Intra-party feud as threat to Nigeria’s democracy

When former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat after the 2015 general elections, international observers rated Nigeria among the few African states with a history of smooth democratic transition.
A great number of them, who described the results of the election as a protest vote, lauded the magnanimity of the former president and the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission for organising peaceful polls, especially as Jonathan conceded defeat even before the INEC Chairman at the time, Prof. Attahiru Jega, announced the final results.
While some critics argue that the relative peace prevalent in Nigeria’s democracy cannot be disconnected from its transition values and adopted leadership role in Africa, the fact that it has sustained this system of government for 16 years is also being attributed to an ingrained culture of careful conduct. Besides, others think in line, praising the level of native intelligence known with most citizens and some political leaders in the country.
In recent times, however, the Nigerian electorate have been taken aback with the worsening level of intra-party crises bedevilling the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Hardly had the PDP been upstaged from power at the centre than it fell into the quagmire of an intraparty feud that now seems intractable. Claims and counter-claims over who the true leader of the party is have continued to rage.
With no respite in sight, the crisis in the main opposition party has assumed another dimension with the burgeoning disagreement being engendered by the zoning of the national chairmanship position to the South West geo-political zone.
Unfortunately, the meeting of the South-West leaders of the party, held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Monday, over the chairmanship of the party was inconclusive as the leaders of the party, who were in attendance, disagreed on the zoning of the position to a particular state of the geopolitical zone.
While some Nigerians were at first happy that at last the PDP had begun to pick the pieces ahead of the 2019 general elections, they were soon given a rude shock when leaders of the party disagreed on the zoning arrangement on the grounds that it was not democratic.
That was not all; the hope of some party faithful was dashed when they observed that some big wigs in the party had already thrown their weight behind the aspiration of Chief Olabode George, whose antecedents they believe would do more image-damage to the opposition party, especially in its bid to reclaim power at the centre in 2019.
The last has yet to be heard on the PDP multidimensional crisis. The ruling APC, on the other hand, has proved that it’s also susceptible to the cankerworm of intra-party feud, barely one year after it was handed the reins of power at the centre and in most of the states. There are indications that things are no longer at ease in a party that promised Nigerians change.
Allegations and counter-allegations about budget padding making the rounds amongst members of the House of Representatives, with Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the sacked chairman of Appropriation Committee of the House, Abdulmumin Jibrin, as the leading dramatis personae, are dovetailing into the perceived struggle between opposing forces gunning for the soul of the ruling party ahead of the 2019 elections.
A factional Chairman of the party in Kano, Alh. Useni Mairiga, lost his cool on Tuesday when he described the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as a total failure.
The politician accused the government of betraying the confidence reposed in it by the Nigerian masses, who voted Buhari into power. The factional APC state chairman also attributed the economic lull being witnessed in the country to the inability of the President to turn the economy around as promised during his campaigns. Mairiga further expressed worry that after one year of the Buhari-led administration in power, poverty level in the country has assumed an unprecedented and frightening dimension.
Though Mairiga may be bitter over some internal party issues, especially ‘kick backs’, his words and other traces of policy reversals witnessed by Nigerians could take a toll on the party’s popularity and followership now and in the run-up to 2019.
Aside from the economic hardship that bites harder every day, one cannot dispute the fact that a large chunk of the electorate who voted for President Buhari in 2015 are now confused. Many more are sitting on the fence, waiting for the final straw that would break either the PDP or APC Carmel’s back before using their Permanent Voters’ Card in 2019 to make another choice.
This same unpalatable situation is replicated in the two parties, particularly the PDP, at the state, local government and ward levels, where parallel executives hold sway, compounding the confusion.
The usual brouhaha in the parties bear on the lack of internal democracy and crass disregard for the principle of party supremacy.
In saner climes, such intramural bickering is a rarity because, for them, once elections are over, politics recedes to the background for proper governance to take charge.
At the risk of sounding pedestrian, despite the acclaimed familiarity of our political leaders with what obtains in advanced societies, where the idea of modern democracy was borrowed and where they often scamper for workshops and other programmes, even on the bill of the public, to learn the ropes, one wonders why they still find it difficult to play the game by the rules.
A situation where both the ruling APC and the main opposition PDP are in perpetual turmoil does not augur well for the nation’s relatively young democracy.
The perennial wars of attrition in the main political parties will do the country and her people no good, either. Rather than strengthening democracy, it will whittle away the belief of the masses in the efficacy of the time-tested system of government.
If care is not taken, the attendant tenuous situation both parties have found themselves may, unwittingly, create a conducive atmosphere for centrifugal forces threatening the corporate existence of the country to fester.
Our belief is that none of the two political parties would want to have the ignominious notoriety of presiding over the disintegration of the Nigerian Federation.
A situation where the two major political parties in the country continue to wallow in internal crises is no longer acceptable to Nigerians. A stitch in time should be enough to save nine.