NDC: Strongmen take over ownership of political  parties

…as APC disorganize existing parties,  leaving opposition leaders scampering for viable platform 

There are  strong indications, that  Nigeria’s  political landscape  is now  turning to the colonial, and independence eras,  when powerful men, communities  and ethnic  nationalities, controlled their political parties, according to the dictates of their  environments, needs and ethnics considerations.

The recent formations of the new political parties  especially,  the African Democratic  Congress  (ADC) and the just registered two political parties,  Nigeria Democratic  Congress (NDC,) which  the former Bayelsa State governor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, just joined,  where he intend to be the Lord, and the Democratic  Leadership Alliance (NDLA), have shown that  with time,  winning elections in a broad based  political  parties,  with national  outlooks, may not count anymore.

Nigeria is gradually moving backwards to the beginning of democratic  process and procedures, when elections are  won, not only through the platform of a particular  party, but through  personalities.

That is why some people are now  still clamouring, for  Nigeria, to adopt independent  candidacy in our constitution and the electoral  Act, as it was the practice  in the first Republic, when people won elections  as independent  candidates based on their personalities  in their  localities.

Retreat  of National Parties

The Independent candidacy could have neutralized  the dominance and excesses of the National parties, which Nigerians are either through crook or foul means, are compelled  to join had failed several times in the National Assembly  in recent  times, due to selfishness and ability of the majority to dominate others  by the powerful  people and the  money bags in them.

Those, who controls Nigeria’s  present day politics in the name of national parties, are money bags and that is why they no longer  believe  in ideology or party  supremacy.

The only period when their backs would have been broken, was during the   Presidency of  the late  Dr. Umaru Yar’Adua,  when he set up the Electoral Reform Committee in 2007,  led by Justice Muhammed Uwais, who  was charged with the goal of identifying solutions for Nigeria’s history of electoral crisis.

When the panel eventually released its report, it  recommended the need  for   independent candidates in “all future elections”.

Also before  then, a similar commission, the National Political Reform Conference, inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 also proposed independent candidates for those popular in their respective  areas, who could contest elections independently,  as councillors, local government chairmen,  the state  Assemblies  and the National Assembly.

The two bodies,  also believed  that this  would curb the activities of money bags, who may want to use their influence  over  persons,  love and popular amongst their people, but do not have money to induce the people, who  would have  naturally and genuinely wanted to vote for them.

The proponents further argued that such concept is an important universal democratic identity, which  further promotes freedom and broad participation.

Even  former military head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar, strongly believed  that  Nigeria needs to include the clause of Independent  candidacy  in the constitution.

According to him, “watching our political evolution and my observation of what obtains elsewhere, convinced me that we need independent candidates for all political positions.”

Failed Reform

To Justice Uwais, the  panel consulted widely, including papers from experts in Britain and America. “Those comments are not unexpected,  given Nigeria’s penchant for emulating any scheme with U.S colorations and the panel pointed out that  independent party concept was good for Nigeria in view  of many new laws being  introduced  to the politics of Nigeria, which on many occasions, always prevent  credible and  those who wants to genuinely  swerve their people  from contesting.

What is a major concern  now in Nigeria, is that those who could have gone solo to contest elections, despite the fact that we had political parties back then as we had it in 1923, 1959,and 1966,  are now ganging up, with a National political parties, which are not doing  any good for the progress and development  of Democracy in Nigeria.

Despite the fact that  Nigeria  is  currently operating multiparty  system, the ways Nigerian politicians especially, those bigwigs, always  flock to the party in power,  indicates that they are  doing it for their selfish interests, and not primarily or majorly  to serve the people.

Even when  you look at the political scenarios, over the years,  people elected to serve under a particular  party, would abandon that party, when they realised  that it may not be viable  to win the tickets of that  party, they would  eventually move to  a lesser popular ones, to finance them  and  become lords,  just to fulfill their aspirations.

The Strong man Politics

Such is the present case of of the governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who has now left the troubled  Peoples Democratic  Party (PDP), for the Accord Party,  for his second term ambition.

