Last week I tried to sequentially elucidate some of the causes of the fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the biggest political party in Africa. I arrived at the conclusion that the giant as in Humpty Dumpty fell because of human error. The activities and inactivities of some key players in the party. It is obvious that these dramatic personae did not set out to destroy the party; they had no reason to do so. As Joseph Conrad posited in his novel Nostromo, “man is a composite of good and bad tendencies, sometimes his good intentions runs awry”. Some of the actions and inactions of these stalwarts was with good intentions, but it had negative effects on the fortunes of the party. The billions of naira spent on the women campaign led by the Loquacious Dame did not add any value to the fortunes of the party; it attracted more hatred to the big umbrella.
Ayo Fayose and Femi Fam-kayode perfected the art of hate speeches; they saw attacks on the person of Buhari as raising the stake in electioneering campaigns. The composition of the presidential campaign organization raised a lot of questions begging for answers, was Ahmadu Ali (Ali Must Go) the best material for the job? What are his pedigrees as an orator? What had he done in the past to endear himself to the electorate?
Enough of the blame game, it is useless crying over spilt milk, it is useless to lock the farm house after the goats had already escaped. As an epilogue to last week’s column, how can PDP rise again? How and what are the members going to do to make the corpse walk?
It has been announced that the new party chairman and Board of Trustee chairman are going to emerge by August this year, this is heartwarming. The choice of the people to fill these two positions will determine if the party will rise again or not. The party should scavenge for astute, erudite, and very dedicated and popular candidates for these all important positions. The choice of who occupies these two seats will determine the nature of the new foundation of the party. PDP does not need a “game changer” who cannot compete with a rival political party in his domain, the candidates should be detribalized Nigerians who enjoys the followership of party men and women across the Niger. The candidates should be ready to work! To build the ruins of the party.
After filling these important positions, the next step is for the PDP to start preparing for 2019 immediately. The party should start to groom a candidate for the Presidential election from now. A young man from the North East, who will be able to enjoy the followership of the Zone, somebody who will convince the electorate in the North East that it is their turn to produce the President of the country.
It is on record that after Tafa Balewa, no North Eastern person, be it military or civilian has ever ruled the country. The person should be a crowd puller who enjoys the confidence of the Emirs and Youth of the Zone. Someone to build the ruins of Boko Haram and return the Zone back to its glorious years.
PDP has structures in the nooks and crannies of the country. It is the only party that can boast of structures in all the wards in all the six geo-political zones, there are functional offices and executive in the wards, local governments, states and federal levels, the party should maintain, oil, and update these structures.
Most importantly, PDP should purse itself of all the vices it is known for and identified with. Imprudence, lack of internal democracy, imposition of candidates, goodfatherism, nepotism and thuggery. The party should learn to respect the wish of the people. These are some of the vices which caused bad blood and led to the exodus of members to the opposition. Credible primary elections should be rekindled. Party members should have confidence in the party, this will make credible members to offer themselves for elective positions, believing that there will be level playground, and the votes will count. Now that they will not be in control of the electoral body, they have no alternative than to purse themselves of these vices.
After the reconstitution of the exco, a committee should be set up for true reconciliation in the party. The reconciliation should be broadbased, all the aggrieved members who decamped to other parties should be consulted and placated. If half of the decampees are brought back into the party, it will bounce back like a rubber ball.
The founders of the party, the G34 who are still alive should be consulted, and brought back. Honour should be given to whom it is due. Nobody or group should ever hijack the party again, there should be checks and balances, no group should be seen overriding others as the governors did in the last dispensation.
PDP should instill discipline in its polity, the constitution should be followed to the letter, and there should be no sacred cows. No one or group should be above the law and member’s opinion should be respected.
The big umbrella should build from their gains in the present dispensation. At least they control 13 states, with 49 senators and a good number in the House of Representatives, the occupied the office of the Deputy Senate President as an opposition party, something that has never happened. They should hold firm to these achievements and use it as a foundation for a revitalized party. They should endeavour not to lose any state to APC either in the tribunal or the courts of law.
With what is going on in the ruling party, as it concerns the National Assembly, PDP should capitalize on the early crises in the party and prove to the electorate that they were a better option, a better party in organization and a better option to be entrusted the serious business of governance. PDP ruled for 16 years without this magnitude of intra party crises. The party must endeavour to win the coming bye elections in Ondo, Kogi, and Edo States. Anambra State should be left for APGA in recognition of their overwhelming support.
To survive as an opposition party in view of bouncing back to reckoning, PDP should curry the favour of the press. The press played a vital role in the fall of the party in the last Elections. All the South Western Newspapers supported the APC. Online and on facebook many platforms were used by the APC, PDP should identify, sponsor, and maintain some media organizations, both print and electoral as well as online and social media.
PDP has the potentials of bouncing back into reckoning as a major player in the Nigeria political arena. The APC may not stay long as a political party based on resent occurrences in the National Assembly, it is too early for them to be so polarized, small wonder they were nicknamed aggrieved politicians congress. If PDP will put their acts together and do the needful, they will arise and never fall again.
hmmm
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