1 comment

PDP and It’s Naked Dance Of Shame

by on August 6, 2015
 

By Tochukwu Okorie

Dancing naked is no longer a big deal. At the minimum,  you have a whole lot of club girls doing their thing in various night clubs around town. I hear there are some that are actually called nude clubs where it is practically an offence to be well clad. What is abhorable to the larger segment of society is dancing on the streets NAKED! To undertake such show of shame, one has to be either simply insane or has a nefarious agenda like causing distraction in order to attack usually for armed robbery or something similarly sinister.
But how does one begin to situate the case of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ), a party that was once promoted as the largest party in Africa? Someone suggested that the case of PDP is simply insanity. His argument? How can any organisation squander a voluptuous N12 billion in less than 2 months only after a very abysmal and shameful election defeat, when it should actually have just busied itself receiving condolences. That level of paradox can only be associated with madness, they argue. And I ask, who is mad, PDP or the carnivorous scavengers that make up its leadership? Well, spending money, for me, is the littlest thing to deal with here. After all, elections are afoot in Bayelsa and Kogi and I’m sure for each of these states, no fewer ‘mugus’ than 10 will pay god-knows-how-much to buy nomination forms. And as they say in Nigeria’s local parlance, “mugu fall, guyman wack”.How is it thinkable that a sane person will cut off his own nose simply because he wants to spite his face probably because the face failed to attract fine babes? I remember the period immediately following President Jonathan’s announcement of his campaign structure for the 2015 presidential election. Mehn! The murmurings and bickering came with such a bang that some of us actually ran for cover. It was an explosion. PDP leaders made up of relatively young 4th generation members, most of whom can hardly even give a straight historical account of how the party was founded, were reportedly murmuring things like, “Let’s see how far he can go”, “come and go nau” and “what does he take us for?”

READ  Election Postponement: Remain Peaceful In Face of Provocation ~ Atiku

The way they abandoned the presidential project was as if it was hot potatoes. The discordant tunes between the party leadership and the presidential campaign team resonated beyond the Atlantic just as the opposition, as it then was, taunted without ceasing. The paradigm of the PDP National Working Committee was completely in contradistinction to the presidential project. It was rumoured that there had been an agreement for them to teach Jonathan a lesson or two about how not to mess with party hierarchy.

Before then however, as if deliberately plotting it’s own defeat, PDP callously snubbed the very names that could guarantee their victory especially at the governorship and National Assembly levels. Or how does one explain that Barnabas Gemade  the second National Chairman of the party was brazenly denied the ticket to re contest for a position he was already occupying and I  which he had also at least gained even more significant influence in his senatorial zone? It can only happen in an environment where people are mad. That’s just one example. PDP National Working Committee performed similar (de)feat across the country. They gave the ticket to the highest bidder in an unofficial and very compromising bid process known only to those that received the money. It was a bazaar.

Long story short, the elections came, went and the rest is now history.

But it is not all history just yet. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Goodluck Jonathan incurred the wrath of his fellow partymen when he stubbornly decided to plot his way back to office instead of promoting the return of power to the north, the very reason the nPDP emerged. The emergence of the nPDP was no flash in the pan at all. It was the outcome of a long brewed conspiracy allegedly led by the former vice president. The exit of the 5 governors and their loyalists in both the state and national legislative houses left a deep cut that did not heal and has yet to heal as at this moment. Although the G-5 left the party, their tentacles remained to keep undercutting Jonathan and his men. This snowballed into greater discontent following widespread speculation by the party officials that upon return to power, the President was going to ditch them. The composition of the presidential campaign team without their input was not only considered a slap on their faces and a vote of no confidence but a confirmation of what to expect if the administration returned. And so they waited to take their pound of flesh.

If these theory is anything to go by, the question arises. Did they ever figure out that Jonathan’s fall might ultimately sound the death knell on the Big Umbrella? Did they ever see today? Of course not. How could they since there are no clairvoyants or marabou among them? For, had they seen it coming, they would have rather paddled along in order to win the elections and resume their quarrels afterwards. But no. They would rather capsize the boat just to get at its captain. What a shame. The other question naturally is, the N12 billion. It would seem as if they hurriedly shared the money as if to quickly get their share before the final capitulation of the party. Some of us actually thought the plan was to bid PDP farewell and then form another party of fair weather friends. As it’s turning out, looks like heads are going to roll. Who ever cuts his nose to spite his face except a critically ill?Unfortunately, the macabre dance that PDP is doing on Abuja highways is seriously pulling on the sanity of others who had sympathy for it. As the Igbo saying goes, it is the relative of the one that does an awful dance in the village square that bears the most shame not the dancer himself. Some of us are using our small hands in vain efforts to cover our sullied faces. It is so glaring the next anything I will write on PDP will be a dirge, a funeral oration or at least a tribute to an Umbrella that was supposed to shelter Africa from the heat coming from Europe and America and insulate it from the high wire diplomatic rape and cultural infiltration that now must further underdevelop us, except of course some sort of intervention comes either from within, which will see to not only the exit of the perfidious party officials but also the recovery of monies looted from party purse, at least, in part or by the help of the EFCC. Nothing short can save the Big Umbrella from going under. The Umbrella has shown itself incapable of withstanding just a little storm. What will them do that have taken shelter under the Umbrella in the likely event of a Katrina?

READ  PDP Women Reject NCWS’s Award On Kogi Governor
This is the time for worthy party elders if there are any to reclaim the party, rebuild it and enthrone probity I  the handling of party affairs. There is still a win to be made in 2019 but that is if PDP is able to swallow the bitter pills required to cure it’s insanity.

About Tochukwu Okorie:

He is an Economic Policy Expert and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Management.

Disclaimer:

As an editorial policy, Breaking Times neither oppose nor endorse any opinion and contribution expressed by our writers and contributors. Contributions are strictly that of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Breaking Times.

READ  Fayose’s  Final  Assault  On Himself

Op-Ed Contribution:

Our platform is for you. Want to submit an Op-Ed? If yes, kindly send your article and short biography to youreport@thebreakingtimes.com.

comments
 
Leave a reply »

 

Leave a Response