Those known to have done the same in the past to become lords in lesser political  parties are, Oba Rashidi Adewolu  Ladoja, the present Olubadan of Ibadan, who when he was deprived  of collecting the ticket of the PDP in Oyo State,  moved to the Accord party, to contest then.

Though he did not win the governorship  election, he was able to garner majority in the State House of Assembly and won many seats at the National Assembly, which gave him the  audacity to dictate  the pace  politically in Oyo State as the then Governor, late Senator  Abiola Ajimobi,  had no choice, but to bow to him, because  his party controlled the house.

The same with the present Minister  of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who left the APC for the same Accord party and became a lord   during the 2023 elections.

One should not also forget the situation  in 2023 Labour Party  presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi,  who left the  PDP  for the Labour Party, where he was lord and made waves in that election, which he almost won.

People like Omoyele Sowore too, is a lord and leader in his political party of the African Action Congress (AAC), which he formed since 2015 and he is still calling the shots there,  despite the fact that his party never won a single seat in all the elections,  it has participated  in since formation, but he has been using the party to leverage on his popularity, activism, and criticisms  of any government in power at the Federal level. His party has even now become a means of advocacy  for the less privileged  and the down trodden.

There are so many instances of the same scenarios, across the country and that is why some political analysts are saying  that there should be room for regional parties to strive.

It was argued that but for the quest for the rush to belong to a National Party, especially,  the ones in government, APGA by now should have been a foremost party in the South Eastern region, if the politicians there had allowed it to stay and stay patiently with it as a platform for national politics. Action Congress of Nigeria at a point had only Lagos State before it joined the merger of national party

Failure of Igbo, APGA

At the time the party was formed by the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, it was solid in the East, but rather than allow it to be a dominant  and formidable political party in this current political dispensation,  which  started in 1999, greed and the quest to be at the mainstream,  killed that initiative.

Former Abia state governor, senator Orji Uzor Kalu, in 2007 after a falling out with the PDP under which he ruled for two term over succession, he formed the Progressive People Party, PPP and won two states, Abia and Imo. But rather than consolidate on it, he decamped back to PDP and lost a golden opportunity.

The same happened to the CPC of late President Muhammadu Buhari, before the merger won governor of Nasarawa with several assembly members at the National Assembly the AC, later the ACN in the South West, before they all fused  into one, to form the  APC.

It was also  argued that what is happening  in Kano State, where the NNPP led by Engineer Rabiu Kwankanso as the leader and in control, with  the Governor who he  installed now in APC, is a  pointer to the fact that the governor no longer wants to be under the control of a leader,  but to be a lord on his own and  to become the leader of the APC in Kano State, based on the constitution of the party.

Multiparty Truly Indeed

Some of those who reacted to the formation of new political parties in Nigeria  believed  that  multiparty system is the best for democracy but frowned  at the ways those  who constitute the leadership of the parties are parading themselves,  as demi-gods, wanting to undermine the party at the centre, which was not what was experienced in the first and second Republics, when parties that lost elections would wait for the next election to ensure either through self or coalition to win the  next election.

They pointed out that rather than engaging in campaigns  of calumny, they should engage in constructive criticisms to help the government in power and the country.  They as well, always used that opportunity  to sell themselves to the electorate  for the next election.

A prominent legal luminary, Chief Niyi Akintola, during an interview  with  Business Hallmark,  posited that there was nothing wrong with parties springing up any where even in a community, but must be formed in a way to foster unity, and for the development  of democracy and Nigeria at large.

He also referred  to the period of  the Action Group  AG, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the NCNC, led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello of the NPC, when they based what they do on ideology and engaged in constructive  activities to help the country.

He said that despite the fact that their political parties are  regional based, they did not see themselves  as lords but as leaders  who were there to serve their people.

He said  party supremacy  was key in their time, as no individual  was  bigger than the party,  unlike now  when money dictates  who controls the parties.

In his own comment,  a governorship  aspirant, with the APC in Oyo State, Prince Asatola Asanike,  said it is now time to bring back party supremacy in the affairs of political parties, if democracy must move forward in Nigeria.  He also frowned at the ways political office holders  see themselves  as lords above others,  in their respective  political parties.

It will be recalled that the first election in Nigeria in 1923 involved political parties of many ethnic Nationalities