OINION On PDP Vs APC: Let APC Try Make Changes In Nigeria( writer Tom FredFish, a Uyo-based journalist and public policy commentator) “In 2006, I had a very important meeting at Ogba, in Ikeja, Lagos, and I was to drive from Badagry,” Mr. FredFish writes in his message to info@naij. “When servicing the vehicle, I realized I did not have a spare tire, so I rushed to the automobile market, bought a new one and asked the vulcanizer to replace the old tire with it. Thus, I converted the tired tire to a spare. “After a ten minutes’ drive to Aradagun, an infinitesimal village close to Badagry, I heard a loud sound. I thought it was a gun shot. With tremendous fear, I stepped on the break and parked the car. But it was a flat tyre: the new tyre was punctured. Luckily for me, a volcanizer was just by the corner. He advised me to replace the new tyre with the spare one. I was angry to hear that and quipped, ‘ How can I do away with this new and reliable tyre that is less than 24 hours old? You must be kidding, patch it up.’ He complied. “I was satisfied with his job and paid him double for a job well done. Approaching Mowo, another 5 minutes’ drive from Aradagun, I heard a tiny sound from behind. What could that be , I asked myself as I parked the car to check. The same tire was punctured from another spot. Yet another vulcanizer asked me in a somewhat surprised manner, ‘Oga, you no get spare tire?’ “The question was confusing as well as annoying, and, to cover up for my malfeasance, I retorted in angst, ‘Am I a fool? Why I no go get spare tire? You no see say that tire whey spoil so, na new tire? Abeg patch am up make I go. I cannot depend on spare tire on this bad road‘. As he rolled the tire away to where his workshop was situated, he apologized with words I could not forget to this day. He said, ‘Oga, no vex abeg, I go do as you talk but you see, some of this new tire, them be mumu for bad road like this, na only rough tyre like spare they fit to stand the bad road’ . “A fifteen minutes’ drive after Mowo, around Agbara, the vehicle started wobbling. I was too confident that new tires are reliable, so I refused to change to a spare. Motorists started shouting as they zoomed past me, ‘Wheee’reeh [madman] oga, you no they see? Your tire don spoil’ . “To avoid embarrassment and to save the faces of those who owned a Hyundai Sonata 2003 which I drove, I decided to opt for the spare tire. This time, the stress was severe because there was no volcanizer around, neither was there anyone to assist me to jack up the car. With my well-ironed and starched kaftan, I bent down to do a simple but tough job. I cursed the spare tire as I coupled it to the vehicle. I did not count on the spare, but it turned out to be a risk worth taking. To my greatest surprise, I got to Ogba and back to Badagry and drove round about Badagry town for days without remembering I was using a spare tire. The spare tire got me through the journey. “As the 2015 elections draws closer, the major opposition party, the APC, appears ready to take over power from the ruling PDP, headed by President Goodluck Jonathan. The PDP is not ready to concede power that easily. Proponents of both camps are exchanging claims and counter-claims of why they should be voted in or out of office by February 2015. The PDP says it has done much and deserves to be re-elected, calling on Nigerians to give them more time. The APC says the 15 years of the PDP rulership in the country is a waste, and if Nigerians do not rise up for change now, the country will sink under the present leadership. “I am not a member of the All Progressive Congress. I do not speak for them. This piece is virginally out of principle so that truth may prevail. Since the emergence of Mohammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the APC, the party has been tagged with different names, depending on who levies them. “Some see the APC as no different from the PDP, while others say they are ambitious and selfish. Those observers base their views on the fact that 70 percent of the current APC members had occupied political offices in the PDP and had to defect when they were ‘no longer at ease’ with their former party. “Some also call them old breed . Some say they have nothing to offer. Others call them good for nothing or ‘yesterday’s men’. Many see them as ‘spare tires’. Whichever category you belong to, you may not be far from the truth. I, however, agree with those who see them as spare tires. “Nigeria is a moving vehicle. The people are drivers who mandated the ruling party, PDP (which has been in governance for over 15 years), to pilot the vehicle, Nigeria. The APC whose dictum is change and has conglobated to take over power from the PDP is the spare tire. Nigeria’s journey to self-fulfillment has been marred by military coups, economic degradation, civil unrest, infrastructural degradation, unemployment and insecurity. These are impediments to the smooth flow of a prosperous nation. “The country has traversed in different direction under successive regimes till the present democratic dispensation which started in 1999. 15 years after, the PDP still holds sway at the center with Goodluck Jonathan as the President. But there is no substantial proof that the country is heading to the right direction. “Political analysts are asking what aspect of the country has improved from 1999 to date. How buoyant is Nigeria’s economy? Are the citizenry fully integrated in the democratic process? Are our leaders ready to nurture the virtues of democracy? As a people, achieving the objectives of a prosperous nation seems far-fetched. “Under the present leadership, Nigeria is struggling with challenges that could crumble its foundation. Boko Haram spreads fear as tears and blood are spilling over homes and villages in Nigeria’s North-East. As the death toll of innocent Nigerians increases every day, the Nigerian military appears incapable of curbing the excesses of the insurgence. The military recently confirmed through their spokesperson that some Nigerian territories have been captured by the terrorists. “The military has been utterly incapacitated. Former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State of the USA, Mrs. Hillary Clinton recently raised alarm of the high level of corruption in Nigeria: the government, she said, ‘has made bad choices, not hard choices. They have squandered their oil wealth, they have allowed corruption to fester. And now they are losing control of parts of their [own] territory because they would not make hard choices.’ “The non-performance of the Nigerian military, which used to hold their heads high as one of the best in West Africa, is attributed to the high level corruption in the country. The populace has been crying for the present government to address the escalating corruption among the political class, military hierarchy and in the society. But the more they cry seeking the government’s intervention, the more they appear clueless and incapable of tackling corruption. Our anti-corruption agencies earlier in this administration used to bark without biting, but today, they hardly can bark, talkless of biting. “At the other end of the Boko Haram menace is a large- scale unemployment among employable youths. Unemployed youths have now turned to kidnapping, which has become a lucrative business, since the Nigerian security forces are ineffective. “The economic situation is worse off with the naira depreciating in an alarming proportion. While other countries are swelling their reserves, Nigeria is swindling her external reserves with no concrete plans on how to build on it. No meaningful development can take place when the state officials are neck-deep in corruption. Corruption devalues authority. The level of governance corruption in Nigeria is an epidemic as it takes place at the apex of government. Those who ought to fight corruption are indeed the vanguards of it. Poverty is widespread and crudely exposes the bad economic policies and inefficient leadership structure to utilize resources for development. Little wonder that development remains elusive to Nigeria in spite of her resource profile. “For now, no one can predict where the country is heading. Nigerians are fed up with the situation and crave for an alternative. The ruling PDP seems overwhelmed by the avalanche of problems befalling the nation. They have also exhausted their plans and programmes and misused the goodwill Nigerians gave them to continually coast victory in previous elections. “As the opportunity to capture power democratically through the ballot box presents itself this year, proponents of the two major political parties has made cases for themselves as to why they should be elected, re-elected or booted out of office. The PDP says it has done much and deserves to be reelected and calls on Nigerians to give them more time. While the APC says the 15 years of PDP ruler ship in the country is a waste and there is need for change or the country will sink under the present leadership. “PDP supporters say that the APC are over-used hands and have nothing to offer. In that regard, the PDP want us to believe that Nigerians are satisfied with the wanton bloodshed in the North, kidnappings in the South, unemployment, insecurity, corruption, among others too numerous to mention. If all this nomenclature is tiring to the populace, then the APC have a unique selling point: change. They are not offering to give Nigerians 40,000 megawatts of electricity in 2015, neither are they boasting about destroying the terrorists and winning the war against corruption within one year in office. They said they have identified the solutions to Nigeria’s problems and we should opt for change using our votes in 2015. I totally agree with APC. “I do not agree that that President Goodluck Jonathan has not performed in six years in office as president. In any human endeavour, there is always a limit to one’s ability. He has tried to govern Nigeria to his capability. But things are not working out as planned. The more he tries, the more virulent thing become. There is obviously nothing wrong with his plans and programmes. But the time for change has come. “Just like that new tire I depended so much on in 2006, the PDP have wobbled and fumbled in the past 15 years. Yet ,Nigerians savored her moments, were consumed by sentiments of who and where the President came from and depended solely on the PDP. Just like my emotions consumed me over my new tire until I was fed up. We have applied sentiments to manage PDP for this long, yet they failed to serve us as expected. Why not kick them out and use the spare tire? “When equipment is not working properly, you discontinue usage. The change means to improvise. Only sentimental Nigerians and those who benefit directly from the PDP will say everything is alright in Nigeria. Nothing seems to be working correctly. If the PDP who are responsible for making things work in Nigeria are not doing what they ought to do better, change is required. “No matter what your opinion about the crop of people in APC that is agitating for change, Nigeria truly needs change. They also said that APC is an extension of PDP. I do not intend to defend defections but let us see defections from one political party to another as a game of football. “In football, players are being bought and are allowed cross- carpet to any team of their choice. For instance, should Didier Drogba and Kanu Nwankwo leave Chelsea FC to Arsenal FC, Arsenal will not play like Chelsea just because both players are from Chelsea. Both teams have different coaches. APC and PDP have different ideologies and chairmen. And, like footballers can return to their previous teams after one or two seasons, we have seen politicians defecting from one party to the other and returning back. So what is the ruse about the people in the APC being the same as in the PDP? That language is inconsequential, as far as their movement produces results. “In football, there is a provision for substitution if some players do not perform well during the match. The same is true about having a spare tire: it gives you peace of mind. We cannot continue using the same tire for 15 years without results after the restoration of democratic governance when we have a spare like Buhari in the offing. If the PDP does not eschew impunity and their dictatorial methods as it relates to defiling our hard-earned democratic credentials, let the tinubus, buharis & co come on board. It is not about who this time around, it is about change. “You may be surprised, but the APC may put this country in a better position than the PDP in the past 15 years. We should do away with unnecessary sentiments. Sentiments have continually kept us where we are. 15 years is a long journey down the road. The hands of the PDP are tired. If they have a problem with the word change, let us not change them. Let us substitute them. After all, in a game of football performance is not measured by individual’s effort but by team work. “The challenges Nigerians have to face are immense. Not only the future course of economic and political development depends primarily on Nigerian leadership and decision-making organs, but ordinary citizens got the opportunity to control government of the day through their votes. The interest of the Nigerian people is to have a strong and stable Nigeria, and not a strong man. Regardless of our party affiliations, it is one Nigeria. If the APC is capable of making a diffrernce, let us vote them in. Whether Jonathan or Buhari in 2015, we need results. And if change is necessary, so be it.”
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 20:22:05 +0000
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