In a less than a year to go, the 2023 presidential elections will be conducted. In the present political condition, many political parties in the country are striving very hard to gain or retain the support of the masses. Several interested politicians have made their intentions known and desired candidates have been suggested by party stalwarts to run for the number one position in the country. But, it is indeed abysmal that some political parties have chosen to disparage themselves in the political arena. A campaign of calumny that this situation could be best described as.
When much focus should have been coherently put by Nigeria’s top two political heavyweights, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to discuss on burning national issues and how best they can profer solutions to these major problems when given the opportunity by Nigerians, they have done contrariwise and have instead chosen to play the politics of defamation. How can the country progress towards socioeconomic development when political interests are given much more significance over national interests? This is usually the cause of political instability in some countries.
One cannot recount and recant the number of times they have engaged in this sort of calumniation neither can anybody possibly give an account of where and when it began. But how this began could be connected to the imminence of the presidential election which has made the politicians to strive by all means possible to gain the support of the masses.
PDP’s disparaging of APC
Lately, members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have been denigrating the All Progressives Congress (APC) by consistently engaging in the character assasination of their top rival party’s candidates like Asiwaju Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu and by positively advertising their preferred candidates like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
The People’s Democratic Party are trying to leverage on the ruling party’s success in making Nigeria to retrogress rather than progress. A Nigerian who understands how politics is being played would know that Nigeria under the 16 years of leadership of the PDP wasn’t at its best. During their time in power, we witnessed corruption, gross ineptitude, infrastructural deficit, industrial actions etc., but it wasn’t as intense as it is today under the leadership of APC.
Nigerian Governors under the auspices of the PDP Governors Forum have converged multiple times to advice Nigerians to vote out the All Progressives Congress. In January 17, 2022, the PDP governors met in Rivers State to state reasons why APC had failed and why Nigerians should vote them in due to their readiness to “rescue and rebuild’’ the country. When they held their governorship meeting at Abia State on March 23, they lamented over the hardship in the country, and once again urged Nigerians not to vote in the APC. Well, this would depend on the type of personality they present as their candidate.
But let us ask ourselves, how much work has been done by these governors in their respective states? No Nigerian can talk about the worst governors in the country under the platform of the PDP without mentioning Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State. Even Godwin Obaseki of Edo State is a well-packaged mistake. They are members of the PDP, and they have a poor track record in state administration.
On March 8, 2022, a Former Governor of Kwara State and one-time Senate President, Bukola Saraki stated that he was embittered by the persistent fuel scarcity in the country and urged Nigerians to take their PVCs to vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC). But Saraki using denigration as an instrument of campaigning for the PDP forgot that during the years of PDP, we experienced much worse incessant occurrence of fuel scarcity especially during the festive seasons.
APC’s disparaging of PDP
The All Progressives Congress (APC) have been aggravated with fears that their inability to ensure positive social change and national development might result in the People’s Democratic Party clinching unto power once again.
Most of the country’s woes have been blame-shifted to the opposition. We have witnessed a number of occasions where every failure of the government to achieve something is blamed on the People’s Democratic Party to evade responsibility. I could remember when the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai told the people of Kaduna State that the People’s Democratic Party and a Former Senator, Shehu Sani, were to be blamed for his administration’s failures, and that the Party should not be voted for in the elections.
Last week, the Head of the Presidency, Garba Shehu responded to the PDP governors forum’s advice to Nigerians not to vote for an unfit APC at the 2023 General Elections, by accusing the politicians under the platform of the PDP for stealing money meant for the payment of soldier’s salaries during their time in power. Garba Shehu may be right or wrong. He was once a part of that party, but he must have forgotten that billions meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition were missing under the Buhari Administration. Even during this tenure, we have heard of complains of soldiers not being paid their salaries, and more recently, the Nigerian Police Force.
In the end, It’s too late to cry when the head is off.
As i prepare to lay down my pen, I urge Nigerians to desist from voting for their preferred political parties as it would be our greatest undoing. The ball is now in our court and we should not hesitate to go for the best candidate, who can make the country to progress in all ramifications, irrespective of political party.
