Former National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for North West, Salihu Lukman, has stated that the hopes of the average Nigerian for better governance from the ruling party—compared to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which it displaced in the 2015 general elections have been shattered.
Lukman made this assertion in a statement released on Monday, titled “Recommended Outlook for the New Political Opposition.”
The former member of the APC National Working Committee, who resigned voluntarily, emphasized that both the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration and its predecessor have demonstrated to Nigerians that democracy does not inherently lead to improvements in the quality of life for the electorate.
“Admittedly, as it is, the reality is that, bad as former President Goodluck Jonathan was, former President Buhari turned out to be worse and, in every respect, failed to justify the confidence of Nigerians.
And now, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is proving to be worse than former President Buhari. Within less than two years, President Tinubu has made life unbearable for all Nigerians in a magnitude never experienced in the history of the country.
Beyond making life unbearable, President Asiwaju Tinubu has also created the political paradox of being an elected leader who has succeeded in weakening the structures of his party. Under his leadership, all political parties have been similarly weakened. Consequently, Nigeria is a so-called democracy without any functional political party.
“Interestingly, contrary to being a progressive democrat, President Asiwaju Tinubu is about the most insensitive political leader Nigeria has seen.
Insensitive both in terms of being unconcerned about the consequences of the policies of his government on the welfare of citizens, as well as being inaccessible to engagement and demonstrating any commitment to accommodate and mobilize citizens to support his government.
As a result, virtually all democratic structures that are expected to facilitate engagement with governmental structures are systematically and deliberately being weakened.
For instance, the structures of the APC, the ruling party that produced President Asiwaju Tinubu, are being demobilized. Except for the NWC, none of the organs of the party are functioning.
“All the other registered parties are, in one way or another, being held to ransom with syndicated leadership crises. The two chambers of the National Assembly have been debased to the status of parastatals of the Presidency.
INEC is sadly regressing back to the Maurice Iwu days, and elections are becoming more and more predictable circus shows. All the progress made following the Justice Mohammed Uwais’ Electoral Reform work of 2009 has been jettisoned.
Even the basic function of conferring legal recognition on political associations with legitimacy to participate in electoral contests is being sacrificed or blocked.
“It is such a big irony that it is under the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu that Nigerian democracy is being undermined on a scale almost equivalent to what a military regime would have done when it overthrew an elected government.
Perhaps, the only difference is the symbolic retention of the constitution, the legislative arm of government, and INEC without the corresponding statutory powers that organically subordinate these potentially veritable democratic structures to Nigerian citizens, on account of which sovereignty will truly lie with the people.
“Partly because of this reality, political competition in the country is eroded. We are having elections without contests, producing emperors at all levels whose mission is simply to conquer Nigerians.
From President Asiwaju Tinubu to governors, down the line, the average mentality of politicians is to manipulate so-called elections and be returned as so-called winners of stage-managed elections. Across the board, Nigerian politicians are characterized by high levels of intolerance, with basically zero capacity for debates and engagement.
This is largely responsible for the current unfortunate reality, where Nigerian politics is distanced from or remotely connected to the interests of Nigerians.”
While he alleged that the Presidency and the ruling APC have instigated internal dissension in predominant opposition parties, the former Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum called for conscious efforts to initiate a credible opposition party to upstage the APC. He, however, cautioned that such a new platform must seek to subordinate itself to the welfare of Nigerians.
“Part of the challenge that must be addressed is the big question of what to do to solve all the multifaceted, deep-seated problems of citizens.
The legitimate question being asked is whether politicians are only interested in taking advantage of the problems created by the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu to capture power and basically replicate what previous governments have done, ending up even worse than the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu.
Bearing in mind the experiences of Nigerians with the APC, former President Buhari, and now President Asiwaju Tinubu, these are very legitimate questions.
“Unfortunately, as it is, most Nigerian politicians, including opposition leaders, take these issues for granted. Many believe they can continue to manipulate their way to so-called electoral victory. A note of warning may be important at this very early stage of political organizing for the new political opposition.
The only thing that can guarantee the defeat of the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu in 2027 is if an opposition political platform is created that has a strong relationship with Nigerians. The capacity to build such a relationship is a function of developing a new orientation or outlook.
“This is not going to be easy to achieve. The hard truth is that if the APC, with all the promises of CHANGE before 2015, ended up producing the current disappointment, why should Nigerians trust any politician who will come with similar promises of producing a better future? And, noting that most of the opposition politicians were part of the 2015 APC campaign that promised Nigerians CHANGE, why should Nigerians trust newly re-organized opposition politicians?
“The point is, there is a need to acknowledge these legitimate issues. The campaign to rescue Nigeria must not be founded on the cheap sentiment of defeating the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu in 2027. It must be founded on a clearly well-thought-out vision of moving Nigeria forward.
Accordingly, the first vision should be about the kind of political platform the opposition wants to create. Are we going to have another party whose business will only be about producing candidates for elections? In which case, are we just looking at a party that will produce XYZ as the presidential candidate and, down the line, governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly candidates?
“Once that is the focus, we will end up with a new opposition party that is weak and unable to be different from the APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, and all the current parties. In fact, the new opposition parties may even be weaker than the existing parties.
The first indicator that this will be the result is when opposition leaders reduce negotiations to produce the new opposition party by installing their surrogates as party leaders. This will result in hegemonic struggles to plant so-called loyalists of aspiring candidates as leaders of the new party at various levels.
The consequential outcome will be the emergence of worse leaders, continuing the political culture of elected leaders functioning as emperors and overlords, irrespective of whether it is Alh. Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, or any of the leading opposition leaders as the presidential candidate.”
