by Prince Adeyemi Adebowale

Boarding a train of a political party as earlier said is not the problem, but I see political parties existing without an ideology which should be the driving force behind its operation.

“All Nigerian youth who truly love this country must understand that when credible and competent youth refuse to board the train of politics, they create room for unholy characters to infiltrate and truncate the process. This is the grim reality even at the level of Students’ Union politics”. Those are the words of Mr. Fix Nigeria, Ohimai Godwin Amaize one of the most influential young minds this country has produced. These words challenged me and have made me suspend my intended article which was meant to introduce my person to all. A lot of write up and interviews have been published about the merger of some political parties in Nigeria, but none has really talked about the main question, which this paper addresses with emphasis on political ideology, being the first and most important vehicle of a political party.

Ideology represents a typically crucial element of political parties and their activities. It is a set of ideas about politics, all of which are related to one another and that modify and support each other. Though relatively enduring, it is yet a dynamic phenomenon, capable of being modified by new issues. It is argued that despite all pretenses to the contrary through their manifestoes, as much as the superficial classifications as the “left” and “right”, “progressive” and conservative”, Nigerian parties seem to be bereft of clear ideological commitments. This conclusion is predicated upon the relegation of politics of issues to the background across the various republics, and in its place the ascendancy of identity and money politics. Other factors include the rising magnitude of political vagrancy on the basis of selfish and parochial interests, the high level of party indiscipline, absence/weakness of party cohesion and internal democracy, and the high mortality and turnover of party leadership.

A little history could help create a clearer insight if it’s not going to bore you. The country embarked on a multi-party democracy in 1999 following the transition inaugurated and successfully completed by General Abdulsalm Abubakar. Initially, three political parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Peoples Party (APP), later All Nigerian People Party (ANPP), and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) were registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This presupposes the opening up of the political space for democratic opportunities and development. But in reality, the opportunities associated with such openings are yet to be positively exploited for the political development of the country. This may not be unconnected with the poverty of ideology that characterizes Nigerian parties. The manner of origin of the parties does not fit into what we know from literature, their composition fluid and unstable, and can be viewed as mere instruments of transition from military to civil rule. The PDP, for example, draws its founders from “all and sundry political persuasions: conservatives, radicals and progressives” most of whom supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and flirted with the military during the annulment and in the post-annulment period; including some serving as ministers or members of the ING or as member of the Abacha undemocratic constitutional conference or as leaders of some of the five political parties set up and managed by General Abacha’s aides that finally endorsed him as the sole presidential candidate in April 1998. The APP did not differ in any respect as its founders also served as ministers or as aides in different parts of the country under Abacha. The AD that looks different was, however, affected by its inability to meet the federal character clause in the constitution and up till today remains essentially a Yoruba party. It was perhaps the foregoing faulty origin and precarious foundations of these parties that have been largely responsible for their seeming ideological barrenness. In a seeming self-indictment passage, Jerry Gana, a former Minister of Information and PDP stalwart  observes: “In terms of cohesion and firm ideological learning, there is a problem but PDP will be transformed, PDP will be strong, PDP will be strengthened ideologically, PDP will be more organized, PDP will be in power for 30 years”.

Story time over, as he said the PDP has ruled from 1999 till date but now stand to be challenged by a stronger opposition by 2015 under a chosen name All Progressive Congress (APC). In february,2013 the APC rose from the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Right from independence, the country has had political parties with ill-defined ideological base, if any at all. It appears that rather than improving on the structure of our established political parties, they have continued to diminish in terms of philosophy, content and objectives. Since this party merger came up, people from different fields of life have argued for or against the APC as the party to wrestle power from the incumbent. I wonder if that is enough to be the driving force to support a political party that wants to take us to the dream land. Ahmed Musa Hussain a writer from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria wrote in his article “Nigeria tomorrow depends on the decisions we make today. And that is where the APC comes in, as the cheapest alternative to avoid a catastrophic outcome that continued PDP misrule will inevitably result. It was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself twice, the first as tragedy, the second as farce. But in the case of the PDP and Nigeria, history repeated itself thrice – 2003, 2007, and 2011”.

Another big one was from Chief  Dele Momodu a presidential aspirant in the 2011election,a man a lot of Nigerian youths have great respect for, recently stated his reason for supporting the merger: “I firmly support the present merger arrangements. Nigeria is in desperate need of a rescue from the prodigal sons and daughters in power. See the way they are spending our commonwealth as if money is going out of vogue. The people are not their priority. All believers in a better Nigeria must join hands and make this work. There is no nation that is governed by Saints but by performers who became celebrated and deified. The four big parties should urgently widen its mobilisation of opposition parties and progressive elements even within PDP. It would be easier to fight outside PDP than from within. Just imagine that a man as impeccable as Donald Duke is in PDP but marginalised. If the PDP would present that calibre of leader then many of us would think, maybe, they are getting serious after-all. But they won’t. The inferior and lacklustre leaders are always afraid of charismatic and more competent members of their party. All the smaller parties including mine must join forces with others to send PDP out of power without further delay”.

Boarding a train of a political party as earlier said is not the problem, but I see political parties existing without an ideology which should be the driving force behind its operation.I wonder how we as youths will subscribe to a political party when they are all driven by what its founders cant explain.

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Prince Adeyemi Adebowale  tweets @kingcrusader07

 

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