The country’s opposition parties have been plagued by internal infighting, which has taken a toll on the opposition. All in all, they are self-inflicted wounds that undermine not just political parties but democracy itself. When a vibrant opposition emerges in a democracy, what is left is a mere silhouette, without value.
Caught in this maelstrom are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labor Party (LP), which upset the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election. The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is also part of this group.
The battle for control of the souls of these parties gave rise to factions. Their leaders are therefore focused on how to survive by offering constructive criticism and policy alternatives to the people, rather than cornering the APC-led government as an opposition party. Sadly, there’s only one thing you can get out of an environment like this. It is to slowly but steadily make the APC a one-party dictatorship in Nigeria. This is a dangerous drift that must be stopped at all costs.
In the PDP, one camp is loyal to Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, while the other side is to former vice president and 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Atiku Abubakar. standing. In the penultimate week, the situation came as a splinter group within the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) suspended the acting national chairman, Mr. Umar Damagun, and the national secretary, Mr. Samuel Anyanwu, for alleged anti-party activities. has reached its peak. Both are believed to be Wike’s agents. The treasonous suspension of National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba and National Legal Adviser Kamarudeen Ajibade, who masterminded the suspension of Damagun, was swift.
To restore some semblance of normalcy to the party, it was necessary for the Federal High Court in Abuja to grant an immediate injunction quashing the chairman’s suspension. Mr. Damagun replaced Mr. Iyorukia Ayu, who was suspended from his ward in Benue State last year. This became the point of no return for him.
The PDP’s orgy of self-nihilism is the reward for abandoning the sense of North and South in its political management. When Mr. Atiku emerges as the presidential standard-bearer from the north in 2023, it will naturally be necessary for someone from the south to become the party’s national chairman, and at that time Mr. Ayu, who is from the central north, took the position and held on. Ta. The party’s constitution provides for such a balancing act to avoid such a crisis. However, Ayu refused to understand the reason. To Wyke’s disbelief, this upset the apple cart. He then vowed to revolt against this lack of impartiality and subsequently went on to support APC candidate Bola Tinubu during the 2023 elections. He also delivered Rivers State votes to him.
His achievements earned Wike the prestigious post of Minister for the Federal Capital Territory. And he insists that his support for the president will remain strong even into 2027. The Wike element in the PDP is so strong that it carries over into his home state of Rivers, where Governor Siminalai Hubala is not in charge of the party. This structure is evident in the use of APP in recent local assembly polls to sponsor 22 of the 23 candidates who won the speaker’s seat. This and other related issues subject the state to constant turmoil and litigation.
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A similar war of attrition is unfolding in the Labor Party, with its origins stretching back to the 2023 election period. The faction led by Lamidi Apapa, at odds with the party leadership led by Julius Habre, even challenged presidential candidate Peter Obi’s petition at the Electoral Petitions Tribunal. With Apapa exhausting all legal challenges and losing the case, the party will be embroiled in yet another crisis.
Mr Habre held a party conference in Nnewi instead of holding a national constituency assembly and reinstated him and his allies in public office. Mr Obi, Abia State Governor Alex Otti, some members of the party and other LP bigwigs opposed it. They set up a 29-member caretaker committee, chaired by Nenadi Usman, to midwife the new leader within 90 days from September 4. Obi’s camp is appealing the court’s ruling confirming Habre’s leadership.
These debilitating sketches come as the parties are loudly silenced as the APC-led government plunges the country into the depths of economic crisis with the abolition of fuel subsidy and 43 percent devaluation of the Naira following the devaluation of the Naira last year. It explains things. Food and headline inflation, astronomical transport fares and exorbitant fuel prices exceeding 300 naira per liter in some areas have ushered in the worst living conditions in a generation.
In the last presidential election, the combined votes of the PDP and LP were 12.8 million votes, while Tinubu received 8.7 million votes. This figure touts the potential and strength that can provide an alternative government if they can work with their leaders, bury their egos and personal ambitions, and put the country above their personal interests. There is.
A recent World Bank report says the naira is one of the three worst-performing currencies in sub-Saharan Africa, along with the Ethiopian bir and South Sudanese pound, prompting energetic opposition parties to bail out. Japan should have provided an economic blueprint for the future. The chaos currently in operation. Their only antidote to Tinubu’s policies are the frequent statements of Atiku and Obi, but they do not go far enough and each It does not replace the statements that should have been made by the political parties.
Just as political parties fail to understand their role in democracy, so too do the parliamentarians they elect, initially giving us false hope that the opposition would survive. When the chips are down, they are always nowhere to be found. The number of members of the House of Representatives is 163, including political parties such as PDP, LP, NNPP, APGA, ADC, SDP, and YPP, and the ruling party APC has 162 members, but the latter has been planning to expand its agenda for some time. I was worried that this might be the case. In the election of the leadership of the House of Representatives.
Their vigorous debate and constructive filibuster that keeps Congress away from the rubber stamp of the executive branch of government is so far incomprehensible. It is a chasm in which some people can easily locate themselves within the ideological vacuum of our democracy. This is why some concerned Nigerians are now warning that a new breed of politicians has emerged and that some political parties, such as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), have emerged to champion a purpose-driven and altruistic democracy. ), but proposes a new political structure.
Opposition MPs collected Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) worth N160 million each while their constituents went to bed hungry at night. Political parties that remain completely silent in the face of the inconsiderate level of oil subsidy fraud and oil theft are nothing but allies of the ruling party that is creating famine and the accompanying mass psychosis in this country.
Let me emphasize that the only committee of Parliament established in the 1999 Constitution is the Public Accounts Committee. Traditionally, opposition parties have always taken the lead and played the role of checking the excesses of the ruling party. In reality, however, the national treasury is routinely looted without consequences under the watchful eye of the opposition.
In light of our country’s experience since 1999, Premium Times advises opposition parties to reassess their role in our democracy and start retooling, taking a leaf from the collection of models from other jurisdictions. . In the UK, for example, the opposition’s inherent questioning and scrutiny of all aspects of governance have alarmed the prime minister in the House of Commons. This is aimed at strengthening accountability and quality service delivery.
Even the model of the American presidential system does not allow for parliamentary debate or oversight to disrupt the ruling party. This is why the government was shut down for 35 days starting December 22, 2018 under President Donald Trump due to budget discrepancies.
The Senate recently appointed Kaw Sumaila as the Downstream Petroleum Sector Chairman, emphatically declaring that there is no more cover-up in the oil industry. He is a lawmaker from Kano, and his claims are an indictment of the opposition parties, which are supposed to be the watchdogs of the national treasury. He will need to clarify his statement.
Off-cycle elections continue to produce winners with some of the declared results differing from those shown on INEC’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Election observers shouted. It was one of the nightmares of the 2023 general election. INEC is still filled with partisans. Solving these puzzles is the burden of any viable opposition. Alarmingly, this responsibility has been evaded, with the result that any hope of a reliable 2027 poll remains a mere illusion.
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