By Ojo Maduekwe
Several columnists in recent time have argued that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which slogan as a party is ‘Change’, is in itself, in dire need of change. Some of them in their opinion feel that the party bears no semblance to progressivism, but that the toga of progressivism is only applicable to a few of its members with distinguishing characters.
In light of the above, four of its key contenders for the party’s ticket in the build-up to next years’ presidential election have continued to sell their candidacy. It is expected that for the APC to control the central government starting from 2015, Nigerians must be able to ideologically separate it from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Following the successful merger of the legacy parties to form the APC, there has been a continuous political duel between it and the PDP to discredit each other ahead of the 2015 general election, with focus on the presidential poll. Unfortunately, this has involved the use of propaganda and unsubstantiated allegations by both parties.
The APC keeps harping on the need for Nigerians to look to it as an alternative for development. The reason they claim is that the PDP has failed in developing Nigeria for over 15 years that it has been ruling since 1999.
The PDP, failing to debate this claim has rather decided to tag the APC as nothing more than a platform for which the members intend using to achieve their selfish political ambitions.
Many of the key members in the APC, especially the Northern governors that defected from the PDP to the opposition, defected to the APC mainly because their future political ambitions were suffering setbacks while as members of the PDP. It is for this reason that the ruling party also tagged APC members as “disgruntled and frustrated politicians”.
Several members of the opposition themselves, failing to differentiate their party from the PDP, through articulated developmental strategies as informed by progressive ideologies, have not helped to project a positive public perception of their party.
There are several interviews attacking opposing personalities and the PDP-led federal government policies, but hardly has anyone comprehensively spoken about how the opposition intends to do better.
Mr. Kayode Komolafe, in his THISDAY column, argued that if various politicians busied themselves with selling their party’s brand for its ideology, instead of attacking personalities, “Party spokesmen will be explaining their strategies and visions instead of trivialising serious security issues by making unsubstantiated allegations against political opponents.”
While many Nigerians now crave for a change of what the PDP currently offers, the APC that was initially considered the desired change, rather than turning out to be an alternative in the true sense of the word, has succeeded in projecting itself as a change only for the purpose of unseating the ruling PDP from the central government.
Some actions and utterances of its members, especially those key to its unseating the PDP, have been everything but progressive. Take for instance, the conduct of the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso (who is one of its leading presidential aspirants) when President Goodluck Jonathan travelled to Kano some months back for a PDP-organised rally.
After the rally, when President Jonathan left the state, Kwankwaso and some members of his cabinet were photographed each holding a broom (the main symbol of the APC) sweeping the floor.
Online news site, the Premium Times, while quoting a Hausa expert, Kabiru Mohammed, on the implication of that conduct, described the governor’s action as “a cultural and political message meant to emphasise his disdain for the president.”
Like one of their key founders and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, and former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, many Nigerians have come to accept Kwankwaso’s conduct as what to expect from the opposition.
But it must be said also that it has been the practice of the opposition to sweep away the remnants of the ruling party whenever there was a campaign rally of sorts. It started many years ago when the PDP tagged one of its rallies “Tsunami rally” at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. Even though the opposition had not made broom its logo then, it came out, led by Tinubu and swept away what it called “the evil of the PDP”.
