The level of engagement between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be crucial to how the political space advances on the one hand and the quality of governance needed for a sustained development.
Naturally, with PDP as the lead opposition party, it is expected that it would lead the charge in putting the governing party to task on their policies.
As it stands, opposition political parties, do not have the geographical spread or resources to match the APC, leaving PDP as the lead opposition.
The PDP through its national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, had declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s honey moon would expire on the last day of last year. As such, it is expected that lot of fireworks would come from the PDP in the years ahead of 2019.
That is not minding that the party had taken potshots at some key moments and actions of Buhari’s administration, notably the arrest and prosecution of some PDP stalwarts over corruption, the upturning of election in PDP controlled states, budget presentation, and president’s recent media chat.
Some analysts have decried the quality of opposition by the PDP so far, describing it is as distracting and in some cases unwarranted.
Chief-John-Odigie-Oyegun For others, the problems faced by the country today, under the APC as governing party is a direct consequence of the “misrule” of the PDP in the last 16 years. They aver that the PDP, in the last 16 years could not take the country to the next level, and grossly abused the goodwill from Nigerians and the huge resources that accrued to the country beginning from 1999 when democratic rule was restored.
Virtually all governance failures, currently encountered by the APC at the federal level is directly traced to the doorsteps of the PDP.
But while other analysts believe that the 2015 general elections indicated that Nigeria rejected the PDP, they note that APC should get to work as Nigerians have a fair knowledge of the damage done by the PDP. For such watchers they are mindful of what they perceive to be a subtle attempt by the governing party to blame their inability to fulfill campaign promises on the damage done by PDP over the years.
For instance, while a major challenge is the non availability of funds due to declining price of crude oil, many believe that if the PDP-led government had kept faith with its drive to diversify the economy, address corrupt squarely, executed commensurate development in infrastructure, power and education, over the years, the country would have been far better for it.
Still, while the APC had claimed they didn’t know the extent of damage done by the PDP especially the immediate past administration until they took over last May, watchers of the governing party, note that perhaps the former opposition party was overtly engrossed with the politics of winning elections rather than taking full stock of the enormity of work to be done.
The APC carries a good portion of PDP’s DNA by virtue of merger and defections.
While the PDP was formed in 1998, the APC, with the merger of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and later aggrieved PDP members known as NPDP, officially came into existence on February 6, 2013 and was registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on July 31, 2013.
With the active participation of former PDP members in the current administration, sharing of the burden for the past woes of the country becomes interesting.
As the blame continues to mount on PDP, to what degree will the governing party exonerate former PDP elements within their fold?
lai mohammed Also, now that the lead opposition party has begun to blast its former members, (now active in the administration of APC) for denigrating PDP, wouldn’t that put PDP in a fix, bearing in mind that they had boasted about the performance of such persons in the past?
PDP’s shadow cabinet opposition
Playing opposition in a country like Nigeria, with its winner-takes-all political mentality, could be exhausting. Much more, in a system where the art and science of constructive criticism is almost dead, the opposition it would seem, seeks to make claims not well verified.
However, in a bid to shore up his party’s opposition style, the deputy Senate President, Sen Ike Ekweremadu, had charged PDP to urgently constitute a shadow cabinet to monitor the activities of each of the newly appointed APC-led government ministers.
Ekweremadu, who gave the advice at a one-day conference in Abuja on rebranding the party with the theme: “PDP and the Sustenance of Democratic Ideals in Nigeria,” last year, said it was necessary to benchmark the ruling party’s promises during the electioneering campaign.
He posited that the ruling party made lots of promises during the campaign more than they could deliver, adding that the PDP must continue to take government officials to task.
He said “We need to urgently set up a shadow cabinet to benchmark the APC-led federal government on its promises. It is the greatest service we can offer to Nigeria and her democracy at this time. That is our task. Citizens and indeed posterity will not be kind to us if we fail in these laudable goals.”
Listing some of the promises he said, “They promised to scale up the exchange rate of our currency to a Naira to one US Dollar. Have they kept this promise? They promised to bring back the Chibok girls in three months. Have they brought back the Chibok girls? They promised to pay N5, 000 to 25 million unemployed youths. Have they paid a kobo to any youth?
They promised free meals to our children in the schools. Have they given any? They recently promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency in December 2015. We earnestly hope and pray that this particular promise is kept in the overall interest of our nation.”
The shadow cabinet form of opposition is more noticeable in a parliamentary system of government, where the party in opposition constitutes a shadow cabinet that monitors government activities.
According to Wikipedia, it is a feature that could comprise “a senior group of opposition spokespeople, who under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, and whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the cabinet.
“It is the shadow cabinet’s responsibility to criticize the policies and actions of the government, as well as offering an alternative programme.
“In most countries, a member of the shadow cabinet is referred to as a shadow minister. In Canada, however, the term ‘opposition critic’ is more usual. In the United Kingdom’s House of Lords and in New Zealand, the term “spokesperson” is used instead of “shadow”.
