LESSONS FROM PDP Reflecting APC and YOU…
Comrade Dayo Onibiyo
I had waited very anxiously though patiently too has compulsorily occasioned by the events that eventually culminated into my party going as far as the Supreme Court of Justice in Nigeria to judicially and legitimately ventilate its discontents as allowed by the Constitution of our supposed great Country- Nigeria, which to me and quite clearly is better in the corridor of civility than to take to wanton destructions of lives and properties as would have being preferred by short-sighted pot-of-soup defenders of headless-surrogates who are as good as futureless, feeding only on discords and disharmony.
Clearly, I am one of the victims of the brutes of my party the PDP and obviously one of the youngest as at then in 2012 to taste its ills, in the face of its classified public-office rape-bandits who in open day robbery and flagrant disrespect for the WILL of the people, took the back seat to scuttle what would have being a thorough process of electing a Local Government Chairman in Yagba East by dishonourably smuggling in a man who has being a leader and even partook in the Screening of Aspirants to come and obtain form to contest the same chairmanship post in his early sixties (60) after it has being closed; thirteen (13) days to primary election, while the smuggled fellow is known to have contested the primaries to the Senate seven (7) years earlier, that off course heralded the death of PDP in that area like other places across the nation, each with its own stories, sending the party to coma.
Though the now infamous, bulk passing Buhari led APC and Federal Government will not allow you keep thinking that way for long, because of its own more brutish, shroud, selective and high handed lackadaisical manners of tackling unfolding events parochially, which currently is making more than five millions (5m) Nigerians say, “had I known, (inclusive me), I wouldn’t have voted Buhari and its disjointed ever un-settling APC”, probably still and too, not Jonathan then anyways!
Quickly let me take a tap on what I meant by “supposed great Nigeria”, which points to the geometrically increasing reclining in the sphere of every shape of life of Nigeria from per capital income, to health, to welfare and to worsen things the undiscerning and un-listening government that keeps setting exams for itself, marking it and awarding it self a pitiable grade while Nigerians dies by the seconds from avoidable deaths! It than confer on Nigeria still, its abilities to be great, but at the moment reflects its real state of super-ebb low. Even, the deaf now knows the price of astronomic naira against the dollar!
Taking a look at my journey back into active current affairs matters from 1989 to date or a little step down to 1986, as the little boy of Cherubim and Seraphim College in Ilorin, when we formed the then Kwara State Secondary Schools Press Club with the likes of Taiye Arinde and beautiful Biola of Queen Elizabeth Secondary School, Sanni Hassan of GSS Ilorin, Akin or so of Mount Carmel’s College and so on, where I sat as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Axis and we then had the now famous SAN- Wole Olainipekun as our Patron with his office at Unity Road, up of amosun Stores, the likes of now Retired Moji Makanjuola of NTA as a Matron and so on, just to mention but a few, I say categorically that Nigeria is not getting better character-wise and hence the serious un-arrestable failed State, led into decadence in leadership and sick outputs that we now see telling on the supposed ordinary “gari” and “sweet” in the market, all now out of the reach of even the canceriously-eaten up and battered, shattered middle-class Nigerians.
It is important to note that, graduating from that level to Radicalism in the practice of Rastafarisim- the belief in jah who is the head creator, more of the black movement; to becoming a Student Unionist Activist and now to politics are quite interesting and challenging but not profiting, because those things we fought then are even more worse in existence now, and sadly orchestrated by supposed leaders and people in positions of authority.
I recall an experience with a then Major, now Colonel Rtd., I think, Major Azees, who was to exterminate us during the June 12 struggle, as we were detained then and moved from Ilorin through Bida supposedly to Minna, before abruptly and suddenly stopping at the infamously popular “Corner nmutua” where we were led into the bush and at another point, led by the Major to a location almost 24 minutes walk from the initial park, then he said to us, “Young men, wasting you, is wasting my generation, and come to think of it, for fighting the evil inside my uniform, but this I must do” he ordered we move, and the other three (3) looked at me and I said to him, “please shoot us in the front as great boys that we are, as we aren’t going to be insulted even in death”; he “shook” his head, took a bow and shot six times to a corner left of us and made a turn, but turned again to remove the handcuffs, tears rolling down his cheeks, he said, in a trembling laden voice “…move, very far away, hide for a while, good luck brothers”; we couldn’t walk, for a night, we stayed glued, until the next morning in the bush, the rest are stories today, but my point is this, Nigeria has being wasting its on sons and daughters for a long while for asking for the right things to be done, may be, that Major was just a person like us, who was in uniform then, may be, God just decided to spare our lives, but till date, this extra judicial killings are still on, with abuse of power against the masses of the Nigerian State.
