@MichaelOrodare: Is Nigeria’s opposition on the way to the cemetery? (Y! Politico)

by Michael Orodare

A friend asked me recently, “are you sure there is going to be an election in 2015?” Surprised, I asked him why the question and he replied “because there’s no sign in town that an election is going to hold in Nigeria. Signs like hundreds of posters that must have flooded the streets are not there. Everywhere is just dry politically, even Lagos that used to be a hub of political activities is dull”.

I then began to rationalise the veracity of the statement.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the 2007 elections still stand out  as the most interesting, entertaining, and keenly contested election.

In Lagos for instance, the race was keenly contested among three top candidates and it was like that was going to be the last gubernatorial poll in the state. We had the current governor, Barr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of the Action Congress (AC), Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who fought the battle of his life before getting Peoples’ Democratic Party the PDP ticket and Pharm. Jimi Agbaje of the Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA).

The three major contenders ran powerful and creative campaign jingles. Their posters were fantastic. The gubernatorial debate was superb. We all enjoyed the pre-election craze; there was tension and anxiety in the city. It didn’t promise to be a smooth ride for any of the candidates.

Without apologies,Blame it on APC, they killed it. They overheated the polity too early with their arrogance and desperation for power. The party does not enjoy that goodwill and hype again, like it was in 2013.

Just like the two other candidates, Obanikoro’s posters were damn captivating. I fell in love with those posters, especially the poster with the picture of all members of his family. His handsome pictures and personality hypnotized me. If beautiful posters win election, he would probably have won that election in 2007.

We also saw creative Ad copy on their posters and billboards, but Ad copy is dead in the present day politics, creative copies seem to be on sabbatical in politics. All we have now is campaign of calumny, the APC accusing the PDP-led presidency of being the reason for the failure of Nigerian athletes at the Olympics, silly! PDP on the other hand accusing APC of being an Islamic party, still silly.

Barely 5-months to the 2015 general elections, everywhere is still dull and boring, the actions are only in the media, as if facebook, twitter and the pages of newspapers have also been included in the newly created polling units by INEC.

Without apologies,Blame it on APC, they killed it. They overheated the polity too early with their arrogance and desperation for power. The party does not enjoy that goodwill and hype again, like it was in 2013.

What we hear now is news of political heavy weights gravitating towards the ruling PDP, insinuating that opposition politics in Nigeria is on the way to the cemetery and you know the result of whatever has been carried to the cemetery, gone forever. It can only take a Jesus Christ to bring back a Lazarus after 3-days at the cemetery and am sure APC is not Lazarus!

Don’t be deceived, the formation of APC has not strengthened opposition politicking, it is killing it, strengthening the ruling PDP and increasing its chances of ruling Nigeria for the next 50-years as the PDP has always boasted.

With what we have on ground now, if anyone still thinks there is going to be a keenly contested Presidential election in 2015, such person needs to wake from his slumber. The election will only be keenly contested at the states level, and unfortunately, state where the APC currently holds sway are at the jittery end.

As expected, by 2015 when APC loses some states it presently controls and the Presidential election (which is the main objective of forming the party), there will be post-election mass defection to the ruling party. Politicians always want to remain relevant till the next election, they will start moving in droves. What then happens to the APC? Your guess is just as good as mine, it will scatter like an aged broom, and roll back into its shell as a regional party it has always been.

Interestingly, Despite the fact that I’m not a fan of the APC, I don’t want this to happen. My grouse with the party is their arrogance as if they are the second in command to God; hypocrisy as if it is the association of the most righteous on earth, when Jesus Christ even told us there is no righteous one except His father in heaven. Self-glorification as if joining the party will wash you with the hyssop leaf.

I like opposition as we cannot do without it, because when opposition dies and there is no one to check the activities of the government in power and set it on its toes, complacency sets in. It kills governance, retards development and gives room for excesses and anomalies. I just hope this won’t be the case after the 2015 elections especially for our so much Glorified APC!

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Michael Olanrewaju Orodare has worked in the Office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Ondo State Governor as a Media Assistant. He has garnered experience writing in the The Nation Newspaper working with the paper’s Sunday Desk. He leans towards the Labour Party. He blogs at www.michaelorodare.blogspot.com and tweets from @MichaelOrodare

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

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