PDP, that party that flatters itself as the biggest party in Africa is strapped to the death bed. It is hit with a serious ailment. It is ravaged by schism and implosion from within to the extent that the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things have fallen apart for the party and mere anarchy and internal conflagration eats deep into the sinews of the party. For a start, the PDP had been adept in managing the greed of the Nigerian politician. Not that the art itself is rocket science but with huge resources to play with, with no real commitment to delivering the much abused democratic dividends, the PDP had reached to the elephantine greed that fires Nigerian politics and had leveraged on such fantastic power containment template to meld the many fractures and tempests that have wracked the party since formation. To the extent that the leaders of the party have come to believe that theirs is an impregnable forte, there has been a dangerous relegation of governance to meet the insatiable needs and interests of party chieftains, fixers, space fillers and hangers on. Nigeria has been the worst for the brand of politics PDP plays and every sector in the country is reeking from such diversion of resources to satiate the acerbic whims and caprices in the PDP.
From all possible indices, the umbrella which had rather excelled in shielding Nigeria from positive impacts of democracy is torn into shreds. The bevy of unethical and immoral Nigerians that have always converged under that rickety umbrella are in a free fight. PDP is set on an irreversible path of self destruction. It is presently being assailed by pangs of self immolation and unlike before, it is not blaming the opposition for its sordid fate. Selfishness and egotistic considerations are the factors that rule their present fight, as well as the legions of internal wars the party had been passing through since inception. Aiming to get the juicier chunk of the very pie that PDP had been cornering and employing as tool for mass pauperization remains the firing pin of the present battles the PDP is enmeshed in. The dirty and illicit interests of individual members, cabals and groups within the PDP had been the recurrent issue in the many wars the PDP had been fighting as well as the do and die manner with which it approaches the quest for power in Nigeria. Nigerians have been praying for the demise of this evil behemoth and from all indications, God has hearkened to their prayers this time around.
In the past, doomsday prophecies about PDP’s predictable implosion have not really materialized. The reason is not for want of sufficient grounds to rest a possible disintegration of the party but that the party had always been handy in handing out illicit entrapment to keep its internal discontents in check. This has negatively affected governance delivery as critical resources that would have bettered the worsening lots of Nigerians were deployed to settle the grumbling fat nabobs in PDP. It did not take any effort to notice the huge gash such misapplication of resources inflicted on the entire nation as the nation’s fate worsened while that of PDP members and chieftains blossomed. Our roads deteriorated as death traps, our schools got interred in rot, our hospitals became sprawling mortuaries, complete darkness spread over the land, youth unemployment become so dire that PhD holders scrambled for driver’s jobs, insecurity and dread chased all Nigerians to fortified bunkers and to their graves, corruption and vice triumphed. Life became one smooth enterprise in savagery, brutishness and misery.
PDP had been immodest in flattering itself as the biggest party in Africa but it knows that there is no love lost between it and majority of Nigerians. It knows very well that if Nigerians were allowed to vote in a free and fair election, it would have long become history. Much of its strength is artificial, derived from sexing up electoral results procured with awful deployment of brute tactics and engaging in deadly gerrymandering to corner every electoral victory in sight. It knows that Nigerians hate it with a passion yet it will not shy from boasting at every given occasion that it is a destination of choice for grudging Nigerians. Curiously, a party that had been in power for fourteen uninterrupted years had been finding it difficult articulating the sparkling credentials it had wrought with power because there is no real achievement and success story to tell. The PDP had been shy of predicating its insatiable quest for newer power on its performance in power. Rather, it had been a mish mash of bravura, propaganda and attempts to intimidate the people with its so called strength.
So, it was just natural that the present tempest ravaging the PDP will happen. It was just natural that one day, the same medications of greed and intimidation with which the PDP had been guarding its flanks will fail and when this happens, the disparate tendencies that converged in the party as a nest for meeting their base desires will go their different ways. It is just natural that the many contradictions and indecent flaps in PDP will seek out the party and rip it to the seams so as to free Nigerians from its vice grip. That is what is happening at present as the party and its members battle with their lives to contain the present wave of fictionalization, insurrection and widespread schism. It is only that the traditional palliatives are not working now and a splinter faction has divided the battle within the PDP such that sides have been taken and the prologue for a long and enervating internal war is being written now.
Nigerians have prayed and longed for this moment when its main troubler will come to harm. The brewing crisis in the PDP is good and healthy for Nigeria, for Nigerians and for the concept of democracy which had suffered great devaluation in the hands of the PDP for the past fourteen years. In the ensuing battle within the PDP lies the last hope for the fading concept of democracy in Nigeria. Truth is that democracy had been taken to ridiculous low since 1999 and it is just hanging by the whiskers. In the gathering storm in PDP lies the hope for the recovery of the huge mileage the locusts have devoured from our national life these past fourteen years. In the sure-footed balkanization of the PDP that is trending now lies the hope that Nigerians can pull off something from this democracy that had been so banally abused.
So let no one, ruled by the greater interest of the Nigerian nation, pray for the survival of the PDP. I know that the buccaneers and shibboleths that have milked Nigeria for the past fourteen years through the PDP are dreading the fate that befalls them should their house of commotion crumble, as it is going at present. But Nigerians will be well rewarded should this umbrella which had assured Nigeria of continued decay, rot and degradation come to ruins soon and very soon. Nigerians will have its elections freed from the crucible it had been sentenced to these past fifteen years if the PDP dies. The progressive decay and rot that had hit our infrastructures will be arrested if PDP dies. The litany of woes and contradictions that have visited our country with the PDP governance will reverse if PDP dies. So let no one shed any tears for the PDP. It has lived its full life. It had exhausted its bests for the country in fourteen years of woeful and disastrous leadership. Nigeria does not need it again so it has to go up in smokes for Nigeria to start the process of recovery. Let PDP die for Nigeria to make any meaningful progressive stride!
