Posted by By STEVE NWOSU on
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has passed a damning verdict on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the ruling party is at the root of all the problems in the polity today.
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has passed a damning verdict on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the ruling party is at the root of all the problems in the polity today.
The former president who was responding to an exclusive questionnaire from Saturday Sun described the PDP as one that cannot sustain the nation's democracy if it continues in its practice of throwing due process to the winds in the name of seeking political relevance.
Babangida, himself a member of the PDP decried the absence of internal democracy within the party, describing the current situation as 'a virus that has to be confronted head-on if Nigerians must continue to enjoy politics of ideas, well grounded ideology and issue based campaigns all of which are the inherent ingredients of representative democracy." In an exclusive response to Saturday Sun, the former President observed that much of the problems of the country are direct consequences of the lack of discipline in the ruling party, absence of internal cohesion, prevalence of sharp practices, substitution of candidates. He even picked holes in the acclaimed grassroots appeal of the PDP. Excerpts:
On Justice Uwais and the Electoral reforms panel
I do not quarrel with the calibre of Nigerians that make up the Panel. In fact we cannot ask for a better panel of distinguished Nigerians than what Mr. President has put in place. What the Panel is empowered to do will make more meaning if they are able to come up with objective, honest and patriotic recommendations to address the obvious problems confronting our young democracy. What we tried to do during our time was to critically analyse and examine all our problems from independence through the eighties to know where we went wrong and what needed to be done. That was the spirit, or do you call it motivation, behind the setting up of the Political Bureau which at the end did a marvellous job that gave birth to the two-party system. Some Nigerians have almost forgotten that our regime conducted four credible elections using the recommendations of that Bureau. It is something to ponder about. This is my honest view.
His membership of PDP and what the party represents.
What the PDP requires at this very moment is complete overhaul or if you like, restructuring. We can play proper party democracy if the PDP realises the need to purge itself of the excesses that have undermined it and, through that process, bring back those genuine, committed, credible and patriotic Nigerians who founded the Party but were hounded out by no ordinary design of their own. As it is now, the PDP has no discipline, no orientation, there is no grassroots linkage, some kind of disconnect between the party and the people. This culture of substitution of candidates at all levels of elections undermined the level playing field which any electoral process should boast of. The kind of malpractices within the party has created political enmity, internal divisions, cleavages and bad blood among the members and leaders of the party. The political infrastructure are weak, people of proven integrity have been shown the way out. The way to recover the party from this self-imposed affliction is to seek genuine reconciliation of all aggrieved persons, irrespective of status, to properly reposition the party. As it stands today, the PDP is the problem of Nigeria.
There is need for attitudinal change, proper re-orientation and restructuring. There are many credible people out there who wish to return to the PDP fold but the present reality is not motivating them to do so. We have to continue to preach internal democracy so that we can enhance the process for credible elections. Imposition of candidates, discriminate substitution of candidates and the culture of impunity are some of the problems of the PDP and that has extended to the larger public. We would have been saved all the precious time that people take to seek legal redress if the right things were done the proper way.
Back to two-party system
If you ask my honest opinion, 50 political parties appear too unwieldy to manage if we are really talking about national integration. Given our experience and history, what we desire to see is a combination of factors that bring us closer as a united country. That was what informed our two-party system of the 90s. When we took that decision, some Nigerians gave a different interpretation to our patriotic intention, but as it appears today, we can't run away from such option.
We can streamline the present political parties to five, among which two will be stronger than the remaining three, and perhaps introduce independent candidacy from the local government level through the states to Federal elections. In order to prevent abuse of such option, we can set stringent rules for any independent candidate to meet, just like the registration of political parties. Many people who are genuinely interested in becoming local government chairmen for example, would have opportunity to participate once they meet the criteria set out for them. And the process will run through to the state and the Federal levels.
Of course we will need Constitutional amendment to accommodate such proposition but talking seriously, I think we are ripe for independent candidacy to complement the two-party option. Nigerians should be preaching tolerance and peaceful co-existence because of our multiplicities.
If we have two party system for example, this culture of cross-carpeting will reduce and no matter where you come from, you will be compelled to find accommodation in X or Y party. That way, robust debate and issue-based dialogue will prevail over and above an individual's selfish desire. We will then use that process to learn new ways of living together and solving our problems. Nigeria is a peculiar country; hence we need to improvise peculiar ways and methods to address our peculiar problems.