That ADC may not be a coalition of chaos, By Majeed Dahiru

Rather than throwing tantrums at the ruling party and President Tinubu, ADC leaders should by now be telling Nigerians their alternative policy proposition on issues such as the removal of petrol subsidy, floatation of the naira and the role of government in the means of economic production. In addition, the ADC must clearly articulate, as well as outline, how it intends to create the necessary social condition in line with the Fundamental Principles of State Policy, as enshrined in the constitution.

Beyond the initial excitement about a possible halt to what many Nigerians feared was a slide into a one-party (APC) dominated state, the emergence of the African Democratic Congress as a formidable coalition of individuals from the ruling party and other opposition parties appears to have its momentum dwindling. While it seems that major opposition figures like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President David Mark; presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election Peter Obi; former governors Nasir El-Rufai, Rotimi Amaechi, Rauf Aregbesola; and many other prominent opposition Nigerian politicians, have managed to close ranks by coalescing around the ADC, however beyond their collective disdain for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the coalition is gradually unravelling as a chaotic and visionless congregation of angry men of yesteryears, whose major grouse is their exclusion from the dining table where the national cake is being shared.

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Twenty six years after the transition from military to civil democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria’s democracy has come of age and is in dire need of consolidation, so that civil democratic rule can begin to yield the much anticipated dividends in the form of improved welfare and security of the Nigerian people. To achieve this much needed consolidation, political parties are supposed to function as the brain box of democracy, where the principles, philosophy, policies and ancillary legal instruments are incubated in order to give life to the intendment, spirit and letters of the Constitution, with the ultimate end of achieving the primary responsibility of government – the provision of welfare and security for citizens of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the weakest link in the value chain of Nigeria’s democracy is the political party system. If the political party is supposed to be the brain box of a democracy, then Nigeria’s political party system is a corrupted version that is nothing but a multi-purpose vehicle strung together merely to grab power by all means possible for a few interests, and not for public service.

…it is disappointing that several weeks after the unveiling of the ADC as a coalition of opposition politicians, the party and its chieftains have not been able to put forward any philosophical, ideological and policy alternatives to what the current managers of the Nigerian state are administering. While nobody should be under the illusion that angels will drop from heaven to redeem Nigeria, as it will still require the same people in the political space to effect a positive change.

The first chance at democratic consolidation in the Fourth Democratic Republic came in 2015, when a coalition of political parties merged together under the banner of APC to torpedo the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power after sixteen years. Sadly, the All Progressives Congress soon became synonymous with “All Promises Cancelled,” as it not only failed to deliver on its campaign promises but it made Nigeria worse than it met the country. And by 2023, another opportunity presented itself when a group of Nigerians under the auspices of the Obidient movement supported the Labour Party and its candidates across the country, propelling a hitherto unknown party from obscurity to becoming the third largest party in Nigeria. Again, the beneficiaries of this effort in the various arms and tiers of government have betrayed the Obidient democratic revolution by accepting the kiss of death of the ruling establishment, after entering into an amorous relationship with it. Consequently, Nigerians have become politically frigid after being serially jilted by political fraudsters. So, for the ADC, it will take much more than fiery statements of condemnation of the ruling APC and President Tinubu to arouse the interests of Nigerians once again to accept its proposal of a better condition than the current abusive and oppressive marriage with the APC.

Just as Nigeria has suffered from bad governance, so has it endured the acute failure of the opposition, and Nigerians may not be willing to support an “anybody but Tinubu” kind of opposition, but will want to know what the opposition is offering as an alternative. Therefore, it is disappointing that several weeks after the unveiling of the ADC as a coalition of opposition politicians, the party and its chieftains have not been able to put forward any philosophical, ideological and policy alternatives to what the current managers of the Nigerian state are administering. While nobody should be under the illusion that angels will drop from heaven to redeem Nigeria, as it will still require the same people in the political space to effect a positive change. But it will have to be a deliberate decision on the part of the opposing political class to turn a new leaf, as there comes a time in the life of a nation when its privileged political class will decide that enough is really enough of the underperformance of governance. And for Nigeria, that time has come, and to this end, the ADC congregation of men of yesteryears should not be merely seeking to substitute President Tinubu and his men of today on the dining table where the national cake is being shared.

…unlike the old order, the structure of the ADC should be organised around economic interests groups in their places of residence, away from ethnicity and religion in the places of origin of members. This will signal a paradigm shift from identity politics to liberal democratic politics and substitute patronage with good governance as the reward system for political participation.

The first step towards making a clear difference will be for members of the coalition to take the conscious and deliberate step towards committing class suicide, by substituting their personal, partisan and sectional interests with the national interest. And this must be clearly demonstrated in the democratic organisation of the ADC. The principles of the morality of the rule of law and absolute fidelity to the intendment, spirit and letters of the constitution must now be entrenched and operationalised in the internal processes of the party. And unlike the old order, the structure of the ADC should be organised around economic interests groups in their places of residence, away from ethnicity and religion in the places of origin of members. This will signal a paradigm shift from identity politics to liberal democratic politics and substitute patronage with good governance as the reward system for political participation. And because political outcomes depend a lot on input and processes, the ADC would hold the prospects of repositioning Nigeria on the path of freedom from a deep and endemic culture of corruption that has ravaged the country like a cancerous virus impeding the state from providing security and welfare for its citizens.

Rather than throwing tantrums at the ruling party and President Tinubu, ADC leaders should by now be telling Nigerians their alternative policy proposition on issues such as the removal of petrol subsidy, floatation of the naira and the role of government in the means of economic production. In addition, the ADC must clearly articulate, as well as outline, how it intends to create the necessary social condition in line with the Fundamental Principles of State Policy, as enshrined in the constitution. So that the ADC may not end up as a chaotic, bitter, caustic and petulant opposition that is hollow, full of sound and fury but offering nothing as alternatives to what President Tinubu and his APC currently offer.