The rumble in the People’s Democratic Party is timely and a welcome case of the chicks coming home to roost. It gives meaning to the biblical parable of those living by the sword dying by the sword. Beside the bogus claim that it is the largest party in Africa the other things the PDP is known for are crisis and violence. There is hardly any political crisis in the country since 1999 that does not have its root in the PDP. Instead of enriching the polity with democratic values, the party has been responsible for the culture of intolerance in the land. It is not difficult to know why it has to be so. Indeed in the fold of the PDP are all sorts of odious characters. The party has political fixers who but for the failure of the third term project would have passed for voodoo or supernatural politicians. There are those that the regular noise making Orji Uzor Kalu refers to as snipers, who specialize in hacking down perceived or real political opponents. The party has thugs who have elevated thuggery to an art and made crimes like armed robbery look and sound less offensive. The party has Godfathers who can whimsically remove Governors and foist on the people puppets who are by no way responsible to the people but to the Godfathers. From Anambra to Oyo state the story of the evils of PDP have been recounted over and over.
That the party reveled so long in the orgy of violence and yet was able to wax stronger and stronger is what has baffled political commentators. Many have wondered about the staying power of the PDP when it is structurally and institutionally prone to suicide. I am beginning to believe those who say that the wizard behind the party was President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Aso Rock cash. The fact that the fortunes of the party are dipping at the same time that Mr. President is losing his magical powers is indicative of his role in the hitherto invincibility of PDP. Like all matters concerning human beings there is always the downward side of events. The bubble is burst for the PDP and the party is over for the self acclaimed most populous party on the continent. Reality has set in and now is the time for us to see the politicians in those holding the reigns of the party. For the Anenihs time is now for them to tell the world what political stuff they are made of. The political road of the PDP needs urgent fixing. The sermons of the Jerry Ganas, the Olabode Georges and Iwanyanwus would not fix it. Agreed the so called breakaway faction do not expect Nigerians to take it serious but its members can cause a lot of distraction for the PDP.
It is true that those leaving the party at a time when it needs them most are just acting the old and regular script of Nigerian politics. Politicians have very sharp political binoculars. They can see storms well beyond the viewing length of the radars of the ship or the captain of their vessel. Most of them had rightly assessed that the game was up for the PDP and did not want to sink with it. They quickly jumped ship. Of course it is common knowledge that Nigerian politicians are bereft of principles and morals. Aware that their party has played itself out of the people’s favour they picked President Olusegun Obasanjo as their fall guy and are now making us believe that the only problem Nigerians had was Obasanjo and not the PDP. They would want us believe that the third term project was Obasanjo’s pet project. They are earnestly trying to convince Nigerians that they had coped with Mr. President and allowed him to hold sway for seven years but parted ways with him when he gambled with the idea of elongating his tenure. They would want us to also believe that as good patriots they could not allow Baba to stand on the way of democracy. But many of us know better. We know that what they are doing is nothing more than reinventing themselves for the new political dispensation.
For those who are less cautious I would seize this opportunity to sound a warning. It is the failure of Nigerians to see the chameleon in politicians that have enabled the same old politicians to continuously recycle themselves within the system. Some folks from the PDP are having the audacity to represent themselves in other guises because Nigerians have not asked themselves the fundamental question as to why the same old politicians are resurfacing at every turn of the political history of this country .I bet my last breath of life, no factional member of the PDP is less evil than those in the mainstream of the party. What the factional members are attempting to do is to put old wine in new wine skins. They cannot change because they are incapable of changing. They best of PDP is President Obasanjo and if the country is to move on the path growth and development then it must endeavour to move away entirely from the path of PDP and that is in any form that it will repackage itself.
This is why I find it very insulting that old warhorses from PDP are crying that they have been elbowed out of the party. Is the party not meant to be dynamic and progressive? Why should it be a crime for better and more able hands to take over from old and tiring hands? I am not the least impressed by the holier than thou attitude that most of the disgruntled politicians are putting up. We have their political diaries and I bet their records are woeful. I am calling on Nigerians to shine their eyes well for the rogues are out again with their old tricks. For emphasis I will will continue this discuss with the following conversation between a retiring commercial sex hawker (CSH) and her counselor at a counseling class:
Counselor: The first victory you have scored is the awareness that your chosen career is hazardous and that you can fare better in less risky and prestigious endeavours.
CSH: You are right. I have just realized that the life we live is nothing more that the display of the choices we make. If I were to start life all over again, I will either chose to be a politician or a pastor.
Counselor: Brilliant! Obviously you have known that there are noble and edifying ways of serving mankind and God.
CSH: No, it is not about serving mankind or God but about clever ways of getting paid better for screwing people.
How vulgar! But then, many truths about life come to us in this manner. The CSH is despised by the society that creates and patronizes her whereas the politician and the rogue pastor still get the acclaim of the very society they fleece. Ask the question concerning the stupendous riches of the modern day pastors or yesterday’s poor politician who has become extremely rich overnight and see if the answer would not give more sense to the view of the CSH. The pastor claims to be the servant and representative of God. He professes to have the power to reconcile mankind with God but his preoccupation is not about returning man to the path of righteousness and glory. Rather he is interested in what he gets from man to make life better for him and his household. That is why the most successful ones among them are among the richest class in the society. The politician would tell all the best stories concerning the management of the commonwealth for the good of the greatest number of the citizenry but his main concern is about what he can corner from the commonwealth. That is why it is not difficult to see that the most successful politicians are the richest guys in town.
Whereas we vilify the CSHs, we hold in high esteem the pastors and politicians who are in truth worse enemies.
