I cannot come clear and say categorically that I like our kind of politics. If I do that, then, I will be very unfair to the sustainable kind of develop­ment that is the wish of more than 160 million citizens of our great nation. Our political culture is fluid, that is to say it is yet to acquire a pattern. Its processes and expectations change every second and this is because there are hardly factors to what we do. The foundation is built on variables and this explains the frequency of changes we see almost all the time.Whether this trend is good for us or not can be answered from the position of either liking or hating the results we are getting. But the issue in this instance is not about whether we like where we are as a nation but a bit about predictability, which if you ask me is a cardinal stone of any good democracy. In a pure democracy, the citizens collec­tively speaking should be able to say if we take this direction, then in 20 or 30 years, this is the point we are likely to be. It makes for precision planning and propels development faster.

Yet, as important as the art of predictability is, I am aware it is not attained in a day. Like the democracy it propels, it is a pro­cess that takes quite sometime to arrive at. Predictability takes a society to the destination, which within the context of this discus­sion include order, pattern and then slid organization and stabil­ity. British, American, Russian, Chinese, French, Canadian and even Korean experiences con­firm that predictability in the life of a nation takes time and pain to arrive at, and in some cases, ulti­mate sacrifices have to be made.  Ours if I am asked would take far longer time, given the trans­formation in terms of political reconfiguration taking place across the entire political hori­zon. Political consciousness is obviously taking new forms and unlike what was, everybody is discussing development efforts, holding strong opinions and more than ever before, rearing to participate in the processes and interesting enough, to make strong imprints by the way they vote. If we tell it all, the nation since 55 years of nationhood, has never seen it this way before.

If you prod the scholars in the political science departments in our universities about what this development portends, many are likely to say it is a positive development, in that a quiet but bloodless revolution is breed­ing underneath, which has great potentials to positively alter our nation’s political equation for the best. Part of the formidable fall-outs from the changing political architecture is the coming into existence of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the fact that at this time it has as the ar­rowhead, General Muhammadu Buhari, a very patriotic citizen, who has waded through the mo­rass and has managed to a large extent to keep his sanity intact.

It does not matter the view any­body holds now, the consolida­tion of APC as a very viable alternative platform to the long ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shattered old political beliefs, created new variables which if you ask, may grow soon into factors holding out new democratic hopes. More im­portantly, APC’s full bloom has established what public analysts had already dubbed “balance of power.” Before now, it had been the desire of a few power ma­nipulators to have a single big political party around which na­tional political life and activities would revolve. That constricted wish has been destroyed for the good of national development and with it has gone the haughti­ness of a few who were begin­ning to see themselves as god.

So for this added reason, the fluidity on the political scene has assumed expected frenzy, and would remain that way for a long time. It is a soothing de­velopment. Men and women whose latent political gifts were caged are suddenly discover­ing that they have new space to breath new life into what would have been retarded political ambitions. To our delight they are not making light of the new opportunities. They are rightly seizing the moment and if what I hear is anything to go by, they are working hard to make the season count for the nation and the people.

Few weeks back something happened albeit in the quiet but which I know have capacity to at least firm the nation on the much desired track of a solid two-party system. Members of the Mass Movement for Jonathan, which I learnt are over 2 million persons spread across the nooks and crannies of our nation aban­doned the Jonathan train and jumped into the ship of Buhari and the APC. Their reason: the way the PDP conducted its party primaries across the nation left them with a sour taste in the mouth. For many of them it foreclosed their desire to be of use to the nation that has given them so much. Is it good politics? I have no hesi­tation in affirming that it is not only good politics, but one of the best things to happen to our nation.

I hold this position for many reasons: firstly, it is not the lack of leadership materials that is responsible for ineffec­tive leadership which has made development such a difficult project it has turned out to be for us, it is the lack of openness in the political processes and in particular, absence of credible internal democracy in our politi­cal parties. Many who loathe the situation have been hamstrung by the lack of viable alternative – a void APC has come in a big way to fill. The other reason would be that we, the change agents, owe it a responsibility to initiate ac­tions to make the APC survive and stand on its feet, like I have always observed, no matter what our different aspirations are, we need a stabilized APC to guaran­tee sanity and even bigger pro­gress. This particular move has gladdened my heart because of some of the forces I hear are behind it. Dr. Kenneth Ibe Kalu, a great business man and grassroots mobilizer, is a very distinguished son of Nigeria of Igbo extraction, and currently the Director-General at the Sec­retariat of the Caucus of former Deputy Governors.

Those who know practical politics would appreciate what this means. He comes with formidable political experience and reach; but I am more delighted by the fact that he is leading other formidable Igbo personalities to join the APC Train. This would improve the poor foothold of the party in South- East and re-enforce in many ways, our desire to see APC firmly entrenched in all corners of the nation like PDP.

Would this give Buhari some leverage? Certainly! Already we can see this is the first election in which the ruling party has the image of the opposition party. It could well be that such vital moves have been the catalysts behind the impressive, deep, but pen­etrating forays of an obviously re-baptized Buhari.

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