By m.c. ugoji 08033479284
Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, remember him?
He was the proponent of the now famous political retrain ‘politics without bitterness’ I will attempt a brief historical recall of the origin of this political jargon. In the build up to the 1979 general elections, the man Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim was introduced into the Nigerian Politics. He was a money bag from the North without much political history. His entry then was very loud as he was a man with immense financial capacity. He formed and solely financed the then Nigerian Peoples Party – NPP. Back then, the great Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik had self retired from active politics and was not counted among the political heavy weights in the then three leading political parties: National Party of Nigerian, NPN, United Party of Nigeria, UPN and the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP. Believing that Zik’s early retirement from Politics would deny Nigeria his leadership experience, Alhaji Ibrahim approached zik and persuaded him to return to full time partisan Politics. Zik acquiesced, reentered politics and joined Ibrahim’s party, the NPP. Before then, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim had made himself the Chairman of his party and also wanted to be the party’s presidential candidate. Before one could say jack Robinson, Zik outwitted Ibrahim and took over his Party from him. The man shrugged, lifted some more bags of his ready money and formed another party, the Great Nigerian Peoples Party, GNPP. He left his first Party, the NPP, “The materialization of his inventive genius (for those who read James Ene Henshaw’s This is our chance) for Zik, the rest is history.
Following Zik’s take over of his first party, the press approached him for his feeling towards Zik and his betrayal, the man again shrugged and said that he bore no grudge towards Zik and that he believed in politics without bitterness. That was the historic birth of that phrase. Though Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim did not make much political impact and gain then, that political phrase resonates and so does his name.
Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim is a great Nigerian, yes he is till alive and very much with us, his person now is the phrase ‘politics without bitterness’. I, also want to live forever, at least in the psyche of our people and the generations yet unborn. This is why I must do a Waziri by welcoming on board the new kid on the block, the All Progressive Congress, APC. To APC, I most sincerely say, “welcome into the Nigerian Politician firmament, may your days be long”. The registration of APC history will show, as one of the best things in our recent political history, it will usher in a new vista into our Politics as we play it today, mark my word. I will elucidate on this later in this very discourse, but first, let me throw a salvo. Right Off the Bit, People Are Calling the newly registered APC a Moslem party and that it is anti-Christians and anti-lgbos. Such people are wrong! They are also right. It may be an oxymoron but I will attempt to explain my paradoxical statement. Though APC may appear to be a Muslim party due to its leadership, structure and perceived strong hold it however, strikes me as mere coincidence. There is no arguing the fact that the main opposition parties to the ruling PDP were the then ACN, ANPP and CPC. A merger of these three former parties to form APC can not be situated in the religion of her various leaders nor in their areas of comparative strength, to do so is mischief. Conversely, what truly labels the party sectional is in its deliberate actions. The respective leaders from the former CPC and ACN, Alhaji Muhamadu Buhari and Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu deliberately shoved aside Dr. Ogbonaya Onu of ANPP. This deliberate act is what has set tongues wagging and minds agitated. Nigerians are yet to be told what qualifies Buhari and Tinubu to flex muscles in the Newly formed APC and why Onu was shoved aside, is it because Dr. Ogbonaya Onu is a Christian or is it because he is an Igbo man? Again, why was the former Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa not carried along? Is it because….?
These questions and more are some of the things that agitate ones mind and they are veritably self laid land mines.
