20th January, 2014
Last Wednesday’s forced resignation of Bamanga Tukur, the seventh Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 15 years, is another sad reminder that Nigeria’s ruling party has remained a house of commotion.
For the past one and half decades, the troubled party has been unable to lead Nigeria right. It has all been about personal fights over personal interests and too much noise with so little leadership.
Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu, the former governor of Bauchi State was chosen as Tukur’s successor on Sunday night by President Goodluck Jonathan and some governors. But even before he assumes duty, with the 2015 elections fast approaching and big divisions and disagreements still rocking the party, no one can predict how long he will last or how effective he will be.
The way Tukur was forced out and the fact that PDP has been unable to unite behind one leader shows that the party’s leaders are more about personal interests than ideology.
With so many issues to resolve over the years, the party has been unable to provide the kind of leadership that Nigerians hoped for when democracy was restored in 1999. As the PDP gladiators fought to retain their seats or oust those occupying them, development took a back seat and poverty and unemployment continued to skyrocket.
As a result, Nigeria has continued to sink and brazen theft and corruption have continued to worsen as PDP men continue even today to fight for their personal interests and not for what can benefit the nation and ordinary Nigerians now in their daily struggle of survival.
With the general elections almost here, tension may continue to rise in the PDP and those divisions may widen, making progress an illusion.
In the end Nigerians will be the ultimate losers and the victims of mismanagement, corruption, underdevelopment, theft and all other vices that have continued to keep us down.
PDP has not performed well since 1999 and Nigerians are tired of the intrigues within the party that have indirectly affected the country adversely.
We call on the PDP leadership to put their house of commotion in order and focus on good leadership. The crises within the party have heated up the polity for too long. The charade must end now.