Close your eyes, take a moment and look at the Nigerian political class. Roam your eyes at the gathering of the vultures at that “gadem” book lunch by Dino. Have a sniff at the pungent odor of rotten sweetness of corruption from the leadership of APC at the National Assembly.
What is the difference between Saraki and Akpabio? What is the difference between Dino Melaye and Patience Jonathan? It is safe to conclude that APC and PDP are melding into each other too romantically that it is difficult to draw a boundary between them? Where is the real opposition? Are Chief Raymond Dokpesi and his new Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) a credible opposition?
One of the cornerstones of democracy is a strong opposition with a distinct ideology and policy to the governing party. Effective opposition requires strong leadership and political skills, such as articulation of policy alternatives and intelligence. Currently, in Nigeria, such vibrant opposition is nonexistent.
The PDP’s response to the challenges of building an effective opposition with the capability of regaining power is very weak or at best limping. The incoherent rhetoric from the loose cannon in Ado-Ekiti and the tout in Port Harcourt is not healthy for Nigerian democracy. An opposition built around GEJ, Mama Peace, Fayose, FKK and Wike is like a structure built on sinking sand.
The lack of credible opposition will make it harder for the fragile Nigerian democracy to emerge unscathed from its present political crisis triggered by the weak economy, President Buhari’s ill health and the rise of ethnic nationalism.
But whether Nigerian democracy survives or not depends on us and not the PDP or APDA. To save Nigerian democracy, therefore, Nigerians should help save PDP and newly unveiled APDA by first destroying them. In other words, to save Nigerian democracy, PDP and APDA must destroy themselves, quickly.
Here is another reason why we should be worried about the state of affairs in Nigeria. The APC has worked systematically on a two-pronged strategy: 1) focusing on crippling the corrupt members of the opposition and 2) undercutting the opposition parties’ at their stronghold by encouraging “spared” corrupt element in the same opposition to defect. As a result, the opposition has been reduced to the margins, with two parallel party structures at all levels.
The good news is that the ongoing tussle for the decaying soul of PDP between Amodu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi factions offers a pathway for its quick destruction. And what better way is there to destroy life than through sexual cannibalism – that is, killing and eating of partners during or after sex as documented in female praying mantises and some spiders. The great news for PDP is that they have all the ammunition needed to proceed with this sexual cannibalism.
PDP’s first act of sexual cannibalism was the recruitment of Sheriff. A lesson PDP failed to learn before indulging in sexual cannibalism with Sheriff is the infamous act of some female spiders in pouncing their suitors, using fangs before mating even occurs. PDP made a big mistake of rolling out the red carpet and welcoming Amodu Sheriff with cuddles and kisses. As a result, their reproductive organ, as in some spiders, was permanently damaged after mating with Sheriff.
The remaining question now is not whether PDP will survive, but who the Supreme Court will award the remains of its decomposing body. Like the arachnid chastity belt that leaves their detachable pulp, inside the female’s body after mating to keep sperm from other males out, the Makarfi faction of the PDP should leave its ills, corruption, embezzlement, etc. in Sheriffs butt and just move on to a new political platform. Even if Makarfi’s faction is awarded the decomposing body of PDP they still need to metamorphose into a new creature.
Is Advanced Peoples Democratic Party Alliance (APDA) that was officially unveiled today that new platform? If it is, it means the old PDP did not leave its palp on Sheriff’s butt. They still need internal house cleansing in order to distinguish themselves from APC and attract the support of Nigerians that will be looking for a fresh start in 2019.
So, the “new” cleaner spiders in the APDA will still need to engage in intra-sexual cannibalism to clean its house. The evolutionary reason is to rid the new house of undesirable fathers that will later join them, like Fayose, the loose cannon; Wike, the tout, and the emotionally unstable FKK. It is after this is done that they will begin to repackage themselves as a real alternative to APC.
Most importantly, the political alliance that will survive APDA’s sexual cannibalism should provide evidence to jail INEC officials they bribed in the 2015 general election. This is the only way to deter INEC officials from colluding with the criminal elements in APC to manipulate the 2019 elections. The choice made by Markafi’s faction of PDP will, therefore, shape our politics in the years to come and influence, if not eventually steer, the direction of democracy in Nigeria.
Irrespective of whether Markafi’s faction of PDP is capable of transforming from a dying star to a rising one, it is the responsibility of all well-meaning Nigerians to start looking for an alternative to the governing APC, decomposing PDP, and the newly unveiled APDA.
The recent emergence of several civil society groups has displayed glimmers of hope for those who want to see a real debate about how to tackle the problems we face. There is, however, an urgent need to identify and coalesce around strong leaders if we are to save our democracy.
Nigerian democracy will not be saved by rants in WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms. It will not be saved by the fanning of ethnic and religious sentiments. Nigerian democracy will not be saved by dormant political engagement from the comfort zones in our living rooms. As Sowore rightly put it, this is the time for younger Nigerians to “unite and step forward and into the streets and into politics and demand the soul of their country”.
To reclaim the soul of the country and save our democracy, we have to kill PDP completely by making it clear to whoever is behind Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) that they have already failed by the mere inclusion of Chief Raymond Dokpesi in its fold.
APDA will eventually become the party of corrupt rascals. Imagine what APDA will look like when as expected the likes of FKK, Fayose, Wike, Mama Peace, GEJ, Atiku, Sule Lamido, Saraki, Dino, Akpabio, … team up with Dokpesi. Just imagine.
Nigerians cannot and will not hand the soul of our country back to the “gathering of distinguished reprobates.” Never.
You can email Churchill at [email protected] or follow on Twitter @churchillnnobi.