23 states in the dreamland

AS IT IS/THE NATION

By SOJI OMOTUNDE

Why is Nigeria being entrapped about 2015 elections when in 2013 hardly had good performance impact manifest in the life of the masses? Rather than focus on genuine transformation of a declining nation, the struggle now is about retaining power at all cost.

Although President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to declare if he would be running or not for the second term, but he wants to capture 23 states.
It is hard to understand what gives the audacity to think that a burdened political platform could survive when it is working more on self-disintegration. It is even more dispiriting seeing those not working to fulfill their campaign promises to the level that could encourage people to retain their confidence but are heard just bragging to win the votes that were never cast in their favour.

At the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s National Executive Council meeting last week, the president was reported to have recalled that the PDP was once in control of more than 23 states, but regretted that the party had lost some of those states. But he never revealed how some of those states were purportedly declared won in the past. Rather, he challenged party members to ensure that the number of states to be won in 2015 did not go below the present 23. What a dream!

For a party that has been meshed in internal crisis for a while now and has nothing to show for its 14 years in control of the nation’s affairs, this ought not to be a season for cheap talks. Would it not have been prudent to seek why indeed it never won 23 states in reality? Must the party not seek for the heart of fidelity to query its Board of Trustees Chairman Tony Anenih for boasting to fix victory for the party just the same way it has been winning before? It is as if they could not see Nigerians growing to the level of rising in perseverance to protect their votes. To think rigging will favour the party again must be working in ignorance of the mind and state of the people being misruled.

We have hardly heard any of the presidents produced by the PDP in the last 14 years being apprehensive with the inflationary trend in country. Or any of them compassionate about poverty in the blessed land of milk and honey. They always pretend that all is well as if they are waiting until people start eating from the dustbins (apology to Umaru Dikko).

In the PDP of today, diverse conflicts are splitting the party. There is the contention of divide-and-rule against the North. In South-West, the party keeps degenerating as the zone is sidelined by those in power. Even in South-South, tension keeps building up as Jonathan is not considered as the best of them that can continue to rule on their behalf. Afterall, the ordinary East-West road project has remained a contending issue.

Poor performance of the party is evident across the nation. Largely, struggling for power is destroying the structure. What we mainly see is that corruption is at an all time high just as insecurity is like having air in the open sky.

Mending the self-torn umbrella is now the challenge that even the leadership could not handle since the leaders are the source of the tribulations. Satisfying self interest above serving the people has resulted in administrative cluelessness. This might be why more and more of the politicians are struggling to take over power. If President Jonathan can come out today to say he will not run for the presidency in 2015, the wild wind engulfing the party will go down.

But the truth is that many Nigerians are fed up with the infractions in PDP, with many becoming battle ready to vote out the party in 2015 if there could be an alternative. People are indeed waiting for a more credible political platform to emerge. And this is why the challenge for the opposition is to convince the people that they have better contenders than the failed ruling party.

To move the nation forward therefore would not be through restriction to picking a president from a particular ethnic or tribal zone. Neither would it be ruling in 23 states. Afterall, no region in the country would claim not to have tasted the sweetness of national power, except that hardly had any ended with much viable benefits to their own people.

What committed Nigerians are interested in are efficient and dedicated leadership, transparency, accountability and impactful governance.