatred against the person of the President is not needed to gain political
relevance, it is just an act of cowardice, lack of cultural trait, extremism,
irresponsible and highly unpatriotic.
As human beings we all
are subject to failures, but what makes us succeed is by learning from those
failures, the belief by the opposition that the
President must have answer to all questions and must magically revive the
country woes of many years is a mirage, so I will advise the strategists of the
APC to stop fooling around.
I stand not to be corrected that the APC is yet to
be an opposition in Nigeria, until it begins to address issue and not
personalities, until it starts given a clear mandate and essence of their
party, until it begins to outline a better and alternate road map to solving
the prevailing problems of insecurity, food shortages, power supply, good
transportation network, employment opportunities without having to know the jagabans,
amidst other issues. Until they act from this perspective, Nigeria is yet to
have an opposition party.
If
APC is an opposition as it claims, then let them give a way-out to at least on
the issues of insecurity rather than heating up the polity...or better still
they need to learn what opposition really is.
On this note I conclude with a common saying ‘…the
devil you know is sometimes far better than the angel you are yet to know’. The
incumbent party is likened to that devil, Nigerians already know their extreme,
while the APC is likened to the angels…let it learn and be the angels indeed
rather than the more horrible devil it is positing…because its extreme no one
tame. He who comes to equity comes with CLEAN hands.
LONG LIVE NIGERIA
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