Has PDP truly woken up to realities of opposition politics? by Olusegun Ariyo

                                                                                           

                                                                             

 Welcome to Another world. This was as result of the verdict the people had displayed in casting their votes during the last election that ushered in the opposition party, the all progressive congress at the just concluded exercise in leading the affairs of this country, where-with, having the peoples Democratic Party holds way since 1999, from   the inception of another democratic dispensation in Nigeria.

 For what ever controversial reason that was allegedly raised by the then ruling party   to which had sprang up during that process of electioneering campaign and tabulation of ballot papers with card reading machines is no more in contention, for what is of importance now is that another government had taken the mantle of leadership and every aggrieved individual has the liberty to go and slug it out in any competent court of jurisdiction or contend with the verdict of the outcome of the result. Wonder still, is what the peoples democratic leaders had believed in, in the time when they are ruling, where majority of its leaders had been nailing on the ears of their  electorates as to there intention of ruling the country  for years; a case in point is where  one of its  party leader, chief Tony Anennih  was quoted on several occasion’, in some  instance  when   election time is ripe, to also use the word ‘’no vacancy in Aso rock’’, its former chairmen, chief Bamanga Tukur and Vincent Obgulafor has once been quoted also, to have said their  party would rule this country for more than fifty years, with this assertion ,  many observers  believes it is giving  the opposition party another psychological defeat but then, the  opposition  never bulge in its resolve to pull dawn the acclaimed biggest party in African.

 Today, the rest is history. The all progressive congress has given those who believe other wise that change is inevitable in the annals of things and live Endeavor.  The peoples Democratic Party had begun to gather dust to unravel what brought this sudden defeat, where accusation and counter accusation has begin to holds way. The party’s slogan ‘’power to the people’’ had thing out in the air wave, bring in the new mantra of change.

The blaming game of its  party leaders never stops. In a recent interview granted by its national publicity  secretary, chief Olisa metuh  he was quoted as saying that the appointment of the acting chairman of INEC, Amina Zakari made  by President Mohammodu Buhari did not follow due process and that his party will not accept any results from any election conducted under her .

 This was again faulted by another of its NEC member, an indication that all is not well. Granting interview with some selected journalist, Trumpet day gathered that, the Assistant  publicity secretary of the peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Garba, was said to have faulted that statement, claiming that, the decision of the national  publicity secretary was not ratified by its National executive committee to which it was null and void.  Furtherance to that, the Assistant publicity secretary of there party  was alleged to have made the same statement in an interview he granted with channels television live, on sunrise daily  to which was initially credited to him, and after all said, the PDP issued out a statement, claiming that the assistant publicity secretary was actually on its own and that the party would take appropriate disciplinary action on its assistant  publicity secretary, Alhaji Garba. Given all said, it has become crystal clear that the peoples Democratic Party is yet to come to terms with the realities of opposition politics,  to which many of its leaders are far from understanding  the rudiment behind it, making them still believe they are still in the main stream of national politics where in reality, the opposition holds way.

 Alhaji lai Mohammed, the all progressive congress party scribe, had been meticulous with handling of national politics when they are in opposition,  holding the peoples democratic party with every of their actions, looking from the directions of the last election that was conducted in osun state, where, it was reported  that the all progressive party publicity secretary was arrested by the ruling party, where he  accused the Departments of state service  on infringing on  his fundamental human right, to which the  spoke person of the then state service  Marilyn Oga refuted, ‘’saying he Alhaji Mohammed was only  taken to its head quarters in the state  to prevent any unforeseen circumstance that might lead to security breach, and that he  lai Mohammed did not use more than forty five minute before he was ask to go, going by this, the  Apc scribe was able to bring up superior argument against the opposition, and equally threatened  to  take the Dss to court. However it went, that was not what matter here, but the realities is that the All progressive congress was able to hold the ruling party to its knees, making them to be  accountable  to some of  there alleged  misdeeds and where it was able to gain the sympathy of majority of Nigerians.

 Until recently, another discussion of national interest was brought to the table on sunrise daily, again, this time, on  a program that x-rays more of developing stories on channels television where it involves the duo. Alhaji lai Mohammed was asked to give an account of  his presidential candidate that was elected under its umbrella , where he was able to tell the audience that  president Mohammed Buhari has done fairly well, lashing out  on  president Jonathan , accusing him on a lot of wrong doings, where he gave some account of some ministry  under his watch, alleging that  they are owing more than three billion, where he said also that, the past government has  plunge  almost all the ministry into dept and that the president is trying to battle with all at the moment and  also  putting efforts to see how  all those dept  could be  managed  in other for functional system.

 When asked about all the promises their party had made to Nigerians he said specifically, that power generation had improved, and that the president at the moment is tackling the issue of boko Haram and that the president should be given more time, where he equally re-emphasized that, it is too early in the day to start evaluating the president. But one of the presenter insist, he should speak on specific terms of those promises , but Alhaji lai Mohammed insist that those where not manifestos but are  mere templates, and that her manifestos are there on its websites for all to see. In other for balancing, the presenter brought in the PDP scribe, Olisa Metuh to give his own side of all said buy the governing party’s scribe. When asked  to affirm if what the Apc spoke person, Alhaji lai Mohammed said was right, here him, ‘’the Apc should rather settle dawn and focus on governance and wake up to its reality that they are now at the driving seat and not where they are before’’.

 He went further that on the alleged mismanagement he mentioned, he said the issue has since been there even before the PDP government came into being in 1999, and that their government never gave it a thought of inquiring on how those dept came about. If going by this submission, how then can many observers be sure   that the PDP has truly come to reality of opposition politics, governance is about being accountable, and being accountable is by allowing the electorate to know what was on the ground, by given details like the Apc scribe as done, where from the look of things, are on top of their game, attending to leading questions technically and tactically from the media and not shelving them aside, and where the new opposition party is yet to come to terms with. Now, are beginning to here again from some of its stalwarts that the peoples democratic party would be staging a comeback at   the end of the presidents  tenure, with the way the Apc is aligning its thoughts about how, where and what is the situation of country to its electorates and where its opposition party is yet to come to terms with, how easy would this claim be, could this be realizable, only time will tell.