Nigerians are saying the same thing
By Folarin Samson
Yes, Nigerians are saying the same thing. If the politicians are discreet enough, they will heed the voice of reason and discard their arrogance and pride since voi dei, voi populi. I have heard it on radio programmes and read it in comments and letters published in the print media. The people’s opinion is unanimous: unite to upset the status quo. If the opposition parties really mean business and have the welfare of Nigerians at heart as they glibly profess in their campaigns, then they must resolve their ideological and egocentric differences or risk perishing with them. I have no grouse against Mr. President: my problem, nay Nigerians, is that his party has ruled the country for 12 long years with promises without fulfillment.
“In 200 days,” former President Olusegun Obasanjo had promised, “I would stabilise electricity.” We believed and trusted him. When he got into office, he said he never knew the problem was that enormous. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and he got an extra term of four years. When he was leaving after over $10bn had been purportedly pumped into the power sector, Obasanjo characteristically switched to proverbs, “You see when you buy a machine and it remains only a small thing to start it, do you say you have not done anything?” The outgoing administration has spent billions of naira, and that ‘small thing’ has not been bought; we are still groping in pitch darkness. This is only an instance out of myriads of failed promises. And we are tired of this! Nigerians are desperate for a change.
Fortunately for us we have options. But if the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, the three major contenders with the Peoples Democratic Party, are not ready to form a strong opposition in the coming polls, then there is a bigger problem. I cannot but question their motive for seeking to rule the country. I cannot but see the opposition as primarily motivated by selfish interest and private, ulterior and undisclosed agenda if they cannot cooperate and coexist. Hence, they are not worth the salt and cannot be considered a viable alternative.They are clueless and cannot provide the change Nigerians are craving.
Second, I see them as jokers who are merely interested in wasting Nigerians’ time with sweet talks and lofty ideas, which will not see the light of day because they have no laboratory for testing.
The Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie of Belgium did it and it worked for them. The Flemish centre-right political party, which promoted civic nationalism after initially struggling with the election threshold, joined forces with Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams and won the 2004 regional elections and the 2007 federal elections. Why can’t the opposition learn from them?
In the prevailing circumstances, the expediency of political compromise is not negotiable. This is because PDP is the only party with a national coloration. The others can at best be described as regional and state parties that cannot boast of standard political structure in the 36 states of the federation. A national daily recently did an analysis of the strengths and weakness of each party on its front page. It was not surprising that PDP faired well in all the states. This then shows that the coming election cannot be fair even if it is free of electoral malpractice. Doesn’t simple logic suggest that the outcome of the election is determined even before the election with PDP being the favorite?
The ACN is viewed as a Yoruba formation that can lay claim to overriding majority votes in the South-West. The CPC and ANPP, on the other hand, have a strong base in the North for obvious reasons. Mohammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau can after all be the beneficiary of the zoning debate. The North will vote for them en masse if to save their pride and prove to the floundering PDP that ‘on zoning we stand.’ This means they still have candidates in the duo.
The South-South minority, even if out of solidarity and sentiment for their own, will support Goodluck Jonathan.
So, here it is. If these candidates go solo, they will divide their votes. The ACN will win the South-West with the PDP coming closely behind. The CPC and ANPP will share the votes in the North, with the PDP reaping from their divisions and beating them in some areas. Obviously, the PDP will claim the majority votes in the South-South. Do your permutation and calculations. Here is mine: the PDP carries the day with an overwhelming majority, not because it is really the people’s choice, but because it is a product of disunity among supposed messiahs of the country. Then we begin another round of merry-go-round and circumlocution.
This situation calls for sober reflection and meditation. For how long are we going to be ruled with promises and pledges? Here is my submission. If the political parties fail to synergize in order to wrest power from the ruling party, I see no way any opposition party will single-handedly bring about the change we all desire. I challenge the party leaders and chairmen to go and redefine their objectives and goals. Do they want to end up as noise makers or policy makers, pretenders or contenders?
This only reminds me of an adventure cartoon I used to watch as a kid.
It was called Voltron, the defenders of the universe. Perhaps you have seen it too. They were five in number with a mission to save the world. Anytime there was a fight and they discovered they could not rout the opposition by fighting separately, they united to form a strong, powerful and indomitable force called Voltron. With ease, they crushed the enemy. The chance that a PDP man will not emerge our president in the coming election is slim if the opposition cannot form a Voltron.
I recommend that either Buhari or Nuhu Ribadu of the CPC and ACN respectively should be the presidential candidate of the alliance, while Pastor Tunde Bakare of the CPC or Pat Utomi of the SDMP should be the vice-presidential candidate. I want the party leaders to know that no price can be considered too great in the actualization of a people-driven and masses-centred ambition. The true test of their love for the people lies here.
By Folarin Samson
childofdkingdom@yahoo.com
08030572852
Samson just graduated from Mass Communication Dept, Unilag.
