Dear Tinubu,

Dear Buhari,

Dear Party Chieftains,

I’m glad to know the two great ‘opposition’ parties have started merger talks to extricate us from the deadly claws of the PDP. It is something that brings hope to me and some of my friends when we think of Nigeria and immediate solutions. But one thing saddens me; the party isn’t showing great signs of being ready to liberate us, I think the parties are being satisfied to be called opposition parties.

I understand both parties have met twice this year and there are serious talks for a merger, it’s a welcomed development and I will like to give out my two cents as to steps to take to win the people’s hearts. Of the six geo-political zones, the ACN has one (South West) which is its stronghold thanks to the intelligence of Bola Tinubu to win it from the PDP. The three geo-political zones in the North (North West, North East & North Central) are undoubtedly the stronghold of the CPC thanks to the sincerity of General Buhari.

It is no doubt that the other two geo-political zones (South South and South East) are controlled by the PDP & APGA. But elections can’t be won by sharing the zones and targeting just few section of the country to win elections, all geo-political zones must be won, that makes us one and not a sectional government and no tribe can point fingers to the other as the source of the Nigerian problem as we all voted for who we wanted. So how do we go about this?

• Adopt a name: The first step both parties should take is to adopt a part before the end of this year, we are tired of hearing CPC and ACN we want both parties in one. ACPC (Action Congress of Progressive Change in Nigeria) won’t be a bad idea. This will enable the party to not just be a regional one but a national one.
• Adopt internal democracy: The PDP shockingly possess a good and commendable internal democratic system, they appoint their leaders not autocratically but democratically, it is unfortunate they are only organized to loot us. The CPC and ACN sadly use autocratic means to select office holders, both parties are centered on General Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu respectively. This will by no means put trust in the minds of Nigerians, the parties aren’t showing transparency. So how do we trust you to be democratic when you get to power? At this stage the party should not be centered on a person but on competent peoples. We’ll like to see an ‘ACPC’ convention to elect new party leaders and to prove that it is not a one man show. I was happy to hear the former ACN presidential candidate Mallam Nuhu Ribadu joined the present administration in order to serve his fatherland. Ordinarily, this shouldn’t be the case but the lack of internal democracy in the party gave room for that. As the presidential candidate he should be a strong voice in the party and not a puppet as he seems in public.
• Adopt shadow leaders: For every policy and step the PDP takes, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Mr. Rotimi Fashakin are quick to criticize and point out their errors, but how long do we want to hear criticisms without actions? If the first two steps are adopted, it will be a brilliant move to start assuming you are in power, the party should have its shadow President, shadow VP, shadow finance minister, shadow minister for power etc or rather a committee for that within the party. This will make us know that the party is ready and have good plans for us. For example; if the present minister for finance brings any policy, the shadow minister for finance of the party should step out and tell us why it shouldn’t be so, what it should be and the consequences of the poor policy of the present minister, if on the long run the present minister fails, we will clearly see that the party has what it takes and the right heads to take us to the promise land. If that is adopted there will be no case of lobbying of incompetent people finding means to get into power after elections. This will make the people familiar with their future leaders and the great plans they have for them, not just criticizing the government. Apparently, the only person I see doing something similar is the former FCT minister (El-Rufai) that has taking his time to analyze some budgets so far.
• Vote credible candidates to lead: After the party adopts my initial suggestions, it will be another task to vote in credible and competent candidates to be heads of these shadow positions. There has been speculations of General Buhari still planning to contest for presidency in 2015, while age shouldn’t be a criteria for selecting leaders, it will be good to note that we also need youths to be groomed in the system, and there are youths that are ready, why not sniff to get us more good heads in the party rather than making us feel we don’t have options and that he’s the only good head? I will be glad if the party thinks of this and then brings out more competent heads.

 

I believe if these four suggestions are in place, the party will have shown us how ready they are to save us and give us good governance by the next election. Maybe if this was in place, Ribadu wouldn’t have needed to join this administration.

Yours sincerely,

 Abdullahi Aborode

(@abdulahiaborode on twitter)

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