The post-Jonathan period has not shown any sign of commitment to the deepening of democracy, in spite of the change of government and the emergence of a new party that controls the centre.
In my assessment, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress should be blamed for this lack of commitment: the values that drive the APC’s politics are almost same with the Peoples Democratic Party. The only difference between the APC and the PDP is that the former has an advantage of having a moral force in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari, to anchor the change mantra against the latter.
It has always been my position that Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for Buhari, and not necessarily the APC. Those who have a contrary view, in my thought frame, are either partisan or politically naive! I might tolerate the latter category because they constitute less threat to the development of our beleaguered country than the former.
The absence of internal democracy, greed cum indiscipline, power fetishism, corruption (not limited to economic) ideological void, and disregard for the independence of the institutions of government should be largely implicated in any scientific analysis to explainiiii the lack of cohesion and seeming incapacitation (perhaps, not incapacity) of the APC government to respond to the challenges of governance, nationhood and development.
Against this background, therefore, it is important for some individuals who still think that the bleak extant reality does not only negate the fundamentals of the change that Nigerians dreamt for (before the election), but stultifying to the process of growth with development in the country, to step up the campaign for good quality governance.
Nigeria is simply greater than any political party or political category! It is disgusting to read the abusive comments/reactions of some people who lay claim to education to the critical and patriotic commentaries of a few individuals. I appreciate compatriots like Naseer Kura, Chido Onumah, Tope Fasua, Abiodun Ajayi, Speed Olumide and Ebun-olu Adegboruwa for their patriotism to their fatherland, in spite of our support for President Buhari, and not necessarily APC.
It is high time we began to use the space provided by the social media to help President Buhari to link governance to the people on the street. After all, President Buhari appreciated the role of the social media in his inaugural speech. We must not leave politics and the process of policy formulation to merchant politicians. It will be dangerous for us and the future of our country to do so!
I still believe in the honesty of President Buhari, and should help the old leader from the seeming hypnotism by those who link politics to commerce, and their narrow pecuniary interest. A few of us had fought the military as youth with our energies and passion for a great, united and prosperous country to have this democracy. We must continue to do this as long as we have succeeded in returning the country to civil rule, but have failed to achieve democracy!
We must challenge those who think party membership or preference is greater than our country. We must realise that there is no society or civilisation that has grown on account of the effort of those that conform to either existing social arrangement or political preference/membership. All known societies have had qualitative leap on account of dissent, and the effort of those who offer alternatives to existing policies.
Disagreement with the existing government over issues that impinge on governance does not constitute lack of patriotism, just the way support for a party in government is not a mark of patriotism! We must all be driven by the passion to transform our country into a great nation that is rooted in justice, fairness, unity and prosperity.
There is nothing to show yet that the APC leadership is desirous of engendering good governance. It is on the basis of this that we must continue to expose all forms of rudderless leadership to engender good governance. We must continue to engage President Buhari to provide the leadership we all yearned for. We must continue to impress it on him that the interest of his party is secondary to Nigerians that voted for him. It is only when we have achieved good governance that we may slow down the process of constructive engagement.
*Gidado, a human rights activist, lives in Abuja
