Mega party: Reforming the irreformable polity?

Mega party: Reforming the irreformable polity?
Nigeria, in the last 48 years of its existence has gone through rough roads and turbulent times that nearly tore it apart, from the first military coup in 1966 to the civil war in 1967, economic crises of the early 80s and June 12 presidential election in 1993 and of recent the self succession bids of Generals Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo. In all these crises, although uncertainty trailed the nation, the country men and women had a feeling that better days were coming and they still had confidence that their leaders will turn things around for the better. It is not the intention of this writer to sound pessimistic; however, from what I have gone through in the last three weeks, the people I met and their views and comments about Nigeria and its leaders, Nigeria has never had it bad like the crises that the country was plunged into by the ruling People’s Democratic Party in the last ten years by their actions and inactions.
With a population of over 140 million people, Nigeria has a plenty of natural resources however the country is faced with the problem of poverty, inequality, political and civil violence (mostly man made), extensive corruption and impunity. These factors and others relating to our educational and social structure contributed in making democratic institutions weak thereby paving way for small, opportunistic group to hold the more than 140 million people of Nigeria to ransom. More painful is our acceptance that nothing can be done to change things. This gave these people the audacity to continue with what they are doing with a sense of arrogance and impunity. They rig themselves into power, instead of doing what is right they turn into something else by misusing their position to exploit their fellow citizens.
Nigeria is at cross-road. Our problems are as numerous as our diverse ethnic groups and cultures, to be frank there is no single solution to our problems. It is not surprising then that some group of Nigerians started reaching out to all who feel the country needs to change, and change for good to come together to design a road map for addressing the present crises. But the question is how sincere are these people? Nobody can doubt the integrity of some people who were part of those who attended a gathering in Lagos to come up with what is referred to as the mega party but we have to point out here that there are many among those present who are responsible for what is happening today, while others are part of the problem. The people who gathered in Lagos are going to make the same mistake which the founders of People’s Democratic Party made in 1998 by forming a party which its members have nothing in common except to wrestle power from the military.
But we have to state that formation of political party whether mega or small is not the solution to our problems. If 49 political parties will not defeat a single political party or reduce its victory in the polls then how possible is it for a single party do that? What we need is civic education or what a political scientist will refer to as ‘civicness’. It is a situation where the personal democratic values of citizens are reinforced thereby creating the greatest scope possible for them to govern themselves. Formation of a successful political party has to be based on individual ideology not on the need to get into a political office. It is through this that citizens can cultivate and practice democracy based on critical rationalism.
The party then becomes a link between citizens and political power, balancing various interests and assuming responsibility for the structure of political power. With the active role of media and civil society groups, mobilisation and opinions are formed which direct the selection and election of leaders to various political offices. But as long as we continue forming political parties based on the idea that we want to wrestle power from the ruling party we are bound to fail, because the ruling party also do things the way we do, however they have more advantage over us because they control the state machinery and they are ready to use them in desperate situation.
Our focus should not be on 2011 alone, but let put a structure that will target twenty years from now or even fifty, because the generation that came after the first republic have little or no knowledge of democracy. Worst are our generation, because of the military intervention for over two decades and the way social studies is taught in our primary and secondary schools. We have no sense of history; in fact that is what those who wish good for Nigeria should have started with, instead of wasting their time and resources to form a mega party that will be quashed by PDP next year. It is important for the advocate of the mega party to understand the socio-cultural cum political history of Nigeria, if they are at all sincere about turning things around for the better.
What we face today as a nation is enough for our leaders, whether in the opposition or the ruling party to have a rethink. A bag of maize cost N5300 in the market and as the rainy season sets in, a 50kg bag of fertilizer sells at N7000. Majority of Nigerians cannot afford basic square meal, they cannot pay school fees for their children, our health care system is one of the worst in the whole world, and wealthy Nigerians are taking their children out of Nigeria for education because we cannot afford to sustain our own. Many cities don’t have portable water; poverty has reached an alarming rate despite spending billions of naira in the last ten years, our energy sector is in crises despite being one of the world leading petroleum exporting countries. Desertification is threatening millions of farmers in the Northern part of the country; the people of Niger-Delta are in difficult situation due to environmental hazards as a result of activities of oil companies. The list is endless.
The only thing we hear from our politicians is how to perpetuate themselves on power beyond 2011 or how to wrestle power from the ruling party, is this not ironic? It is indeed. I agreed with Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) when he said recently ‘our politicians and leaders cannot see beyond their noses, they are not good forecasters, they are selfish, self-centred people and they are responsible for the teething poverty in the country’. This was also echoed by Niger state governor, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu when he said what characterised our national landscape is bad politics, violent politics, collapse of public morality, greed and corruption. No concrete programme, no plan of action, their message is simple let us get hold of the nation’s resources and have our own share. It is very hard to believe either of them (the ruling party and the so-called opposition) because both parties are out to consolidate their interest while the rest of us continue to suffer. My belief is that it is a matter of time before nemesis caught up with them and they would soon pay the price for enslaving Nigerians in their own country.
Kabiru Danladi,
Area 11, Garki,
Abuja.
kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08054546764, 08035150369