On the up side, no one can argue against the collective strength of the newly registered party. The strength of character of those piloting their affairs is also something no one can wish away. Let us firstly look at Alhaji Buhari: Buhari and whatever Party he finds himself in had always given PDP’s candidates a run for their money His showings in his last three outings against an incumbent Obasanjo, against Ya’Adua and against a somewhat incumbent Jonathan was no child’s play. His grip on his followers, the love the North shows him, is exemplary, and he is not even rich, cannot in our local lexicon, ‘pay his Political bills’. His strength of character is exemplified by the fact that he is not rich in the face of the crunching corruption in our land. He is one man that can be called a saint amongst past and present leaders. Check his portfolio; former Minister of Petroleum, former head of State and former Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Found; yet he lives in a rented house in Abuja. Such a formidable leader should be considered a threat to the ruling party any day. But he is rigid and some accuse him of being a religious fanatic. A less rigid Buhari without the toga of a religious fanatic will be a dream for Nigeria any day. But perhaps, his rigid nature is what, makes him shun the temptation of corruption and its arduous lucre. As for his alleged religious fanatism, one must realize that the word fanatism merely suggests over enthusiasm and is not necessarily negative except one has a negative fanatical tendency, I hope he does not. As for Tinubu, the man is simply a quite and soundless volcano. He may not look impressionable, may lack colour with his dull looks, but what lucks behind that facade is simply a quite storm.
Advantage wise, following the dexterity of the leading members of APC, is the fact that they have commanding control of their respective areas of comparative strength. In the Yoruba West, it would be a modern day miracle if the PDP can dislodge APC’s influence in the area, Ditto the core North. How do you out fox a combined effort of the former CPC and ANPP. In a free and fair election in future, I see APC holding staunchly to the Yoruba West and core North, the PDP very grounded in the South South and South East. There will be two deciding factors in 2015 as I see it. Firstly, who carries the middle belt and secondly, the percentage advantage of those controlling their areas. That is to say, it is not only enough that both the PDP and the APC carries their areas of comparative strength, what will determine their final faith is the level of their winnings. A narrow win in ones area will be akin to a loss. Whichever way the wind will blow come 2015, Nigeria will be the ultimate winner because a truly two National Parties must have evolved. This leads to one crucial point. INEC and the National Assembly must find a way of making it impossible for one to jump ship into which ever party wins come 2015. should the loosing party abandon their party for the winning one as have been our shameless practice over time, we will return to square one, the State of inertia and that would really be a shame. Where by some miracle, the losing party stays together to consolidate, build and expand their areas, a true two party system will then be ushered in and that would count as a day of reckoning. There is no gain saying or stressing the fact that a two party system is what we require in Nigeria. We tasted it with Babangida’s a little to the left and a little to the right’ The SDP and NRC era proved to be the most vibrant of our political periods. That was the magic that produced what today is acclaimed to be the best election in our nations history. It was no magic, only what a two party system portents, what we saw then was merely a tip of the iceberg. Bounteous political and democratic gains await us should we struggle ourselves into a two party system. Even a Muslim/Muslim ticket did not matter to Nigerians then.
As to what APC portents to Imo PDP; not to loose sleep, the part’s mistakes will ruin its fortunes in the State. The mistakes the APC made at the national level crescended and ripped into Imo State. In Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa was slighted. It actually started from the national level where neither he nor his people was carried along in the party’s structure. In Imo State, feelers is that the governor of the State Chief Rochas Okorocha has highjack the party, he has ran with it. Today, Udenwa is in Limbo and the PDP has moved in for the kill. Recently, a high powered delegate lead by Chief I.D. Nwoga was said to have paid him a visit at his Amaifeke Country home, Ostensively to ask him to come back to PDP and he may. However, an Udenwa in APC will be better for PDP that an Udenwa in PDP. How do I mean, though an Udenwa in PDP will surely increase the electoral fortunes of the PDP but with Udenwa and his people in APC, given Rochas’ penchant for absolute control, the APC will be thrown into such turmoil that the PDP’s sail to victory will be sweat less. Mark my word. Anyway, lets watch and see.
On zoning, one must not fail to commend the leaders of Okigwe zone who in their number have been showing their support for Owerri zone. The other day, the erudite Professor Obioma Iheduru, a former SA to Governor Ikedi Ohakim threw his considerable weight behind Owerri zone Saying “we should give Owerri zone their turn”. Ikeduru, Owerri zone thanks you. See how beautiful it is when our collective ship sails in one straight direction unencumbered.
As APC gets set to meet PDP in the field come 2015, PDP members must not kid themselves that they are facing a new born baby, be warned, APC was born with fangs bared.
