Salihu Tanko-Yakassai: Mu’azu is the game changer for the PDP (Y! Politico)

by Salihu Tanko-Yakassai

When I hear the name People’s Democratic Party, the first thing that comes to my mind is SCANDAL! They seem to have mastered the art of scandals, from one to the other, day in day out! If it is not in their executive officer’s utterances, it is in each and every action the party takes collectively, making it a giant joke of the political arena in Africa.

One of its lowest moments was under the “disabled” leadership of its former “Idi Amin” leader, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. He has dragged PDP to its lowest level, even by its own sub-standards! The power has gotten to him to the extent that he felt as if he was bigger than not only the party, but the President himself. Nobody seemed to defy his orders, he was indeed a demi god! PDP suffered its biggest setback when 5 governors defected to the opposition APC, it also lost the majority in the House of Reps, which is an unprecedented event in the political history of Nigeria. Never has the opposition had the control of any chamber in the National Assembly. To cut the story short, PDP’s misfortunes kept piling and piling and piling under Bamanga Tukur’s leadership.

 

As a strong APC member, and one that has so much enjoyed the positive momentum that we have been enjoying from the merger, to registration and up to where we are currently, I most say that I am a little bit uncomfortable with Adamu Mu’azu’s leadership style. 

 

Then came the so called “game changer” Adamu Mu’azu, the current PDP Chairman! When a friend of mine informed me that Adamu Mu’azu was tipped to be the new national chairman of PDP, I instantly said WOW! For the first time, in a very long time, PDP has made a wise move by making him its chairman. Adamu Mu’azu is a shrewd politician, he has the experience after his two tenures as Governor of Bauchi State, he was among the top Governors close to Obasanjo then, which made him an insider and a power broker within the party. But most importantly, Adamu Mu’azu lost out after his tenure and was doing basically nothing, which I have come to realise is a humbling experience for most of our politicians. It usually gives them a time to cool off and realize the mistakes they made when they were in charge, and most of them when they get a second chance, usually turn out to be better leaders than they were.

My prediction has so far turned out to be absolutely correct! Since he became chairman, Adamu Mu’azu has somehow managed to bring PDP’s crises to a halt! I can’t think of one single crisis that rocked the party since he became its chairman. Not only has he put the party in order, but he has been making progress in reaching out to, and uniting its aggrieved members. This is one thing that I can’t think of any of its previous chairmen that has done so successfully. Though it may seem okay for now, I’m sure this won’t last because the party primaries are fast approaching and there is no way on earth that, those that will lose out will not be aggrieved again.

As a strong APC member, and one that has so much enjoyed the positive momentum that we have been enjoying from the merger, to registration and up to where we are currently, I most say that I am a little bit uncomfortable with Adamu Mu’azu’s leadership style. Simply because before, it was more like a walk in the park for APC to chase out PDP, Nigerians were tired, disappointed, and ready to kick PDP out, but now it has find some stability in the way and manner it handles its affairs, and we seem to have fumbled a little, from losing the Ekiti elections, to Nyako’s impeachment, and little other mishaps that we’ve encountered along the way. Going forward, we have bigger issues to worry about. While PDP will most certainly produce President Goodluck as its presidential candidate, we in APC have all the big heavyweights to massage their egos and ensure they come to a consensus to produce one candidate, or if it has to go to a primary election which I believe it will, then rally behind whoever emerges as the winner. We also have potential crises in our states, in almost all the APC controlled states, especially the outgoing governors that want to anoint and impose their candidates on the party. Plus other elective positions like senators, reps and state assembly members. Though like I stated earlier, PDP will also have similar challenges, but ours is indeed an uphill battle, for APC is an opposition party like no other, we are a combination of three political parties, rivals that couldn’t sit on the same table before, but have managed to come together. We need to seriously practice true internal democracy during our primaries, one that should be transparent and credible in order not to miss this golden opportunity. Let APC be the game changer, for Nigeria’s political history!

As a party, nobody hates PDP just like that! We do not believe it has what it takes to rule Nigeria, simple. After being in power for 15years, tt lacks the vision and leadership qualities to continue to govern in this country, that is what we dislike about it. APC also need to get our acts together, we are not portraying ourselves to be the change that we hoped to be. It is my desire to see a strong political party like the ANC deeply rooted in the grass roots, where its foundations will be very strong. Why can’t we become like the Republicans and Democrats in the United States? Where everyone not only in America, but around the world knows where each party stands on some key issues? for the sake of our country, let PDP and APC become issue based, so that we will produce the best leaders to take Nigeria to the promise land.

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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.

Comments (2)

  1. It is only in our polity that the principle of grand coalition of party leaders seem impossible simply because political power is seen in Nigeria as an avenue for profit making instead of our leaders working in coalition to forstall a formidable government and ensure a perfect state.also pluralism which is the key guard to the success of any soceity has been neglected as voting is now conducted based on ehtnic affiliation and is not mass based,our leaders no longer seek consent from persons not in their ethic group.and that is why the APC and PDP saga seems to be a do or die affair.we simply lack the basic ideology of a true democratic soceity.

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