Carpetbaggers Of Nigerian Politics, By Sunny Ikhioya

 

They could not wait for the elections to be over. They could not wait for the incoming government to be settled and analyze what they have to offer the people, and they could not wait for a brief period to savour the aura of the projected change people have longed for.

 

They are the carpetbaggers of Nigerian politics, the ones jumping ship from one party to the other at this period; nothing matters to them but their selfish and pecuniary interest.

 

They are the ones who are in any government in power, as long as it favours them and their interest. They do not stand for anything and have polluted our politics.

 

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They have fouled the air of our present mood, the real victory of our democracy is about to be undermined and we must watch them very closely. They are politicians in wolves clothing, the undertakers, they help to bury you and move on. It is normal with them to flow with any government in power, such are the type those in control of the APC party presently should be wary of, otherwise, it will be PDP all over again.

 

There is no one line solution to governance and parties are formed according to lines of thinking, what people call ideology. If your thinking is not in line with the people around you, you move on to identify with those of like minds. It is not about power, it is not about money, it is about belief in a line of thought that will solve societal problems. Goodluck Jonathan through Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has tried the Bretton Woods system in Nigeria and have not been successful at implementing their programmes.

 

The APC team have said that it is the wrong approach, that they have a better idea. People who believed in Ngozi Iweala have queued up for some time now behind her, claiming that she is the best thing to happen to Nigeria at the economic front. The APC party has been consistent that she is not the solution to our economic problem.

 

They have remained in the opposition and have been expressing their opinion under the broom forum. I did not notice that any of them left to join the PDP government and that is how politics should be played. Now, the beat has not even started at the APC end and they are all rushing there to take positions, very shameful indeed.

 

After elections, in a normal democracy, everybody stops the bragging and the talking, work begins. There is nothing that we did in Nigeria during the elections that is new; bullying, name calling, threats, propaganda, etc. In the last United states of America presidential election, some opposition members went to the extent of calling Barak Obama a terrorist, a member of the Tea party did that.

 

So, nobody should be ashamed of the role he or she played in the course of the elections, it was all part of the game that brings the excitement and attracts the electorates’s attention. All that matters is that, the whole exercise ended peacefully and to the benefit of our democracy. It is time to work.

 

A party must stand for something. It is clear that the majority of people in the PDP are just there for themselves. A window of opportunity has now opened for the PDP to re-examine itself.

 

The situation has created an avenue for the real carpetbaggers to exit the party. It is a time to start afresh, right from the ward level, they should begin by conducting fresh elections into party positions, in very clear and democratic manner, no imposition, no god fatherism. Taking a cue from there, they should extend it to the regional level and then to the national, that is how true democracy is practiced.

 

They have been in government for sixteen long years. We have seen their performance, another party is there now, let us see how they, too, will perform.

 

The nation needs a very strong opposition party. The officials of the PDP should not allow the party to go into oblivion, else, we risk the situation of a civilian dictatorship, where the ruling party can do whatever it likes without any challenges, like it was in the old PDP. Therefore, the survival of the PDP as a strong opposition party to the APC is very essential to our democracy and people must not take this for granted.

 

If the Tinubu’s, Buhari’s, Ogboru’s and the rest have not stood firm in the opposition, I wonder if we will witness what we have today.

 

I must stress that the APC must be careful of such carpetbaggers, they contributed to the failure of the PDP and they are all, presently, flowing in the direction of the APC. To get to the top is easy, but remaining there, at the top, is the true test of resilience and success. Managing the Nigerian nation is not a tea party; it requires a lot. It is therefore incumbent on all of us to allow Buhari and his team to concentrate on the task ahead; the challenges of the economy, power, security, infrastructure, ethnic and religious sentiments, etc.

 

The time for backslapping and celebrations are over, it is now time for Buhari and his team to go to work and I am wishing them good luck.

 

Mr. Sunny Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

 

Culled from Vanguard