Between Party Leaders & Elected Political Office Holders

By Nick Apata
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
napata@nigeriahorizon.com

The line between elected political office holders and party officials in Nigeria is a blurry one. It is not unusual for party officials from the ruling party to enjoy more publicity and even to hold more clout than elected public office holders. This is not only wrong, it is counter to the notion of liberal democracy where a political relationship is strictly between the electorates and their elected government. The activities of political parties must be limited to their respective party secretariats. Yet when emphasis should be focused on the activities of elected political office holders, we were inundated with the PDP convention as if 2008 is an election year in the country.

Again, looking at democracies within the Western world, it is rare to find party chairmen/women enjoy as much publicity as they do in Nigeria. Incidentally those democracies are the model upon which we are forging a new Nigeria. Specifically, take a look at countries such as Britain, Canada, and the U. S., party officials are never seen in public meddling with government policies. Once in a while you find parties leaders in the U.S. briefly exchanging conversation on some political issues on CNN, but it is done in such a way that they do not take anything away from their elected political office holders.

Why, for instance, is the election of a new PDP chairman being treated as if a new president has just been elected in the country? It was a party affair and it should remain that way. I have little or no interest in the plots and subplots that characterized the process. Why is it that meaningless political events such as the election of party leaders garner so much publicity in the Nigerian press while the same press has been so timid in going after the treasury looters in the country? I have no doubt that Ogbulafor will be as irritating, divisive and publicity seeking as Ahmadu Ali, his predecessor. Just cast a look at the man’s past records and his utterances.

A major part of the tragedy of the Second Republic was how the likes of Adisa Akinloye, Umaru Dikko, Uba Ahmed, Chuba Okadigbo----- in their capacity as leaders of the ruling NPN completely eclipsed the role and usurped the position of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the elected President of the Republic. These people were so arrogant, corrupt and uncaring, yet they were the faces we saw on our television sets and on the pages of newspapers on daily basis.

They were the newsmakers in a system headed for ruins. Umaru Dikko exemplified himself as the most notorious member of Shagari’s Kitchen Cabinet. As the chairman on the “Taskforce on Rice”, you’d think he was the de facto President of the country. Denying the existence of poverty in Nigeria, Umaru Dikko had said with utmost arrogance that he was yet to see a Nigerian child picking food from the garbage bin. It was just a matter of time before the military came to rescue Shehu Shagari from his political misery.

What you find in the country today is a variety of old, spent and inept political forces such as Umaru Dikko that have refused to go away. Everywhere you turn, they are speaking on behalf of their political party which is usually the ruling party for maximum economic benefit. These people are able to stick around because we let them; we celebrate their individual and collective failure and incompetence, we tell them it’s okay to recycle their obsolete political ideas so they could enjoy some degree of political and economic relevance, we jump up for joy whenever one redundant politician is replaced with another and we worship our politicians in such a way that they develop the moral courage to steal from the public.

We need to take the shine away from party leaders who parade themselves as spokespersons for the ruling party and by default the country, and focus more on the President and his Ministers. Why, for instance are these Ministers not held more accountable by the Nigerian press? They are in charge of huge departments with equally huge budgets yet there’s usually nothing to show for all that and we still let them off scot-free? The President cannot see or supervise all that goes on in the various departments and that’s why the press has the onerous duty of being an unbiased advocate of good governance.

I am certainly not interested in what Solomon Lar or Abubarkar Rimi has to say on the last PDP chairmanship election but it will be of utmost benefit to me to listen to the Minister of works being put to task on the deplorable road conditions in the country and what his ministry is doing about it, ditto for all of the other underperforming government departments.

Now that Yar’dua’s mandate has been affirmed by the Courts, it is time to expect more from him. I will continue to emphasize the fact that Nigeria needs to be in a hurry if it will ever get anywhere in this century. First the President needs to energize his government by replacing most of his current Cabinet and injecting new and vibrant blood into a government that’s currently too slow for comfort. He must also forget the idea of picking his Ministers through state Governors and instead shop for the best candidates all around the country. If Obasanjo could assemble a crop of young, dynamic and effective ministers (not the Annenihs), there’s no reason why Yar’dua cannot do the same or even better.

Obasanjo as the President left no one in doubt as to who was in charge and I respect him for that, even if his style was sometimes considered too imperial. But again he’s the only one now taking the blame in those areas he had failed to move the country forward. That is the stuff Presidents are made. You cannot cede your powers to any group of people and still lay claim to being the elected leader of the country.

As we move closer to Yar’dua’s first anniversary at the helms of Nigeria’s affairs, he has shown flashes of progressive impulses, but it is still unclear where he’s leading the country. His time at Aso Rock Villa will be well spent if he strives to fulfill his mandate to the Nigerian people. My prayers will continue to be with him.  

Post your comment(s)

Other articles by Nick Apata:

Ribadu as Scapegoat for a Nation's Failure
The Houses Obasanjo Built
Wanted: A Few Good Men and Women
Barack Obama: The Dream Continues