Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost last year’s general election to the All Progressives Congress (APC), things have indeed fallen apart for the former behemoth and self-acclaimed largest party in Africa. The centre of its gravity disintegrated and its members scattered.
Following that unexpected fall from glory, the party is yet to recover from such defeat by an unexpected and unimpressive side.
To some extent, the PDP loss of power is self-inflicted and some members of the party have learnt their lessons the hard way but it appears some of the PDP members are yet to imbibe the eternal lessons of such monumental loss and fall from its Olympian heights.
To make matters worse, some of its members have joined the ruling APC. Carpet crossing is a feature of Nigerian politics since independence and it will continue to be a defining feature of our party politics until we begin to play politics of ideology and principles.
So long as we play “buy and sell” politics, our politicians will always join a wining party and jettison the one that loses poll. In Nigerian politics, a winner has many relations while a loser is an orphan. The latter is where the PDP is right now.
But nothing dramatizes the disunity in the party more than its inability to hold a convention and elect its principal officers in Port Harcourt. The matter is not helped by conflicting orders issued by both Abuja High Court and Port Harcourt High Court respectively. Without going into the merits and demerits of such conflicting court orders of courts that have coordinate jurisdiction, such orders portend great danger to adjudication of justice and practice of democracy as well.
While the PDP is wallowing in its own shameful drama of pitiful existence with claims and counter claims by different political actors over the party’s leadership, the APC and other political parties are watching and laughing with scorn and disdain as if they are immune to such pitiful calamities the PDP is passing through.
Let them not forget that what is currently playing out in the PDP house may soon be the lot of the other political parties including the ruling APC. This is a possibility because in Nigeria, history always repeats itself. Our politicians seldom learn from history.
To them, history does not matter. It is not important. It is not relevant. It does not even exist in their reckoning either. That is why they will continue to make the same mistakes always till thy kingdom come. Like Henrik Ibsen’s characters, they will wallow in their drama of absurd and continue to wait until Godot comes. And if the Godot does not come, it is to their peril.
For the PDP, it is not yet late to rebuild the party from its mighty fall in the general poll of last year. No doubt, the party can still be rebuilt from its 2015 ashes and be in a better position to challenge the APC in 2019. That is exactly what Nigerians expect from their members to do before the next general poll. They should stop crying over spilt milk. Nigeria’s democracy needs a vibrant opposition to survive.
They should stop brooding and lamenting over losing a poll. I say this because in the past 16 years they have ruled the country without a break. The members of the PDP should understand where the rain started beating them. They should realize their past mistakes and swear never to repeat them. If they refuse to do this, they may be on their way to political oblivion in the country.
But it appears there are still “enemies” within the PDP fold. PDP has in its house some elements that are diametrically opposed to its survival as a viable political option for Nigerians. In fact, some of the people currently masquerading as PDP members are moles planted by “other” parties to destabilize the PDP. The early the PDP chieftains realize this, the better for them.
This is the lesson some dedicated members of the party have not sufficiently learnt. The death of the PDP will harm our march to an enduring democratic culture. Our democracy can only survive if there is a multi-party system. A one-party state or system will eventually lead to dictatorship. That is indeed the danger of a dying PDP.
The ruling party should realize that its continued relevance will only be determined if there are other political parties in place. If the PDP is killed or is being killed slowly as recent political events tend to illustrate, it will not bode well for our democracy and other parties including the APC. If there is no vibrant opposition, the PDP disease may soon afflict the APC.
It will be recalled that the death of the First Republic is traceable to muzzling of the opposition. Our other republics have not been spared of such political intolerance. Those in power today should realize that they came to power on the tolerance of the PDP.
If they were muzzled, they should not be in power at all. Our politicians should learn from other advanced democracies of Britain and America. They can also learn from some evolving democracies in Asia and some African countries as well.
What is happening in PDP now cannot advance our democracy in any way. Rather, it will make the act of governance difficult in the country. Our politicians should spare a thought on the governed and act in such a way that will be beneficial to them. Politics should be about service and how best to better the condition of the generality of the people.
Right now Nigerians are suffering despite having in place a government that promised a lot of goodies to them. The government in power is finding it difficult to fulfill its campaign promises. The condition of living in the country is so hard that most Nigerians are finding it difficult to provide basic human needs for their families.
There is no way the squabbles in the PDP can help in all of this. Those engineering such problems should think of the welfare of all Nigerians. All political parties should strive and fulfill their campaign promises. We need all the political parties to be.
No political party should be extinguished from the political space. Let the PDP members put their political house in order and let no other party put it asunder. In all, our politicians should put first the nation and the citizenry before other considerations.

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