Need For A New, Virile Opposition Party

With the sudden transformation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from an opposition party to the ruling party come 29 May this year, there is an urgent need for a new, virile opposition party to prevent the country from becoming a one party state. Since APC’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of the 28 March presidential election, the fortunes of the party have changed deramatically. From being the biggest opposition party in the country, the APC would soon take over as the ruling party.

The one-time powerful Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that boasted that it was the largest political party in africa and that it would rule for sixty years, has suddenly taken the back seat as an opposition party. It crumbled like a pack of cards in the 28 March presidential and National Assembly elections. As is natural, everyone now wants to associate with the APC, with mass defection of PDP leaders and their teeming members to the APC.

While this appears to be a big gain for the APC, the defections may not entirely be good for Nigeria as a country. If anything, the sudden defections show that most Nigerian politicians are opportunists that lack character and priciples and are only in politics for their selfish gains. Being in an opposition party is not a death sentence. In fact, most governments across the world are kept on their toes by the constructive criticisms of opposition parties. Examples are in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The APC was only able to come into power because of the alternative ideology and policies it presented to Nigerians.

If anything, being in the opposition, should propel a party to do more in the few areas or states it controls. The reason the south-west region has been able to progress despite being in the opposition was because the leaders had to work harder to earn the trust and confidence of the electorate. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo launched his free education programme and other welfare programmes. The  Odua Investment Company which was responsible for the industrialisation of the region was an idea of an opposition leader in the 60s. Being in opposition can indeed be a blessing, because the focus is usually on performance. This was witnessed in Lagos during the Tinubu and Fashola epochs. The same pattern of performance was replicated in all the states controlled by the APC.

When the Obasanjo-led PDP government withheld the allocations due to Lagos under Tinubu, it only added to Obasanjo’s frustration as the people stood solidly behind the government. The Tinubu administration was then forced to become more creative in its internal revenue generation drive. Today, Lagos State generates monthly internal revenue of over N30b as a result.

On the contrary, Ogun State witnessed the least form of growth and economic development during the eight-year administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel under PDP. The state was not only part of the ruling government at the centre, the President was from there, and yet the state in real terms, regressed during that period. The story was the same in the entire southwest except Lagos after Obasanjo fulfilled his promise to “capture” the region in 2003. Things have since turned full circle positively in the southwest states now controlled by the APC.

When states are aligned with the ruling party at the centre it often leads to complacency and a false sense of security. In addition, the political hucksters and prostitutes that bestride the Nigerian political landscape would be falling over themselves scrambling for the federal government largesse, with little or no attention paid to economic development.

It is dangerous to allow Nigeria slide into a one party state. The new APC government must be kept on its toes to fulfil all the promises it has made to Nigerians. As the party had successfully put the PDP government in check for several years, a new opposition party possibly spearheaded by the PDP should now assume that role.  A virile opposition party is a sine qua non for any government in power to be kept on its toes at all  times.