It is really exciting reading the
various reactions to the recent apologies to Nigerians by the PDP’s national
Chairman, Uche Secondus. According to reports, the PDP’s national chairman at a
recent national discourse on contemporary politics and governance in Abuja
apologized for the party’s mistakes, which he claimed led to its defeat in the
2015 election. Chief Secondus did not mention the mistakes. But several
Nigerians, mostly those sympathetic to the ruling APC, took him to the cleaners
One of the first to react was
expectedly Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, who
was the ruling party’s chief propagandist during the 2015 general election. He
asked the PDP to first return the funds “it looted” during its 16 years of rule
before Nigerians would consider forgiving them. Additionally he used the
opportunity to accuse the PDP of sabotaging the work of the government. He was
quoted by the Vanguard of March 28 2018 as saying:
“PDP, press the rest button. Stop sabotaging the work of this administration,
which is packing the mess you left behind through your reckless statements and
unfounded allegations. Play responsible opposition politics. Put Nigeria’s
interest over and above partisan interest. Temper your desperation to return to
power. Spend quality time in the purgatory and you will be forgiven.”
One Comrade Joseph Ambakadermo, said
to be the convener of South-South Reawakening Group, in taking on the PDP’s
national chairman on his apology was quoted as saying: “It is one thing to
tender an apology and it is also another to know if the apology genuinely comes
from the heart. Yes, apologies are good but in this case, the man tendering the
apology on behalf of his party is himself a product of impunity…”
Comrade Ambakadermo was probably referring to the allegation that during the
last PDP national conventionSecondus was among those ‘sponsored’ or ‘imposed’
on the party (depending on where one stood in the controversy) by Governors
Nyesom Wike and Fayose who were said to be behind a consensus list of
candidates that circulated before the elections at the convention.
PDP
of course threw some counter-punches. It asked the APC and the federal
government to end their sanctimonious stance and return immediately to the
Federation Account all stolen funds it claimed were used to finance Buhari’s
election in 2015. The party was quoted as saying that “the APC and the federal
government cannot continue to play saints when state governors who stole
billions of Naira meant for the development of their states to fund Buhari’s
election in 2015 are still enjoying cover as members of Buhari’s kitchen
cabinet despite outrage from their people”.
There are several layers in the PDP’s
apologies and the kettle- mocking- the pot-for-being-black game between the
party and the ruling APC:
One, what did the PDP really hope to
achieve by that apology?To rebrand itself as a humble party? Chief Secondus, as
an experienced politician, should have known that the competition for power
between political parties revolves around an offensive-defensive strategy. The
idea is to label your opponent and do all you can to put the opponent on the
defensive, allowing you to gain some mileage in the competition for the moral
high ground. The apology by the PDP therefore is like ammunition to the APC to
put the party on the defensive. By the way, there is a reason most companies
never apologize to individuals or accept guilt even after they have agreed to
pay compensation. A primary reason for this is that they do not want to open
floodgates of accusations and possible litigations. For this, it is often
easier for companies to say they are paying so-so amount as a ‘demonstration of
good will’ than to say they are sorry. The same is also often true for
political parties.
The truth is that governance is a
process, not an end product. And because every policy, even the most
altruistic, must have unintended consequences, whatever policy any government
in power pursues must hurt some people. It is often the duty of an incoming
government to ‘clean-up’ the mess from those unintended consequences of
policies by the preceding government. The new government will inevitably leave
its own mess for others to clean up. The tragedy of the Nigerian condition is
that most incoming regimes focus on the challenges or politicise it (often
called ‘the mess’ for full psychological and emotional impacts on Nigerians),
forgetting that some of the mess were often unintended consequences of some
good policies or policies that were deemed expedient at that time.
Two, rather than an apology, the PDP
ought to do some strategic assessment of why it lost in 2015 and see whether it
is remedying some of those situations now. In the final analysis, politics is a
contest for power among discrete entities, in which all forms of variables and
affiliations are mobilized in a war without blood. The truth is that Jonathan’s
candidacy in the2015 electionwas a major factor for the party’s defeat because
his candidacy mobilized most segments of the North which felt the zone was
being cheated in the unwritten power rotation between the North and the South
(especially after the zoning controversy of 2010-2011). I do not think there
was anything Jonathan could have done to pacify many from the North-east and
the Northwest in this regard. Add to this Jonathan’s naivety about political
realities.
For instance by allowing the
Speakership of the House of Representatives, which was ‘captured’ by Tambuwaal
(allegedly in collusion with Tinubu’s defunct A.C.N) to stand, or not
sufficiently rewarding the zone for that loss, several people from the zone
felt marginalized and therefore willing to be mobilized into the new APC
marriage of convenience. The question for the PDP now is what has it learnt
about its mistake with the South-west under Jonathan? What is it offering the
zone now that will be better than what it already has – a sitting Vice
President and some choice ministerial and other appointments? I think it was a
mistake that the party did not offer the region the national chairmanship of
the party – even if it also plans to offer it the VP-slot. The reality was that
the zone was the beautiful bride in 2015 and will remain so in 2019.
Three, rather than trying to market
itself as humble party, I feel that humility will be better demonstrated by a
recognition that the APC propaganda machine since it came to power has
de-marketed the party through its probe rhetoric and episodic release of
information on humongous sums it claims Jonathan and his government stole.
Recognition of this means the humility to admit that there has been a serious
damage in its brand value. This will mean for instance realizing that going into
alliance with some parties and changing its name could be a betterre-branding
strategy than a public apology for its past actions and inactions. Rather than
do this we hear stories that PDP is resisting merger with other parties and
changing its name because it does not want others to control its structures. So
much for humility!
Four, I chuckled when I read about
some of the allegations from Lai Mohammed and other APC sympathisers. I have
always believed that Lai Mohammed has not really got over the 2015 campaign
mode. In fact several of his speeches (except his very measured reaction to
Obasanjo’s letter to Buhari) confirm this. For instance, while LaiMohamed talks
about looting by PDP, he conveniently forgot to tell us how the APC funded its
2015 elections, especially when Buhari mentioned that he borrowed money to buy
nomination forms. He also forgot several corruption allegations against
functionaries of the APC government and extreme polarization of the country
under APC. Of course, it is only when a government is replaced by another that
we are inundated with stories of ‘looting’ by the previous government so we
will all reserve our judgment on the APC government until another party comes
to power.
For me, from corruption to impunity
to imposition of candidates and lack of internal party democracy, the
difference between the PDP and the APC, despite their grandstanding and
shenanigans, is like the difference between 12 and one dozen.
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