WHY THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE IN THE LEAD UP TO 2023. By Gora Albehu Dauda

"PDP's worst enemy is not the ruling APC but PDP herself. I anchor this assertion on the fact that some individuals within the party since its formative years have taken the party hostage and are holding her by the jogular and almost to the point of asphyxiation if things are not done according to the rules of the party but their own personal rules." Gora

The season is here again. It is the season serving as a prelude to a general.elevtion in 2023. 

As it were, the would-be politocal pugilists are already warming up. For whatever offices there are to be contested, the rules are clear unless one is a complete boffoon. Providing the rules essentially are the 1999 Constitution as Amended, the Electoral Act, the political party Constitutions, the Guidelines for the conduct of party Congresses/Party Primaries etc.

Whoever fails to follow these provisions and aligning their effort as to be in compliance will be working towards failure. Nigerian politicians have this penchant for not wanting to play the game by the rules, therein lies the danger. 

It is not very clear if democracy in Nigeria has made any progress or if it has been marking time in one position or at worse may have witnessed retrograsion but after almost 23 years, it is still variously described either as nascent, budding or whatever adjective those describing choose to deploy, the fact remains that we should have grown our democracy to a level close to maturity.

The practitioners of our democracy have largely been presumptuous in thinking and acting in a manner suggesting that everything will fall in its place in due time. No Sir, I dare to observe, as the practitioners have to delibratelly and purposefully work towards its growth.

The most unfortunate thing to have happened is that there is not even if a semblance of balance of strength between the extant political parties or platforms in contention for power in Nigeria. In the days of old, the regional political parties provided some form of balance but not any more now. PDP held sway for 16 of the 60 years she had boasted to remain in power bouyed up by the boast of being the biggest political party in Africa. 

Disenchantment by some rebels within the PDP as well as a not too holy alliance of few opposition parties informed the formation of the APC which went on to take over power in 2015. PDP has been in opposition since then.

As mentioned in an earlier snippet, PDP's worst enemy is not the ruling APC but PDP herself. I anchor this assertion on the fact that some individuals within the party since its formative years have taken the party hostage and are holding her by the jogular and almost to the point of asphyxiation if things are not done according to the rules of the party but their own personal rules. All efforts to reform were stridently resisted.  Suggesting new ideas is seen as being rebellious. There is no State where this is more true than in Kaduna State. 

There has been a crises of confidence within the PDP family in Kaduna State. This crises crises has roots in the culture of impunity within the PDP leadership in the State. 

Since the loss in 2015, the party has at best been managing to walk only with a pair of crutches. The leadership at the highest level is bereft of legitimacy given that it has stood very firmly against the conduct of transparent Congresses at all levels knowing that were such to be conducted, they will be swept off their feet by the electorate. They prefer instead to remain glued to the positions they have been holding arguing that they ought be in those positions for 2 terms. 

The now expired State Chairman of the party working in concert with a former but equally expired governor of the State have together, been manipulating proceedings within the party. No 1 NDA junction which is the PDP State Secretariat is only there in name as all major decisions including the allocation of funds is done elsewhere in a Guest House said to belong to the former governor. Arising from the disputed Ward Congresses results, all petitions regarding the conduct of the congresses addressed to the PDP National Secretariat Wadata Plaza never received any attention on account of connections from high places. As it now stands, it is unclear which of the Congress result was used for the Local Government Exco and subsequently, the State Congress as this are issues yet to be decided upon in the Courts to the extent that, there are issues remaining to be resolved in Court, it is a great risk for anyone to put himself/herself forward to contest for any elective position on the platform of the PDP.

If PDP in Kaduna State were a serious political party, there were many grounds on which the party would have challenged the eligibility of the running mate to the APC governorship candidate on the grounds that she did not resign her appointment prior to contesting as required by law. It was the expectation that as an opposition political party, the main business would have been to keep an eagle eye on the APC goverernment to conduct herself in consonance with democratic norms but PDP simply went to sleep.  

There is no semlance of an opposition  in the KSHA. Either that their voices if any have been drowned out or, they simply have capitulated. To what extent therefore are they representing their constituents?. Given that El Rufai is doing just whatever comes to his mind knowing too well that there is no voice out there to say, to him "Wait a minute what is happening and why"? 

El Rufai made sure that in the last but one Local Council elections, where PDP won as in Chukun, Kajuru, Kaura and Jaba, he appointed Sole Administrators against the express will of the electorate in those Local Councils. 

Hassan Hyat's PDP saw nothing wrong with that as his interest was remaining in office as party Chairman. The traditional institutions mostly in the Southern part of the State have been Bantustanized to suit the whims and caprices of the dictator governor. He is bent on creating Emirates where none are necessary yet the PDP opposition cannot and have not challenged this level of arbitrariness.  

The latest and most reckless display of power was when the dictator compelled some Local Council's to cought out N10 Million Naira each in the name of providing security during Buhari's visit to commisiom projects in just a handfull of the Local Council's.

Since PDP turned out to be essentially a Southern Kaduna affair except for a few local councils in the Central Senatorial zone, this situation should have informed a very vibrant opposition but it clearly does not appear that PDP members in the KSHA are alive at all. 

With all the GENOCIDAL killings, burning, maiming as well as the delibrate scourge earth tactics of the Fulani terrorists presently ongoing, not a single voice in protest has been heard from our so-called representatives except in the case of Senator Danjuma La'ah. 

In the circumstance therefore, we wait to see if these muted so-called current members in the KSHA will still throw themselves up for re-election come 2023. 

Seeing the number of people seeking to contest in 2023 for both NASS and well as the State House of Assembly, it will be a herculean task winnowing the grains from the chaff. 

Political godfathers must be strongly resisted so that they do not get to imposing their favoured candidates on the electorate ever again. 

There is only one way to effect positive CHANGE. In the way politics is played, it is to allow the electorate to freely choose who to represent them. It is shocking that whilst there will be a vacancy for the position of Governor in Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, none of the folks from the Southern Senatorial zone is indicating an interest including the product of El Rufai's Muslim Muslim ticket arrangement. 

Why are they so chicken hearted? Thus far, the number of individuals throwing themselves up to contest for the NASS and KSHA positions is intimidating, that is if the Social Media is giving us the true picture.  

However, it is very easy to see that many are pretenders and not serious contenders.