We should remember what it felt like three years ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else.
It was a moment rare in a democracy’s history. The feeling was palpable–to supporters and opponents alike–that something important had happened. Nigeria had elected, the best candidate promised, a transformational president. And wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and big Naira - contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time.
Yet three years into the presidency of President Muhammad Buhari, it is already clear that this administration is an opportunity missed. Because President Mohammed Buhari has given up the rhetoric of his early campaign–a campaign that promised to "challenge the broken system in Nigeria" and to "fundamentally change the way Nigeria works." Indeed, "fundamental change" is no longer even a hint.
Instead, we are now seeing the consequences of a decision made at the most vulnerable point of Buhari’s campaign–just when it seemed that he might really have beaten the PDP's presumed nominee. For at that moment, Buhari handed the architecture of his new administration over to a team that thought what Nigerian needed most is at their selfish interest. A team that could envision nothing more than the ordinary politics of Nigeria – most than the kind of politics Buhari had called "corrupt politics." A team whose imagination– politically–is tiny.
These tiny minds–brilliant though they may be in the conventional game of APC –have given up what distinguished
Buhari’s extraordinary campaign. Not the promise of employment reform or Economic boom –Goodluck Jonathan had embraced both of those ideas, and every other substantive proposal that Buhari advanced. Instead, the passion that Buhari inspired grew from the recognition that something fundamental had gone wrong in the way our government functions, and his commitment to reform it.
For Buhari once spoke for the anger that has now boiled over everywhere in the nation –that our government is corrupt; that fundamental change is needed. As he told us, since the electorate had allowed "lobbyists and campaign contributions to rig the system." And "unless we're willing to challenge (that) broken system…nothing else is going to change." "The reason" Buhari said he was "running for president (was) to challenge that system." For "if we're not willing to take up that fight, then real change–change that will make a lasting difference in the lives of ordinary Nigerian –will keep getting blocked by the defenders of the status quo."
This administration has not "taken up that fight." Instead, it has stepped down from the high ground the president occupied in 2015 andplayed the worst political game ever.
"Audacity" fits nothing in the list in recent years activity, save the suggestion that this is the administration the candidate had promised. Maybe this was his plan all along. It was not what he said. And by ignoring what he promised, and by doing what he attacked ("too many times, after the election is over, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in"), Buhari will leave the presidency,
This Country needs new leadership. On the right (PDP), since there is an unstoppable recognition that our government has failed this time.
This is corruption. Not the corruption of bribes, or of any other crime, Instead, it is a corruption of the faith Nigerians have in this core institution of our democracy. This corruption is not hidden. On the contrary, it is in plain sight, with its practices simply more and more brazen.
As fundraising was the focus of APC in 2015 election –as the party force members to raise money for their presidential candidate, so as they reward the best fundraisers with lucrative portfolio assignments and leadership positions– the focus of APC "work" shifts. Like addicts constantly on the lookout for their next fix, members grow impatient with anything that doesn’t promise the kick of a campaign contribution. The first job is meeting the fundraising target
At the center of our government lies a bankrupt institution: APC. Not financially bankrupt, at least not yet, but politically bankrupt.
But it is this part of the current crisis that the dark soul in me admires most.There is a brilliance to how our democracy will be sustained. Everyone inside this game recognizes that if the public saw too clearly that the driving force in Nigeria is campaign cash, the public might actually do something to change that. A very effective campaign succeeds in obscuring the source of conflict over major issues of reform with the pretense that it is ideology rather than campaign cash that divides us. To my fellow Nigerians please let's bring back our democracy.
WHY IT MUST BE PDP IN 2019.
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