The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can be said to be self-inflicted. Ever since the then biggest political party in Africa lost the control of the central government through its mismanagement of the 2015 general election, things have literally fallen apart for the once darling of the people, a sure vehicle to political power once an aspirant secures the PDP ticket. It is not any more. The PDP is now struggling for oxygen to survive as some of its key members are fighting over the soul of the once great party.
They are even contesting over who owns and controls the structure of the PDP between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Rivers State Governor and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. The story of how Atiku and Wike fell apart is well known and worth not a repeat in this article. The way and manner the 2023 PDP primary was conducted and the emergence of Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate led to the unending feud between Atiku and Wike.
After President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in power, 2015-2023, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), it was naturally expected that power should shift from the North to the South. Both the PDP and the APC are aware of this fact and the gentleman agreement for the rotation of the presidential power between the North and South since 1999. While the ruling APC honoured this agreement by producing Bola Tinubu as its presidential candidate for the 2023 election, the PDP acted in total disregard of the extant power rotation formula and fielded Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate.
The 2023 general election would have been a walkover for the PDP if the party had done the right thing and contested the poll as one united party. No, it went into the poll as a fractured party. A southern presidential candidate would have been acceptable to the PDP loyalists who voted against the party in the South. The PDP lost the election before the votes were cast, the imperfections of the 2023 presidential poll, which were many, notwithstanding. By allowing Peter Obi to leave the PDP for the Labour Party (LP), the PDP shot itself on both legs. That was why the party performed woefully in the South-East, South-South and even South-West and other parts of the country. The total of what the PDP and the LP got from the 2023 presidential poll would have assured victory for the PDP if the party had gone to the poll as one united house.
Has the PDP realized its mistake of 2023? Will it avoid it in 2027 or repeat it. For the first question the answer is likely to be in the affirmative. For the second question, the answer is indeterminate. The party can either repeat the same mistake or avoid it. It may also compound the problem the more as we move towards the 2027 general election. PDP lost power and also lost the sense of balance and equity. The party has lost its bearing and any thought of quick recovery will be a tall order.
The crisis rocking the PDP now is about contestation of power in 2027. I can equally say so of the crises in the LP and even the APC national chairman’s problem with Kano State government. If the crisis in both PDP and the LP is to make Nigeria a one-party state, those instigating it don’t wish the country well. In fact, they don’t want this democracy to survive. They can be regarded as the enemies of the people and the country.
As a country of diverse peoples and cultures, multi-party democracy is what is good for us. That is probably why we have many political parties. Some of them are big and some are small and many are in-between. All of them serve as utility vehicles to achieve political power in the country. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not recognize independent candidature like the United States constitution from which we modeled our presidential system of government.
The way we run the political parties now is quite different from the way parties were administered during the First Republic and even the Second Republic. Then, political parties were owned and funded by its members. No one man then can dictate what happens in a party as it is done these days. Today, political parties are funded by the government in power instead of the people. That is why a state governor is assumed the leader of a political party in his state.
And this is why a governor can dictate what happens in the party and more. The same practice obtains at the centre with much ferocity. Party politics is dying in the country and multi-party system is a major victim. Every political party does not have a semblance of internal democracy. That is why their primaries are always very contentious. This can explain the war of attrition in PDP and LP. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and other minor parties have their own internal contradictions as well.
No democracy will survive without a virile opposition. The problem with our party politics is the dearth of credible opposition both at the state and national level. Another problem plaguing the development of political parties in Nigeria is carpet crossing. Most of our politicians are guilty of changing political parties like clothes or cars. It will be very difficult to find some notable Nigerian politicians who have not changed political platforms at some point in his political career. Carpet crossing is killing our multi-party democracy more than any other disease ailing our politics.
Another problem in our democracy is the lack of political ideology among political parties. Our political parties are almost the same thing in terms of ideology or even the lack of it. Almost all of them are bereft of definitive and concise political ideology unlike during the First Republic politics and a little thereafter. In the First Republic, the Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo was known for free education and cocoa export; the Eastern Region under Dr. MI Okpara was known for palm oil. It was adjudged as the fastest growing economy among developing countries and the Northern Region under Sir Ahmadu Bello was known for groundnut pyramid.
The regions competed among themselves and they developed at their own pace and Nigeria showed great promise until the crises, the coups and civil war tore the young nation apart. Since after the war, every attempt to get back our political groove has proved abortive. Party politics is not just a vehicle to rise to power. It should be a vehicle for human and economic development. Political power is a call for service at whatever level of governance. It is not for personal enrichment. Since the return to democracy in 1999 after long years of military rule, Nigerians are still yearning for democracy dividends, the goodies arising from our participation in the political process. But we are left with little or nothing.
Nigerians have not been well treated by those we entrust with the leadership of the country at local, state and federal levels. The lamentations of the people are legion. They include, lack of potable water, stable electricity, jobs, and a functional health care system. Apart from mass poverty, millions of Nigerians are facing food insecurity. The country is witnessing the worst forms of insecurity with abduction, kidnapping and killing of Nigerians being on the rise. Some parts of the country are controlled by non-state actors who levy taxes on Nigerians. Our democracy appears not to be working as expected. The current structure of Nigeria stifles growth and development. It kills initiative and creativity.
The lack of virile opposition in the polity is regrettable. The fading and dying opposition will undo our nascent democracy and national development. That is why the edifice called Nigeria is in dire need of redesigning and restructuring. The signs that this edifice is wobbling are there for all to see.