Having waited all these while to feel his
reaction towards serial defections by senators and honourable members including
governors; all leaving the All Progressives Congress to PDP and other political party,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally bare his mind.
On the 24th, July 2018, Rabiu
Kwankwanso, Dino Melaye and 12 other senators dumped APC and left for People’s
Democratic Party. Also, in quick succession, another 37 federal law maker left
the ruling party and joined PDP and ADC. In same vein, the senate president
with his loyalist in Kwara state, the executive governor and 23 House of
Assembly members left APC all for PDP. Aminu Tambuwwal and some other big-wig
too were not left out. They all left and joined PDP and some other political
Party.
While this was going on, many in political
circle craved for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s reaction being a national leader of the
party. Finally, the former governor of Lagos state has given his voice on the
status of the party last Sunday in a statement entitled “They Go Away Because
We Go the Right Way”.
According to him, the defectors “left the party
to return to a motley agglomeration that would promise them what true democracy
could not: automatic tickets, sharing of the national wealth and other offices
and privileges”.
“Governor Tambuwal’s exit can be distilled to
one cause. He covets the presidency. However, he had not the stomach to
challenge President Buhari in a primary. Tambuwal felt further insulted that he
would be compelled to face a direct primary just to retain the governorship
nomination,” Tinubu said.
“But for the promise made by PDP headliners like
Rivers State Governor Wike that he would have the PDP presidential nomination,
Tambuwal would not have left. His exit had nothing to do with governance of the
nation. It was about forging a personal ambition predicated on the defeat of
progressive reform not the advancement of it”.
According to Tinubu, the situation is similar
for the Senate President and he claims the PDP promised him the Senate
Presidency.
He said, “Much the same for Senate President
Saraki. Returning to the PDP, he harbors dreams of the presidency but
Tambuwal’s ambition will dwarf Saraki’s when the two collide. If Saraki had
remained in the APC, he would be unable to reclaim his Senate seat let alone
the Senate Presidency. He thus bolted because he lusts for the presidency but
was promised by the PDP, at least, a return to his position in the Senate”.
He faulted the arguments of both Saraki and
Tambuwal that the APC had failed to live up to expectations.
He said, “For Saraki to talk about lack of
governance is for him to deny who he is and the position he holds. This man
stands as Nigeria’s Number 3 citizen. Clothed is he in ample power and
influence.
“If he saw areas where government and the nation
needed help, he could have easily applied his energies to these areas. He could
have drafted legislation and easily got laws passed.
“However, no progressive enactment bears his
name for he cared not for progress. He has been more focused on changing the
rules of the Senate to favour himself and changing the order of elections so as
to coincide with his selfish designs”.
The full statement reads: “The defections of
some people from the APC have generated sensational headlines and exaggerated
talk as to what their departures foretell for the APC, the party to which I
belong. Some have predicted the demise of the APC. Those who hope for our
decline will be disappointed by the inaccuracy of their desires. The days,
months and years ahead will bury such errant forecasts for these predictions
are born more of bitterness than of objective analysis.
Much of the attention has centered on which
party now controls this or that state and which party maintains a majority in
the National Assembly. These considerations are important to members of the
political class and the electoral calculations of the political parties. But
these calculations cannot be all there is. We must be careful not to reduce our
horizon to a mere accounting of elected officials moving from one party to another.
“Many in the political class believe this score
keeping between the parties encompasses all that is important. For such people,
the mere holding of office is the sole objective. The quality of governance
they provide means little to them. Yet, there are greater things at stake than
the fortunes of individual politicians. The people of Nigeria focus their
attention on something materially different than this narrow political game.
The people are more deeply concerned with the
quality of governance they experience than with the intense cunning by which
the political game is played. They are more interested in helpful policies than
in the tempests created by politicians in pursuit of personal ambitions. That
which provides a better life in a more prosperous nation is what beckons to
them. That which shines in the eye of the political opportunist is dross to the
average person.
“We must pull back from the shallow headlines to
recognize that something fundamental is at stake.
Nigeria is undergoing a historic transition.
Sometimes awkwardly, tentatively, yet inexorably, we nurture political and
governance reform. We steadily close the door on the old malpractices that have
caused a rich nation to reside in the tenement of the global poor. The
corruption of the past is ending; for it must end if we are to fulfill our
collective purpose. With this correction, less public money will be diverted to
private benefit. More will be afforded to the causes of the people. The economy
is being transformed so that the average person will have a better chance of
finding a better life.
“We move toward a more democratic union. The old
days where a handful of uninformed men and those with deep pockets decided
everything for everybody are being swept away. The will of the people can no
longer be ignored. Those who would be the masters over the people must now be
public servants. A party or elected official may no longer rule over the
people. They must govern for the benefit of the people.
By so doing, the arc of our national progress is
shaped. Not everyone is happy with this trajectory. As a whole, the political
class must relinquish some of its power and wealth so people can enjoy a more
equitable portion of the national enterprise.
This is the correct and perhaps inevitable course
Nigeria must pursue. To their credit, many politicians see the need for reform
and even champion it. Yet, there are those in the political class who scheme
against collective improvement. They seek to halt progress toward a fairer
nation. They seek to hold to the old ways. The difference between the two
parties and why some people returned to their PDP conclave must be seen in this
light.
“This is more than competition over numbers.
What rests in the balance is not whether one party has more elected officials
on its roster, but which party has the right mindset and policies to reform
Nigeria that she may become what goodness demands of her. We are in locked
battle to define the future of this nation and the quality of its governance.
This battle pits one party, the APC, with all of its imperfections, that seeks
national reforms against another party, the PDP, which symbolizes the
perfection of the most selfish designs of the most selfish politicians among
us.