Although running a shadow cabinet is rare (or none existent) in a presidential, should it become a reality for the PDP, it would imply that shadow ministers would be appointed for each of the ministries, which will require some doing, including capable manpower.
Also, funding of such operation could be hectic even for a party that has to rely on funding from states it controls.
With the spate of defections and possible loss of its key states as well as seats in the National Assembly, the task of sustaining a formidable opposition would be much more daunting.
For a political class that tends to gravitate towards the party at the center for survival, the thinking for most defectors, is naturally to abandon party, get in line early enough and denigrate the former party, as proof of loyalty in a hope for an appointment.
Worse still, the evolving dissensions within the PDP would make having a consolidated opposition difficult. While former aides of President Goodluck Jonathan, are at daggers drawn with the current National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, a new chapter of conflict was opened within the ranks of national vice chairmen of the party.
Dr Cairo Ojuogboh, secretary of the national vice chairmen had issued a communique stressing that the party would sanction any PDP member pronounced guilty by the courts in the ongoing Dasukigate.
However four out of six national vice chairmen alleged that Ojougboh’s communique was concocted as they were not part of the meeting that pronounced the resolve.
However, when contacted the zonal vice chairman (North-west), Senator Ibrahim Kazure who spoke on behalf of three others said there was never such a meeting. He stressed that if he was aware of such meeting and he attended the outcome would be different.
Kazaure said ”There was no such meeting. I am not part of that meeting. I will support my PDP for whatever they do. All PDP members should rally round all those PDP members that are accused (of corruption).”
The forthcoming national convention of the PDP however holds both hope and danger as some forces are bent on drawing blood. Nonetheless, some party members believe that the convention, if the necessary fence mending operations are done, could help to stabilize the party.
Already the advisory arm of the party, the board of trustees, (BOT) through its secretary, Sen Walid Jubrin, said, as the conscience of the party, they will go round the nation to dialogue with the founding fathers and other aggrieved members immediately after their meeting on January 14.
PDP has shown some spark of constructive opposition politics in its attempt to beam the spotlight on the APC particularly with the 2016 budget and the fuel price conundrum.
For the budget, PDP had following the submission of the budget called for more light into the N6.08 trillion 2016 federal budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, warning that with the proposed N1.84 trillion borrowing, the nation is going the way of Greece.
Metuh, explained that a breakdown of the N1.84 trillion shows that Nigeria would be borrowing N5 billion a day for the next 365 days, starting from January I, 2016, without corresponding provision for economic production and a clear repayment plan, a scenario that spells doom for the future of the nation.
“There is no known economy in the world where you can justify borrowing N1.84 trillion without specific projects and precise repayment outline. This is worse still in an oil-driven, mono-economy at a time crude oil is selling at $30 dollars per barrel and is speculated to go down to about $20 dollars or even lower in the next one year. The idea can only come when you diversify the economy and boost production capacity in manufacturing and other critical sectors, a direction, which the budget clearly failed to provide.”
On the fuel price, Metuh said the reduction in the N87 per litre pump price to N86 and N86.50 per litre for the retail outlets of the NNPC and retail outlets of private business concerns respectively offered too little to cheer.
“After heightened expectations occasioned by the promise to review the N87 per litre pump price of petrol made by the administration amid crippling scarcity of the product during the Christmas season, the announcement of this tokenism has come as a disappointing anti-climax, considering that only in January this year, the PDP federal government reduced the pump price from N97 to N87 per litre.
“That was done in the wake of the fall in the price of crude oil to between $42.65 and $50 per barrel. The PDP government then, in reaction to the development in the global oil market, revised its pricing template that brought down the pump price by N2.84 more than the N87 fixed as the pump price of petrol. The implication was that the federal government was still subsidising the N87 price by N2.84 per every litre of the product.
“The APC-controlled federal government, consequent upon stepping in the saddle on May 29, this year considered the market and decided through a supplementary appropriation to pay N413 billion as subsidy to petroleum marketers. In announcing the new pump prices, the APC federal government claimed that the subsidy element has been removed. The question is; how much were we paying for subsidy when the pump price was N87? Has this marginal reduction now knocked off completely the huge subsidy paid at N87 per litre or should it not have only further reduced the size of the subsidy?”
With the Dasukigate tearing at its brand, PDP would need to do more in putting its house in order and perhaps show sufficient cause why Nigerians should still listen to, let alone support it ahead of future elections, if the prosecutions of its key members involved in the corruption allegation are upheld in court.
This is because by the end of the trial, if the court finds the accused among them guilty, the PDP brand would have had a huge battle in its hands with its association with corruption and mismanagement of resources.
For now, the PDP might have to rely on its think-tank, Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) to help with research and believe that its lawmakers both at federal and state levels would up their game as far as providing constructive alternatives to what the current government provides.
Also, the performance of its elective office holders would be key as the party cannot criticize a government at the center, for poor performance, when its governors and other elected office holders are not pulling positive weights on governance.
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