The Good and the Bad People’s Party, By Bolaji Eletta

Once there was a village divided along the fault line of morals. The good people and the bad would not so much as condone each other again. There was an agreement among the good people to secede and start their own community for the good. They left the bad people behind and it was all joy because now an ideal society has been formed without a single trace of a bad individual.

No sooner had they settled that they realized that some of the good people were not good enough and the ‘very good’ ones started to grumble because of the behaviour of those “not-so-good” citizens. The continued consternation of the very good citizens who saw the attitudes of their neighbours as comparable to that of the bad people they left behind led to a new fault line which began to appear and this warranted another quest for division.

Unknown to them, a similar trend had appeared also in the community of the bad. While some were regarded as too bad, others were considered weakling considering the intensity of their attitudes which had become irritating to the very bad ones. This also called for the need for a breakup in their commonwealth.

The illustration above depicts the present political situation in our country. We are witnessing a situation where People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is fast becoming an endangered party due to the mass exodus of party loyalists into the opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the pantomime of those itching to board the train of defectors is decipherable.

I am quite sure that the major players and sponsors of the opposition movement never envisaged the high degree of influx of politicians they are receiving on per second billing. I must say that PDP brought this upon itself. A party that has enjoyed majority shareholding in our commonwealth since the beginning of the fourth republic can be said to be responsible for all the plus and minuses in the Nigeria’s economy as well as its socio-political advancement or otherwise. PDP has arrogantly alluded to themselves the status of being the largest political party in Africa. But like they say, the most difficult issue of life to manage is success.

APC has also suffered some set backs in some states like Kano, Sokoto and Kwara states with the defection of some opposition stakeholders into the ruling party. If not properly managed, this sudden mega political status might just be superficial and the bane of an unwanted collapse. The critical issue that Nigerians are waiting to see in APC is the choice of candidates at states and national levels and how such choices are to be determined. Are we going to witness intra-party democracy or will it be imposition as ussual?

But where do Nigeria and Nigerians benefit from all this inter-party migrations? How does this put food on the tables of the ordinary Nigerian? Where do all of these translate into uninterrupted power, security, good roads, and housing for all? How do we get assurance of internal party democracy and rule of law that will suffice in giving the pride of place to the ordinary Nigerian?

We have not been hearing about the aforementioned issues from APC lately and as things stand, we might not hear of that any time soon. APC has a lot on its hands right now. Since the leadership of the party has gone cap in hand to invite the ‘navigators’, sailors, pilots, danfo drivers, amala politicians and since it has opened its doors to the dogs and baboons, they have, in so doing, invited trouble, strive, quarrel and intra-party wranglings. Take a look at the recent happenings in the following states; Rivers, Ekiti, Adamawa, Kano, Kwara, Sokoto and Borno, and you will understand the gravity of the showdowns being expected at the national sphere. Wait till the tussling for federal positions get underway and you will agree with me that what we are still witnessing in these states are nothing but child’s play.

One critical viewpoint I wish to project here is the lack of ideological boundaries with which to define our political landscape. The parties have no clear cut distinction from one another. Recent happenings have done nothing but boost this view point. We need to institutionalize our political platforms. I agree that it takes individuals to build institutions but when built, institutions will stand the test of time and outlive personalities.

As an individual, I am not too excited about the so called cross-carpeting  being witnessed in our political landscape. I am not excited because this will not lead to institutional changes, not excited because all that is happening is putting an old wine in a new skin bag. It is the same set of those responsible for the rots in our country that are transmuting into another association so as to continue their unrepentant rape of our collective destiny. They are the same set of people that were responsible for our woes while they were in PDP or APC that are transmogrifying by changing the colour and logo on their banner from Umbrella into the Broom and vice versa.

A simple experiment was conducted on the frog. The frog was thrown into a bowl of warm water and it jumped out immediately it sensed the heat. That same frog was then thrown in to a bowl of cold water and it didn’t hop out. The bowl containing the frog was then placed on a gentle flame and warmed gently. The frog did not jump out even while the water was getting unbearably hot. This is exactly what these set of individuals are doing to us as they recycle themselves in the Nigeria’s political landscape. They deliberately  engage us with mundane issues to either keep us at  jaw-jaw or worse still,  kill ourselves, while they fraternise over our destiny. Wise up Nigeria!

I value the sanctity of life and will not subscribe to any form of killing but I was a bit relieved that it was not the common man that was hit on the head with the maze by the beast in white dress at the Rivers State House of Assembly. I was relieved to note that it was not the ordinary man that was shot with the rubber bullet in the same state. Next time let Wike and Amechi be the ones on the street facing each other. They could use lead bullets should they desire. Let them fight their wars amongst themselves. We shall then vote for whoever comes out alive. We will no longer offer ourselves to be killed or maimed on their behalf.

Nigerians mush ‘shine our eyes’ for if  we do not  see this APC – PDP and PDP-APC migration beyond what they want us to see, they will continue to share the loot, enrich themselves and hand us over to their children to  continue their unholy masked alliance for their perpetuity. Wise up Nigeria!

Dr. Eletta is a geoscientist and academic. He lectures and resides in Kaduna teaching at the Federal Polytechnic.