Analysis: The PDP needs a major crisis right now

There’s no gainsaying that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has had a terrible year.

That will be stating the obvious.

From suffering massive losses at the 2015 general election, mass defections, prosecution (or persecution, as some might say) to internal bleeding, the PDP appears to be heading for that very dark and cold place where irrelevant things are kept.

A careful observation will reveal that the All Progressives Congress is having a picnic on a sunny day if compared to the hell they gave PDP when the party was in power.

A failed year

As an opposition party, the PDP has failed woefully.

Save for the ramblings of Ekiti State governor and that of Femi Fani-Kayode (who has long since been silenced and detained by the bullish EFCC), the PDP has fumbled and failed to do what opposition parties do best – which is to make life hell for whomever is in power.

Their efforts at attacking the APC have come off as insincere, self serving and childish. One would have expected the party to take advantage of the poor ratings of the present federal government and score some points for itself.

Or use the recent fuel price hike to garner public sympathy for itself over the damaging 2012 Occupy Nigeria that signalled the beginning of their end.

The party has in the last one year, not only failed to present a strong opposition but has also failed to reposition itself as the next best thing Nigerians need to have.

Hence, the PDP has failed on all sides.

Shroud of problems

PDP is currently wrapped in a deserving shroud of internal wrangling and fights, that it will be a miracle if the party comes out of its national convention whole and unscathed.

Perhaps, the crisis will be a good thing. Scratch that, it is a good thing.

For the former ruling party to achieve anything substantial, it needs to rebrand itself and wash off some of the less-than-sightly things for which they’re known.

Crisis is good

The party needs to come down from the sky, – or its members should bring their heads out of their asses – restrategize and refocus their energy into launching a concerted attack against the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

And for this to happen, the PDP should consider a complete breakdown of its structure and systems to the lowest possible bits after which – they should rebuild from scratch if they truly have any intention of being taken serious again.

Obviously, a complete breakdown of the party structure will be met with stiff resistance by members of the party, especially those with vested interests (but then there’s the question of whether there’s any Nigerian politician without loads of personal interest) and those who hope to gain something.

Such resistance will most probably lead to a number of people defecting from the party or retiring from politics completely.

Again, that’s a good thing as the party needs to appeal to a new age of voters -millennials- who are more vocal than their forebears and are more emotionally attached to institutions that reflect their core values and aspirations.

Furthermore, the PDP, at the moment, remains the only party that is well positioned to scoop up likely defectors from the APC as the ruling party is at present set against itself and is heading for a collision course sooner or later.

Perhaps, the PDP should heed the advice of Lai Mohammed about taking a crash course on how to be an opposition party, they need it now more than ever if they will make an impact in 2023.

Did somebody say 2019? That will take a miracle to pull off.

Best of luck to them, though.

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