By SUNNY IKHIOYA
In the past, we had in the opposition parties, radical leftists, socialists, welfarists, labour, and other liberals. Today, those who used to be in opposition are now in government. The question is: where are the core conservatives and establishment men and women who used to be in power? We will need them as counterpoise to those in power today because that is how politics and government are run.
You must have an ideology from which your manifestos are derived, which will give you direction on how to go about the business. You do not change parties at flimsy whims and caprices. It must be based on shared thinking and focus, which is where our current opposition parties are missing it. It has become so mixed and jumbled up that we do not know how to identify them anymore. They have not been focused, jumping from one alliance to the other, not for altruistic purposes.
One cannot explain how a Peter Obi, with all of the fanfair that saw him leaving the PDP then, to now turn around and be fraternising with the same people he rejected in 2023. What has changed? The same story goes for Rabiu Kwakwanso. So, what has changed between now and then? The story of Atiku has been retold severally. His penchant for dumping parties is now becoming legendary. Will he succeed this time around? Time will tell.
The way the opposition parties are going about it suggests they are treading on the wrong foundation, believing that their present quagmire is rooted in external forces. They should summon courage and be bold enough to look inward. Resolve the internal disruptions by putting their greed and self- interests aside and subsume them to the common goal. They should be bold enough to confront their shadows.
The saying “whom the god’s wants to destroy, they first make mad” is true, and you cannot explain it further than the confusion that has enveloped the opposition parties presently. They had everything in their palm, in fact on a platter of gold, but allowed ego, pride, greed, and other self-centred purposes to come into their midst. They got the result they wanted and now they are looking for whom to hang the blame on, looking for excuses, when they know that excuses do not get things done; it is just an escapist measure towards finding solutions.
They should look into the mirror and see where the fault lies, themselves. At the end of the 2023 presidential election, the results, as declared by INEC, were as follows: APC, represented by Bola Tinubu recorded 8,794,726 votes; followed by the Peoples Democratic Party – Abubakar Atiku 6,984,520. The Labour Party’s Peter Obi got 6,101,533 votes, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Musa Kwakwanso got 1,496,687. At some point in time, not too far from the last presidential election, the trio of Atiku, Obi and Kwakwanso were key members of the PDP. Now, if you add their collective votes it will come to 14,582,740, which would have made a difference of 5,788,014 in their favour when compared to Bola Tinubu. In other words, the opposition led by Atiku Abubakar had the opportunity, with the numbers at their disposal, to oust the ruling party by electing the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But they decided to squander this by their action or inaction. The way things are presently, the opposition appear to be so thoroughly battered that they are putting all the blame on Tinubu’s APC government. Unfortunately, the Nigerian masses have become so battered by hunger and lack caused by the Federal Government that they are ready to chorus the rhythm of the opposition. Common sense demands that we discern the languages of our politicians. Having failed to meet their goal in the elections, it is expected that they will go home and do a lot of soul- searching, find out what went wrong and put corrective measures in place to avoid a repeat. Instead, they went on a wild goose chase and left their parties seriously fractured. So much so that governors were leaving in droves.
We talked about structure in the case of Obi, and not a few of us believe that Obi was robbed of that election because he had no structure to defend his votes. Nigeria has not developed to the extent that you leave things to chance and propaganda. You must work the work, and money must also be available to the grassroots to keep them standing. In the end, he won the propaganda and social media battle, but he did not win the war, which is the much coveted presidency.
Now, a post-election analysis should have concentrated on how to bridge this gap of popularity and structure. If possible, starting another party with like minds with him as the arrow head and beginning to build bases from local government to local government, with his messages and ideology as the pivot. Get representation from all local government areas of the country and keep them motivated to stay. This line would have brought him more honour, even if he ultimately did not get the presidency. He lost control of the Labour Party and ultimately abandoned ship. What does this say about his leadership credentials?
For Atiku, it is a scenario of “had it been.” If he had allowed true power distribution in PDP; if he had allowed Ayu to step down as chairman of the party. If he had made peace with Nyesom Wike and made him his vice presidential candidate. If he had stayed in one party, the PDP, to fight all his battles like Bola Tinubu did, what would have happened? The answer is blowing in the wind. When you are part of the problem of a party and you keep looking outside for the solution, you will never get any result.
As for Kwakwanso, Kano State is his forte, and he proved that in the last election. He has also jumped ship from a feuding NNDP party. He is a local champion and does not have the national reach.
The best bet for the opposition is to accept a nationally recognised and accepted candidate, combined with one strong zonal representation, better from the North. This will present a more formidable force against the ruling party. Otherwise, all is just ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing ‘.
• Ikhioya wrote via: http://www.southsouthecho.com
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