In 2013, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar invited us for a meeting at the Yar’dua centre in Abuja, the meeting was to discuss happenings in the polity and the way forward for his political future having contested the presidency twice and lost.
The debate was centered around whether he, Atiku should remain in PDP or move out to another platform and whether he should contest again or not.
When I asked Atiku why will he consider leaving the PDP again having left twice before and back? He said the PDP cannot be “reformed” because, he said some people have hijacked the party and are bent on keeping it to themselves, Atiku left the party for APC after enormous consultation across all zones of the federation and his new party came over to win the presidential election even though Atiku lost at the primaries.
Atiku’s comment then remains valid till date that the PDP has forced itself into opposition. How could a party that wishes to reform itself go to hire a man with excess baggage like Ali Modu Sheriff to be it’s face of reform , isn’t that a movement from reformation to deformation? I have nothing against Senator Sheriff, his doggedness and stupendous wealth is not in doubt but that is not what PDP needs now, the PDP needed to reform itself against the image of a corrupt party of crooks who people believe instead of standing with them in times of their grief, aided aided and abetted in the unleashing of such grief by squandering resources marked for the fight against terrorism. Rather, the party chooses a person whose name keeps coming up in the complicity of the same crime that pushed it out of power to be it’s reformer. As if that is not enough the leadership of the party out of insensitivity to its members and plight of the general public decides to extend the tenure of it corruption infested members of the executive by another month, I doubt if before the end of the Dasukigate there will be any executive member left who will have no question to answer especially now that there is a question of how over 900 billion of the party funds were utilised. Yet the party is owing staff salaries from the national to the state level the same replete cases of recklessness, I guess this is why they most have drafted in Ali Modu Sheriff to help oil the greedy and inordinate life of spending which cannot continue out of power.
Political parties across board in Nigeria are formed not based on any tangible principles and objectives, mostly they are formed just for the purpose of winning elections and thats all.
But for politicians with a vast knowledge of politics, like Atiku; he knew that it will only take time the ruling party will crash especially that it has veered of course and not willing to “reform”.
Several members of a political parties in Nigeria are strange bed fellows whose only interest is how to feather there nest, this includes the ruling APC where there is no single clear agenda as to what the party seeks to achieve after winning the election, this is why a president could could just waive off a campaign promise as a party manifesto but not his promise, that only shows one clear message that the president either does not believe in the party since the party manifesto is a bond with the electorates or the party choosed the wrong candidate to fly it’s flag, it also beggers a question as to which is greater the part manifesto or the candidate’s campaign promise?
It bothers me a lot that you cannot my the tip of your finger differentiate between the democratic party I.e PDP and the Progressive party APC, what is democratic about PDP and what is progressive about APC?
No democratic party will in anyway block other candidates from contest in its primaries especially when it was glaring that it’s incumbent was grossly faulty and on the flip side, no true progressive party will combine Buhari, Tinubu, Saraki Atiku, Nyako, kwankwaso, Ameachi, Sylva and many other strange bed fellows under the same canopy and didn’t even stop there but went ahead to field a 73 year old man who retired 30 years ago, that is why he will ask what kind of fruit is “blackberry”?
Apologies to El-rufai.
Politicsl parties in Nigeria should represent what truly they bear in spirit and in action but hell no! They are just a bunch of people fighting for themselves and not for the people and when they loose, they run to form another party, form alliances or mergers and the circus continue again just like the APC has continued where PDP stopped, intrigues, bickering, mudslinging, backbiting, Inpunity, vested interest and even corruption and maladministration.