This moral battle informed the recent defections.
Those who belong to that PDP mode of thought could find no permanent comfort in
walking the path of progressive reform and progress. All the things we have
inaugurated such as school-feeding programs for poor pupils, social security
for poor families, affordable housing programs, greater access to credit for
small businesses and greater access to education and health care, these things
the defectors could not well abide. They detested President Buhari’s Treasury
Single Account (TSA) innovation because it barred them from mis-directing funds
into a maze of unaudited accounts from which they could siphon as they pleased.
Buhari cut off their clandestine illicit spigot.
“These politicians see accountable good
governance and lifting of the common person as the tearing down of their quest
for great riches and power.
Even more so, they detested the APC drive toward
greater internal democracy. They bristled when we demanded that congresses and
conventions be held; they had demanded giving themselves automatic extension in
their positions. They privately erupted as the APC decided that direct
primaries where all party members vote on the party’s nominations should be the
way of the future. The injection of greater democracy meant a decrease in their
ability to manipulate end results. Politics will be ushered out of the backroom
and given to the people to whom sovereignty genuinely belongs. These men could
not countenance such transformation. They saw it not as the gift of democracy
but as an obstacle that complicated their self-interest. They left the party to
return to a motley agglomeration that would promise them what true democracy
could not: automatic tickets, sharing of the national wealth and other offices
and privileges.
“Their defection statements swell with
high-sounding words and the attempted grasp of lofty ideals. While I shall
refrain from being so coarse as to call these statements counterfeit, I must
invoke a sufficient level of common sense for the protection of all. Anyone who
accepts their statements at face value will quickly experience buyer’s remorse.
Their attempt at fine notions aside, what compelled these people was galloping
yet blind ambition.
Governor Tambuwal’s exit can be distilled to one
cause. He covets the presidency. However, he had not the stomach to challenge
President Buhari in a primary. Tambuwal felt further insulted that he would be
compelled to face a direct primary just to retain the governorship nomination.
But for the promise made by PDP headliners like Rivers State Governor Wike that
he would have the PDP presidential nomination, Tambuwal would not have left.
His exit had nothing to do with governance of the nation. It was about forging
a personal ambition predicated on the defeat of progressive reform not the
advancement of it.
“Much the same for Senate President Saraki.
Returning to the PDP, he harbors dreams of the presidency but Tambuwal’s
ambition will dwarf Saraki’s when the two collide. If Saraki had remained in
the APC, he would be unable to reclaim his Senate seat let alone the Senate
Presidency. He thus bolted because he lusts for the presidency but was promised
by the PDP, at least, a return to his position in the Senate.
For Saraki to talk about lack of governance is
for him to deny who he is and the position he holds. This man stands as
Nigeria’s Number 3 citizen. Clothed is he in ample power and influence. If he
saw areas where government and the nation needed help, he could have easily
applied his energies to these areas. He could have drafted legislation and easily
got laws passed. However, no progressive enactment bears his name for he cared
not for progress. He has been more focused on changing the rules of the Senate
to favour himself and changing the order of elections so as to coincide with
his selfish designs.
“The rest of the defectors were given similar
assurances by the PDP as to their offices. The APC refused to make such
bargains as they are part of the ancient regime; these bargains are not of our
democratic new way.
There is nothing wrong with ambition. Without a
degree of ambition, we would never strive to improve and develop ourselves. But
ambition, restrained by nothing but itself, is a dangerous commodity. Unwedded
to social conscience, it leads to ruthlessness; it is the father of the
deception that leaders are meant to lord over instead of to serve the populace.
In the final analysis, the reason for the
defections is as clear to see as it is crooked in its motives. The APC seeks to
reform governance and politics. However, many powerful people believe the
established system assures their maximum benefit. Progressive reform would
defeat them. They must fight reform and never be allied to it. Thus, they had
to leave the APC.
“In a fundamental way, the APC may be better for
their exit. It would be untrue to say their departures did not generate
concern. As the air clears and we can better assess what is lost and gained by
their exit, I can truthfully say the APC will be better off because they are
gone.
We can now focus more wholly on democratic
governance inside and outside the party. Inside the party, we have adopted
direct primaries to discourage corruption of the democratic process. Regarding
public policy, we can now better articulate our progressive stance without
having naysayers among complaining that we are going too far or that the good
we seek for the people ought not to be done.
We can more decisively push for the jobs
program, expansion of social security for the poor, affordable housing programs
and a viable mortgage system, national infrastructural program that will
provide adequate power and potable water, basic health care for all, and
educational reform. Each of these is important in itself. In combination, these
objectives shall reshape the very landscape of our political economy. They shall
bring fairness and prosperity where none has been. They will give the average
person a government that serves them and the land that they deserve.
“But this prospect means a large segment of the
political class will oppose the APC. We, as a party, must have the courage to
accept this reality. Having decided to place the public welfare above the
private welfare of the few, we must forge ahead no matter the foes aligned
against us.
This struggle toward a better Nigeria is hard,
described more by difficult obstacles than by smooth passages. Had reform been
easy, the task would have already been accomplished. Powerful hands have
gathered to halt our collective move forward. Not everyone wants a better
Nigeria for all. Those who profit from the imbalances of the past are those who
fear a fairer tomorrow.
Come the general election, the people will face
a stark choice. If they want to relive the certain failure and inequality of
the system the PDP had erected against their very interests, the people will
walk the way of the defectors. If the people want to give themselves a better
chance at an excellent nation they will adhere to the path elected in 2015 when
they voted for reform and the APC.
I believe in the collective
wisdom of the people. They will choose the right way for they are Nigerians
which means they shall do what is right and just
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