BEVERLY HILLS, March 01, (THEWILL) – The lingering leadership tussle in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has become a source of worry to those who truly wish for the deepening of democracy in Nigeria.
This is more so as the over 28 other registered political parties in the country have failed to engage the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, by providing alternative ideas for good governance and exposing the flaws of the ruling party to Nigerians.
This has denied the political turf the effective opposition needed to guarantee that the electorates are being served the expected dividends of democracy.
In view of its more enduring structures and national spread, all eyes have been on the PDP to settle its internal wrangling so that Nigerians and weaker political parties can have it as their rallying point to challenge unpopular policies of government.
This is with the ultimate aim of empowering Nigerians, who are already bugged by the current harrowing economic hardships, with the opportunity of having a strong enough alternative to choose from in the next election cycle.
It is quite irritating that the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa has allowed itself to be trapped in an avoidable conflict. Rather than using this time to reposition itself towards squaring up to the ruling party come 2019, PDP has allowed the leadership crisis to render it useless to the political system.
In the last one year, Nigerians have watched as the PDP diminished by the combined rascality of party members whose loyalty is only to their stomach, and infiltration by some moles, who were ab initio naively positioned to now hold the party by the jugular.
Having ruled from 1999 and losing power in 2015, the PDP ought not to be told that it should long before now be championing a shadow government that would be a check on the roller coaster plotting of the APC to remain in power beyond the 2019 elections.
Politicians should be made to know that Nigerians do not want to be dragged into a one-party system, going by the orgy of defections that the PDP and indeed, other smaller parties, have witnessed in recent times.
Nigerian political parties must be guided by what obtains in advanced countries, whose democracies are steadily made better by the roles played the opposition. Ready examples are in the United States and the United Kingdom, where the Republicans and the Democrats, as well as the Labour Party and the Conservatives are constantly in hot chase to outdo each other.
Indeed, a country that is already in recession, coupled with the myriad of other socio-economic challenges must have a vibrant opposition to keep the ruling party on its toes.
The founders of PDP must rise to ensure that feuding party leaders are reconciled in the interest of democracy and good governance in country at large. Besides, the divided loyalty along the line of the two factional chairmen, Alhaji Ali-Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi must be made to harmonize their positions before it becomes too late.
THEWILL believes that the only way to resolve this seemingly intractable crisis in the PDP is by a political solution which should see tradeoffs being made by each side for peace to be restored in the immediate past ruling party.
The PDP must do this and quickly too so that its much-needed members in the National Assembly will stop defecting on the ground that the party is fictionalized. In the absence of a united PDP, the party could lose more elected leaders to the APC, a situation that would perfect the one-party system already emerging.
THEWILL urges the founders, leaders, stakeholders and various caucuses of the party from the ward to the national levels to shed personal interests, sentiments, ego, relationships and parochial attachments and focus on the rescuing the soul of the party.
Should litigation continue to be preferred over political solution, we call on the judiciary to help the country by speedily resolving this logjam. While the Supreme Court should not be stampeded into taking a hasty decision, this case has to be speedily dispensed with in the overall interest of the nation since the apex court ruling would hopefully put paid to the protracted stalemate and restore normalcy to the PDP.
As the nation marches towards the 2019 polls, THEWILL warns that allowing the crisis in the PDP to linger might result in mediocres and misfits being railroaded into offices merely on the crest of endorsements received from APC bigwigs. This must not be allowed to happen, for Nigeria’s sake!