Peter Claver Oparah
Ikeja, Lagos
Saharareporters
From all possible indices, the umbrella which had rather excelled in shielding Nigeria from positive impacts of democracy is torn into shreds. The bevy of unethical and immoral Nigerians that have always converged under that rickety umbrella are in a free fight. PDP is set on an irreversible path of self destruction. It is presently being assailed by pangs of self immolation and unlike before, it is not blaming the opposition for its sordid fate. Selfishness and egotistic considerations are the factors that rule their present fight, as well as the legions of internal wars the party had been passing through since inception. Aiming to get the juicier chunk of the very pie that PDP had been cornering and employing as tool for mass pauperization remains the firing pin of the present battles the PDP is enmeshed in. The dirty and illicit interests of individual members, cabals and groups within the PDP had been the recurrent issue in the many wars the PDP had been fighting as well as the do and die manner with which it approaches the quest for power in Nigeria. Nigerians have been praying for the demise of this evil behemoth and from all indications, God has hearkened to their prayers this time around.
In the past, doomsday prophecies about PDP’s predictable implosion have not really materialized. The reason is not for want of sufficient grounds to rest a possible disintegration of the party but that the party had always been handy in handing out illicit entrapment to keep its internal discontents in check. This has negatively affected governance delivery as critical resources that would have bettered the worsening lots of Nigerians were deployed to settle the grumbling fat nabobs in PDP. It did not take any effort to notice the huge gash such misapplication of resources inflicted on the entire nation as the nation’s fate worsened while that of PDP members and chieftains blossomed. Our roads deteriorated as death traps, our schools got interred in rot, our hospitals became sprawling mortuaries, complete darkness spread over the land, youth unemployment become so dire that PhD holders scrambled for driver’s jobs, insecurity and dread chased all Nigerians to fortified bunkers and to their graves, corruption and vice triumphed. Life became one smooth enterprise in savagery, brutishness and misery.
PDP had been immodest in flattering itself as the biggest party in Africa but it knows that there is no love lost between it and majority of Nigerians. It knows very well that if Nigerians were allowed to vote in a free and fair election, it would have long become history. Much of its strength is artificial, derived from sexing up electoral results procured with awful deployment of brute tactics and engaging in deadly gerrymandering to corner every electoral victory in sight. It knows that Nigerians hate it with a passion yet it will not shy from boasting at every given occasion that it is a destination of choice for grudging Nigerians. Curiously, a party that had been in power for fourteen uninterrupted years had been finding it difficult articulating the sparkling credentials it had wrought with power because there is no real achievement and success story to tell. The PDP had been shy of predicating its insatiable quest for newer power on its performance in power. Rather, it had been a mish mash of bravura, propaganda and attempts to intimidate the people with its so called strength.
So, it was just natural that the present tempest ravaging the PDP will happen. It was just natural that one day, the same medications of greed and intimidation with which the PDP had been guarding its flanks will fail and when this happens, the disparate tendencies that converged in the party as a nest for meeting their base desires will go their different ways. It is just natural that the many contradictions and indecent flaps in PDP will seek out the party and rip it to the seams so as to free Nigerians from its vice grip. That is what is happening at present as the party and its members battle with their lives to contain the present wave of fictionalization, insurrection and widespread schism. It is only that the traditional palliatives are not working now and a splinter faction has divided the battle within the PDP such that sides have been taken and the prologue for a long and enervating internal war is being written now.
Nigerians have prayed and longed for this moment when its main troubler will come to harm. The brewing crisis in the PDP is good and healthy for Nigeria, for Nigerians and for the concept of democracy which had suffered great devaluation in the hands of the PDP for the past fourteen years. In the ensuing battle within the PDP lies the last hope for the fading concept of democracy in Nigeria. Truth is that democracy had been taken to ridiculous low since 1999 and it is just hanging by the whiskers. In the gathering storm in PDP lies the hope for the recovery of the huge mileage the locusts have devoured from our national life these past fourteen years. In the sure-footed balkanization of the PDP that is trending now lies the hope that Nigerians can pull off something from this democracy that had been so banally abused.
So let no one, ruled by the greater interest of the Nigerian nation, pray for the survival of the PDP. I know that the buccaneers and shibboleths that have milked Nigeria for the past fourteen years through the PDP are dreading the fate that befalls them should their house of commotion crumble, as it is going at present. But Nigerians will be well rewarded should this umbrella which had assured Nigeria of continued decay, rot and degradation come to ruins soon and very soon. Nigerians will have its elections freed from the crucible it had been sentenced to these past fifteen years if the PDP dies. The progressive decay and rot that had hit our infrastructures will be arrested if PDP dies. The litany of woes and contradictions that have visited our country with the PDP governance will reverse if PDP dies. So let no one shed any tears for the PDP. It has lived its full life. It had exhausted its bests for the country in fourteen years of woeful and disastrous leadership. Nigeria does not need it again so it has to go up in smokes for Nigeria to start the process of recovery. Let PDP die for Nigeria to make any meaningful progressive stride!
Peter Claver Oparah
Ikeja, Lagos
Saharareporters
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