One of the strong reasons, politicians mismanaged the country when politics returned in 1999, is clearly due to the fact that, how many of them aside the likes of Tinubu got chased out of Nigeria or had to hide or was faced with deaths during the hay days of the Military must go, Abacha must go, hence the abuse and the monumental mismanagement of our nascent democracy, little wonder, the Yorubas says, “ohun a ba sise fun, ni nmo ni lowo”, the parlance, directly translates in English to “its what you work for, that lasts in your hands.
The reason for taking a brief historical background of me as the writer is to let you know that, as far as what I am writing about is concerned, I have paid my little dews in my little capacities further to my earlier roles stated above as Students Union Government V.P at Kwara State Polytechnics in 1992; when I had to auction food items and valuables of the dreaded traders to Students due to unnecessary inflations occasioned by the Traders and their collaborators in authority, to NANS Joint Campus Councils, down to the UI Nigeria Must Burn Action 1994, to my days as Assistant State Secretary to Campaign for Democracy (CD) working with Akin Abosanyin, Odion under the chairmanship of Comrade Mark Taiwo Otitolaye, the later convener of United Action for Democracy (UAD) who succeeded my great revolutionist, Sir Comrade Abiodun Aremu; to my leadership of the now disbanded African Consciousness Movement (ACM) for South-Nigeria (Middle Belt, West and South South, East) in 1995 to my first shot at the Alliance for Democracy (AD), when we rallied the people to produce the first opposition and non-indigene Councilor in Ilorin Magaji Are Ward 02 in 1999, against the real wish of Kwara doyen of politics then, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki (the father).
On these journeys, I found out that Nigerians are weaklings, very fearful people, they don’t take any risk and that is why we are like this, that is why we are jelly, dieing and some becoming half-bodied people, always in a hurry to nowhere, for our rights are taking away right in our own very eyes by “worthless people”, who of course in accordance to the Yoruba parlance will abuse it and throw it to the dust bins, this explains why “children are slaves” instead of being “children” who should be protecting their inheritance; “a slave can never and will never protect an inheritance like a son”
My party the PDP’s coming to power was fantastic and laced with the usual Nigerian argument of “Na rigging”, but Obasanjo was smart enough to run an inclusive government ab initio when he brought in some opposition members but suddenly started sliding when it started disrespecting the laws of the land and circumventing processes.
Failing to stop the decamping Senator from the AD to PDP on the floor of the Senate as stipulated by the Constitution of Nigeria, looks so small an issue but that was where disrespects started for our hard-earned democracy structure then, and the people started becoming nobody again, as it witness the stylish return of dictatorship to our governance approach coming from a militarized society which the uniform boys have raped repeatedly for more than two decades at a stretch 1983 - 1999.
Today, you see PDP decamping to APC, what can anyone do against the laid down precedence, its even a former governor, Senator Joshua Dariye, despite the fact that, two days earlier, his then party the PDP resolved its leadership tussle through Markafi and Modu Sheriff’s re-union;
We have also seen, where a family produces a member of the house of Reps and a commissioner, where a family produces a President and a daughter a commissioner, another, a Governor and Senator at the same time, another a member of the BOT and the wife a Minister, and so on, these were what my party was doing, the APC which is today less than two (2) years in power, now have a Minister who also have a son as a member of the House of Assembly even in different States! While, the wife of the President is grossly alleged to be running hard currencies from CBN to black market?
No one defeated the PDP, I will keep repeating it, the PDP killed and defeated itself, the votes between the PDP and APC was about two million and six hundred thousand (2.6m) votes! If spread across 36 States of the Federation plus Abuja it gives you an average of 70,000 votes per State, those are around the number of the PDP members that VOTED AGAINST THEIR PARTY for one reason or the other, they are those that have nursed one grudge or the other against their party since 1999 for one injustice against them, their people or town when “their rights have persistently being raped” so, the SONS SIMPLY ROSE AGAINST THE SLAVES.
