It is no longer news that the most anticipated All Progressives Congress, APC, national convention has come and gone, leaving behind lamentations and unanswered questions.
Though, the good news for the progressives is that it remains the best convention ever in the history of Nigeria and to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, it has launched an airstrike for its disintegration.
The theory of Elitism posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks, holds the most power—and that this power is independent of democratic elections.
The national convention of both the APC and opposition PDP are satisfactory theories of those who are in power and want to remain in power. The concept of Unity List has been, of course, the guiding principle of all recent conventions of the political elite parties. Former National Chairman of the PDP Prince Uche Socondus was handpicked instead of Professor Adeniran, a founding father of the party.
Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna state, a founding member strong pillar and bone in the ruling APC disclosed during an interview with Seun in Channels TV Politics today that President Muhammadu Buhari never had a preferred candidate as the national chairman.
The 19 Progressive Governors had to prevail on him to identify someone within the North-central after the zone was slated to produce the next national chairman. So, the emergence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu can only surprise people with short memories who were born after the 2018 PDP national convention.
One thing that appears unique and now a dominant discourse is the fact that former members of the PDP dominate the names of the newly sworn in National Working Committee of the rulling APC. Some analysts are of the opinion that those who laboured and fought for the emergence of change government should have been given priority instead. The old members of the ACN, ANPP and CPC should have been given preference as Buhari’s trusted friends and loyalists, according to the narrators.
The most pronounced is Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the only Buhari’s CPC governor. He, ironically, defeated late Akwe Doma in 2011 in Nasarawa state and formed a strong pillar of the merger as then only PMB governor, boy and loyalist. The former member of the House of Representatives Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu from Jigawa state and Adabayo Shitu, the immediate past minister of communication and PMB’s standing ally since 2000 as against Omisore and many more of such conpersisms.
The brand new chairman of the APC Senator Abdullahi Adamu was anointed by the president following the unanimous decision of the Progressive Governors led by Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state.
If loyalty and labour was a consideration, certainly, Senator Al-Makura should have been anointed instead, but to the surprise of the world, a man who had denied the president access to traditional rulers as governor of Nasarawa state is the chairman of a political party he once fought head and nail.
The fact that I have the fortune to work closely with Al-Makura during this campaign is not enough reason for me to underestimate what the president may have foreseen for his party ahead of the national elections in which he is not a constestant.
The saying goes, “What an old man sees sitting down…” President Buhari is an entirely different creature and in his 80s, definitely, he may have seen what millions of his supporters, political analysts and commentators and young people like us could not see.
Al-Makura is, indeed, a great breed among his contemporaries. He started as a youth leader of NPN, a party where Abdullahi Adamu served as secretary. Adamu and Al-Makura both have the executive and legislative experience to lead APC as national chairman; they were governors of Nasarawa state and currently senators of the Federal Republic. The reason Adamu was chosen againts the founding members of the current ruling party is unknown to us but very well known to Mr President and the Progressive Governors.
The Unity List has ended the career of many founding members of the APC who built their campaigns majorly on hard labour for the party and loyalty to the seat of power. The former PDP members and now leaders of APC had moulded their campaigns on connections, and it’s now left for us to keep lamenting why they won. However, this tells us that APC does not descriminate against its founding members and decampees.
Fortunately or unfortunately, some of us will be alive to witness the next episode of the APC national gathering that will produce the party flag bearer. The imposition and impunity against the will of party loyalists and supporters ended the predicted PDP 60 years plan to rule Nigeria to just 16 years in 2015.
This is why many are of the opinion that Unity List will not work in producing the presidential candidate, especially, now the party’s fate hangs on Adamu to lead it to victory and finally sent PDP packing from State House. It means that they must go into such confrontation united and as a single entity.
Can we say the rulling APC is now in the hands of the opposition PDP? To me, the answer is NO because Nigeria’s contemporary politicians are defined by only one slogan which is “Permanent Interest”.
Abdullahi Adamu and his counterparts who were both members of the opposition PDP are now determined to win elections for their current party, APC, which defines their primary interest. Unlike the masses who frequently exchange blows and insult their ancestors on the social media over political parties, politicians hardly see beyond platforms of contesting and winning elections.
The youths must understand that the young people they have abandoned form their strength and are the reasons behind their success as the Unity List has thought some of us a great lesson of the unity of the elite in diversity. United as they are, they can sacrifice the ambition of 1000 youths to please a single member of the elite family. The bitter truth is that we are architect of our own problems and sooner than later such will continue to hurt our inability to unite against our common enemies.
As a youth who writes in the national dailies and online news outlets advocating youth’s active participation and inclusion in politics and governance, I congratulate our members (youths) who made it to the Unity List in all the political parties.
They should remember they are ordained to change the narratives while serving as members of the National Working Committees of their respective parties. It will interest us to note that some of these youths are the problem because they are behaving and maltreating their fellow youths as if they are larger than life.
As young people, politics and governance go beyond social media rantings as building relationships in important in winning elections. it should be a lesson for those who thought that the power of the elite is enough to give them power. As a young man, I always see myself as an incurable optimist who always sees opportunities even in the midst of pandemic rather than seeing obstacles. Frankly, some of youths in government today are more arrogant than the current crop of leaders we accuse on social media.
Tiny as they are they can bite your whole fingers within a twinkle of an eye. With the kind of young generation of leaders among us we can hardly grow beyond the capacity of social media influencers to these helpless politicians. If you think PDP and APC are different in ideology, you have a long way to go in your journey of understanding the context of the politics of elitism being practiced currently in Nigeria.
Danaudi, National President of Arewa Youths Advocate for Peace and Unity Initiative, writes from Bauchi via [email protected].
