The claim last Friday, by former military ruler and APC chieftain, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that the seven discontented PDP governors, (G-7) have agreed to join the APC with their supporters, was obviously borne out of irrational exuberance. Buhari’s declaration is inconsistent with statements by the G-7 governors, who insist they are still PDP members. This, to say the least, is an embarrassment. And it is not simply a question of who Nigerians should believe. Doubtless the APC plus the G-7 will be a bigger opposition coalition but it will be one carrying even more personal ambition. As Nigerians cry in agony for better governance, the APC should spare Nigerians the noise and work to give the people a credible alternative to the PDP come 2015. As it is, the G-7 must decide sooner, rather than later; whether they want to continue to parley with the PDP mainstream or go into full-blooded opposition, either in alliance with the APC or in some new party of their own. Either way, time is running out for them to clearly set out their own political agenda.
Arriving Yola International Airport alongside his APC entourage that included former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, party Interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, Gen. Mohammed Marwa and other top party members, Buhari told reporters that their tour of the G-7 governors’ states has yielded positive result, as “we now have the G-7 governors in our fold.” But Adamawa Governor, Murtala Nyako, while welcoming his guests, said he was still in the PDP. He however explained that: “The PDP is on the verge of death because the leaders in Abuja have given the party a terrifying uppercut. If the party is dead, nobody should expect me to follow a dead party into the grave.”
The G-7 has a catalogue of grievances but the main issues at stake revolve around party discipline, internal democracy, transparency and accountability and the mathematics of 2015. While the leadership of the PDP is locked in a frenzied but obviously haphazard effort to mend fences with the G-7, the palpable fear that the APC is not yet a credible alternative to the PDP is real. Of course, the parties which fused into APC cannot be absolved of the shortcomings of the PDP. They are all guilty of much of the PDP anti-democratic pathology. The argument can therefore, be made that the APC is not much better than the PDP in terms of its democratic credentials. The excitement that greeted the APC- itself the product of a merger by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) – was justified by the possibilities ahead of 2015; even more so, given the controversy that surrounded its emergence as INEC had initially dithered on its registration.
Amidst these expansive deficits, wooing the rebel PDP governors into the APC is not the ideal roadmap to redemption, reconstruction and restoration of integrity to the affairs of the state. Instead, it gives credit to allegations within the mainstream PDP that the APC is just another behemoth that wants power for its own sake. It is against this background that the speculated cross-carpeting of the G-7 to the APC should be understood. The G-7 are negotiating the conditions of their return to the mainstream PDP with senior officials like BoT Chairman, Tony Anenih, but PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur absolutely opposes the negotiations and wants the G-7 punished. Tukur seems to be winning the argument within the party and pushing ahead with a new strategy, which is to develop a parallel political network for the PDP in all the states still controlled by the seven rebel governors, who are running out of options.
This shifting of the terrain cuts both ways for the G-7. At a stroke, the rebels deprived the main PDP of its overall majority in the Assembly. Yet, from this initial position of strength, they have lost ground through procrastination and petty legal disputes with the mainstream PDP. Every time they choose their headquarters in Abuja, their opponents take out a court action to get the premises sealed off. The G-7 has also lost all the court battles over the use of the PDP name. So far, the rebellion has been more about blocking the government than defining a clear policy or organizational direction. As the political class gets drawn into the national conference, it appears the president has regained the political initiative after the G-7 governors walked out of the PDP convention. But given Nigeria’s febrile political climate and the fickle loyalties of politicians, Jonathan’s recovery is not that remarkable and may not last. Numerically, the G-7 rebellion still threatens Jonathan, though. Despite their mistakes and political timidity the rebel governors could effectively halt all parliamentary business. A big test looms on November 14, when Jonathan is due to deliver the 2014 federal budget to the National Assembly.
No doubt, the PDP has remained a non-descript entity, an umbrella of strange bedfellows. Its implosion was expected because of the content and character of the party. Granted there is the need for a big tent; the point must however be made, and with emphasis too; that if there is any lesson from the crisis rocking the PDP; it is that Nigeria needs healthy political parties. Democracy does too. The APC offers at least, a chance at a contest of ideas by two big parties so that Nigerians can choose between the alternatives. By openly going out to woo the rebel governors, the APC gave itself away not as a platform for nation-building ideas but that its contestations are on power for its own sake. This is a betrayal of hope. Nigerians, despite an always present cynicism, expect a new direction from the APC as a truly viable alternative to the PDP. They want to see the APC chart a new vision for the country and demonstrate capacity to manage conflicts of interest, especially as its founding members belong to opposing ideological polarities of authoritarianism and liberalism tainted with market fundamentalism.
An alliance with the G-7 undoubtedly adds to the APC’s firepower in the Assembly and in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, but almost all the G-7 governors – Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) – want to take a run at the presidency. This would complicate the APC’s election for its presidential candidate for 2015. The APC, for relevance, must retrace its steps from the personal ambitions of the G-7 and stop wasting political mileage on empty public relations grandstanding, with no redeeming value to the national interest. In the interest of Nigeria, the APC must reaffirm its commitment to rescue the country from the current reign of terror and bad governance.