The most dangerous fight or war is inside the house, the Yorubas calls it “Ogun Abele”; the military will call it asymmetric, unclear enemy, probably mixed with friends or target not clearly defined, that is why wining terrorist wars can be near impossibility.
When a man wins a ticket and you snatch it from him with fiat of power of your office, like in Kogi East Senatorial, so also is what APC did now in Nassarawa, where the SDP won a LG Chairmanship seat and the APC led Government of ear-aid hearing Al Makura announced APC! These foolish things keeps repeating itself day in day out. Another Son denied.
I think leaders will reflect on these as we seek to rebuild our party, particularly in the PDP towards being a viable opposition to leadership again come 2019. Its unfortunate that neither wish nor prayer can do it, as the other camps too are wishing and praying, what it entails is getting down to ground ZERO and getting things done.
A holistic approach must the put in place to practically and sincerely review the movements thus far, the falls and the rising points must the taking notes of as curves, and the needful done about it, as I am thought in my mathematics class as an Information Technology material that there is error in assuming the a curve is a straight line.
Running around from one party to another like prodigal children and hopeless fellows will not at the end address credibility and hunger, it degrades one and renames a man or woman UNFATEFUL, UNRELIABLE and UNTRUSTWORTHY, because the people you “scaled the fence to join” CANT ALSO TRUST YOU, COME ANOTHER DAY! But they won’t tell you now, you will surely end up as USED AND DUMPED!!
At this juncture, some PARTISAN politicians and even some followers don’t know the party they belong to any more, PDP or APC or PDPAPC or APCPDP, so sad, I find it even more worrisome when PDP people are seeking appointments under APC Government; or APC under PDP Government without being invited under broad participation governance, simply they “suddenly engages” in eye services, self-beckoning patronages, ego greasing missions, sing praise campaigns and boot lickings, which to me its not just wrong but and attempt torob peter to pay paul, trying to deny the real party members or fateful the fruits of their labour, which is tantamount to stealing. Reaping where one did not sow is stealing, wicked and a sin even against God.
It is also so bad and pathetic not to fight a course to its logical and legitimate conclusion, as many fell along the line without being pushed out or shot at, my standing to the end and tall with my leader and former Governor, Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada, was borne out of the fact that, he flew my party flag and my strong belief that the process that ousts him was not right and proper in the eyes of my party.
Yes, politics is dynamic but does not include having two faces at the same time, it does not mean saying “am going to come”, it means completing a process stably, for tomorrow, we don’t know where and what party he or she or you or me will find ourselves (no apologies to our un-ideological registration system of political parties), so it’s a case of crossing the bridge when we get there, not jumping when it appears there is a crack and definitely not AGIP- Any Government In Power.
As an advocate of the new school of thought that DEVELOPEMTN should not suffer any set back to prevent people from suffering, irrespective of the government in power, my Project Model is formulated on the bases that seeks professional incursions far and above political patronage; It calls for admittance of political relationships simply to guarantee maintenance of laws and order, but not to go and curdle favour(s) or like the literature man will say,stoop low to…
That is why; the pinnacle for participation in any governance by the opposition must be led by the ruling party, as it sets its priorities. The Yoruba people will say, “omo to ba shipa ni iya ngbe”, meaning;“a mother lifts only a child with the arms spread”, leadership takes the bull by the horn and should take the lead resultantly.
I can’t therefore, but dutifully agree with Chief Mathew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun, the retired General, Nigerian former Heads of State and President when he said “we need a strong opposition party to put the ruling party on its toes, which neither, APC or PDP is”.
I strongly will not fail too, to canvass for the return of all political parties to the people and not the governors, the Ministers, the Presidents, the LG chairmen, but the party structure- the Executive and leadership; that will be the first step to entrenching the long lost PARTY DISCIPLINE.
For those in power, always remember:
1. No matter what you do, to make any one poor or not strong to fight you, you won’t be able to stop the future…“PDP was not empowering Buhari”
2. No matter what you do, to make anyone irrelevant, you can’t stop any light set atop the hills by God, ANPP couldn’t stop Sule Lamido
3. What people and leaders do these days no longer leave after them, “but right with them”
- No matter how much money and power you have, you willneed someone, one day to protect you or stop you from falling
Thanks as I remain strongly PDP.