The essence of this piece is to offer my tuppence on a topic that continues to be debated. In the event that Nigeria is said to have two dominant parties, the ruling PDP and the opposition APC, it only makes sense to presuppose that the two entities will essentially be different. Different in the sense that even in a situation where you have two parties with exact same ideology, they cannot be said to be the same which is why they have different identities to start with. Or perhaps would it be correct to say that the Anglican church is the same as the Catholic church because the membership of both is composed essentially of christians, some good some bad? In the event that the PDP has found itself in a reputational dirtpit, it finds it convenient to proclaim that the APC is no different from it and often the fact that many members of APC are former (and perhaps future) members of PDP is cited as proof.
Nuhu Ribadu, erstwhile APC chieftain and now PDP governorship wannabe, in the resulting confusion of his suicide plunge into character immolation and reputational lights out, defended his obviously opportunistic defection on the grounds that the two parties are the same. So what was the motivation if he believed this to be true? Anyway this piece is not about Nuhu Ribadu.
I argued in a piece many years ago, that Nigerians do not really believe that political leadership impacts with any meaningfulness on their well being. This attitude manifests in the general lack of the deserved seriousness attended to the choice process in our democracy. It would appear that the generality of Nigerians after several years of disappointment have developed the attitude that dependence on government is futile and so place their wellbeing on overcoming misgovernance and being self sufficient or perhaps we can say that Nigerians prefer to 'governmentproof' their lives. This is however a very unhelpful attitude and is responsible for successive governments at all levels not living up to their responsibilities and taking the people for granted, if not for a ride. Governments exist to put order in our collective wellbeing and provide the requisite environment and infrastructure for us to enjoy a meaningul existence generally. Allowing governments to get away with not satisfying our basic needs is tantamount to throwing away our sovereign rights. We throw away our sovereign rights when we do not care sufficiently about who or which party manages our affairs. We do not care about who or which party manages our affairs when we fall for 'they are all the same' propaganda. So if 'they are all the same' and we are getting rubbish, can we not use our sovereign rights as 'the people' through our votes to send a clear message that whether you are all the same or not, these are the kind of people or parties that we need?
Nigerians are taking this 'I dont care' attitude to a ridiculous and suicidal level and it is not restricted to political governance. Using the church as an example, the fact that an owner/pastor is exposed to be in breach of his pastoral vows and setting a bad example by engaging in sinful conduct, will not necessarily result in a depletion in the numbers of the worshippers in that church. If you ask any of the worshippers why they still attend a church where the pastor is the lead sinner, instead of moving to a different church, typical responses will be 'who is perfect? 'Are they not all human beings? 'will I change my church everytime a pastor is exposed as a fake'? This attitufde of condonation is counter-productive and in my view the approach should rather be geared towards constructive reprimand. Leaving for another church will send an unmistakable message not only to the offending pastor but to all others that certain acts will not be tolerated. The pastor who is conscious of your reason for defecting to a new church, will be kept on his toes because of the exhibited 'no time for nonsense' posture.
On the contrary, if you stay put, it is likely that things will only get worse given that human beings typically respond to only coercion by whatever form. And also we all typically will keep pushing our luck until we are stopped. Young people starting out in the art of seducing the opposite sex, will typically if on a stroll, hold the waist. If there is no resistance, the hand is bound to go lower! That is just the way we are! The whole church system is also affected by this attitude because there is no stricture for bad behavior, so general malaise envelopes the church and standards fall to the detriment of the generality. In a nutshell by moving over to another church you clearly lay down your standards. Even the church you are leaving will endeavor to lure you back but only by striving to meet your standards – so you create a win win situation for the membership of the church community.
We are not going to have any party with only saints, never! Given the fact that the parties have a profound bearing on our well being it is left to us to shape them. If a party disappoints it must be rejected for another so as to engender positive competition for our support. Let me discuss the PDP and APC briefly and in conclusion. Mr Tom Ikimi has perhaps unwittingly drawn a major difference between both parties. In his own confused diatribe on his reasons for re-defecting back to the PDP, he said he was denied the APC chairmanship because he, during the Abacha years was a prominent supporter of that brutal military dictatorship as opposed to a majority of the APC leadership who were part of the democratic coalition (NADECO) against the dictatorship. For me personally the Abacha years were the most soul wrenching of my life and the pervading air of helplessness will forever remain in me. I was thoroughly disgusted by the actions and pronouncements of the regime collaborators and heartened by my brave countrymen who stood with me at that time. Thank God we overcame. Thank God for memory because some of us will never forget. Thank God many of the operators on both sides are still active today and thank God Tom Ikimi has pointed out that they are indeed in two separate parties. Thank God, Tom Ikimi has declared that he is going back 'home'. Thank God that other notable Abacha supporters have remained at 'home' and those like Sheriff who wandered into APC have opened their eyes and redirected their steps towards 'home'. Thank God indeed because until they left, I for one would not have been able in good conscience to support a party with these elements. Thank God that in the week after the Ebola outbreak, APC governors of the South West convened a meeting to rub minds and plan for containing the disease. The same day PDP governors and elders from the South South were also meeting - to declare their support for President Jonathan's 2015 presidential bid. Thank God I know that both tendencies are not the same and nobody's confusion will shut my eyes and ears from the reality. Finally I thank God for the commonsense to know that in a contest between two parties, even if both score below the pass mark I will not leave the party with 30% and support the one with 20% simply because both are failures and hence 'the same'. That will make me the same as a man who must climb into one of two sinking ships. One ship has sunk lower than the other and the man decides that since they are both going to sink anyway he may as well climb into the one that will sink first. I will rather climb unto the one that that has more showing form because it has a better chance of survival. Moreso if it is evident which crew is showing better focus to salvaging the sinking vessel. Thank God that Nigeria my country will not sink!
Edo Ukpong
Legal Practitioner
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