WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER
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This week, the extension of the tenure of the All Progressives Congress’ Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni for a second time is a worthy political subject matter for discussion. There is no gainsaying that the ruling party has been transformed from what many across the line thought was a breaking platform to the most stabilised and unified political platform in the country and beyond. The ingenuity, commitment, and sincerity of the Chairman and members of his Committee are feats worth praising and emulating by all responsible and goal-getting political organisations.
The life of ordinary men on the street as much as every other aspect of our national existence/ as a people and a nation cannot ever be separated from our national politics, the way we are governed, and the people that control the affairs of our nation. The play of politics, the form of operations of the political formations and parties in the country directly influence the security, economic, and unity fabrics of the country and are critical determinants of national peace and tranquility. This much explains the negative influences the postures of the handlers of PDP to political dealings and interactions with Nigerians over the period of the party’s sixteen years rule has come to bear on the interrelationship of units within the country; rather than working and strategising to create a formidable party based on open appeals, the party opted for divide and rule system and over 16 years, set Nigerians against each other along all possible divides to control voters and amass supports from selected regions. This choice reached a crescendo in 2015 when the PDP party managers concluded on using religion and tribalism, two delicate disuniting political factors in the country, to campaign against the opposition candidate. The same was repeated in 2019 and is among the very many compounding factors for the spate of insecurity across the country right now.
It was becoming normal for us to see political parties taking the desperate and destructive routes to win over members and garners votes in the election; the direct lies and spreading of unfounded propaganda that set the people against one another and a particular party, for long, has become the most workable electoral strategy for political parties in Nigeria until His Excellence Mai Buni was appointed the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, the CECPC. For the first time in the history of our nation, we are witnessing a political party building a structure that places national safety, grassroots willing participation and discipline as the hallmark of its membership drive and election winning strategies.
No wonder, despite huge opposition rhetoric aimed at discrediting the party and the many good works of the APC-led presidency, the party has only continued to wax stronger by the day and fast becoming the party to contend with. I had wondered what the secret could have been; why a party surrounded by enemies doing everything to pull it down could be growing at the rate APC is growing despite the public lies, propaganda, and import of current insecurity in the country. But I know why; the Buni-led Committee is not keen on winning elections at the expense of the health, safety, and wealth of the country and has rolled out programs and projects that despite opposition’s rancor, has continued to receive grassroots applause and support.
Buoyed by the performance of the APC-led Federal government, the Buni-led administration of the party went down to present a working platform to Nigerians and got the nods of over forty million Nigerians who were willing to join the performing and progressive platform. Forty million; that is some great feat, never heard of in the history of our democracy or of any other in our continent. Aside from the national electoral umpire that regularly conducts nationwide voters’ registration, it is unheard of that a political party conducted a nationwide membership registration; yet, despite being the first ever of its kind, the success was too massive to escape bookmakers’ discussion.
At some point in the past, many thought, the party APC was going down the drain; internal rancor was almost tearing the party apart. Litigations were mounting up in courts across the country and the opposition was set to feed on the ills befalling the party, but suddenly the party was not only salvaged and taken out of the gutter of the impending collapse, but also turned within a period of one year to the most internally coherent political structure we have seen in a long time in our clime. It took the maestro of the game changer himself to bring the erring and aggrieved members back under the umbrella. The approach was simple; everyone saw the sincerity of actions and dispositions of the conflict resolution committee set up by the chairman. He genuinely gave everyone a place in the party without dispensation of fear or favour and the result is not only aggrieved members within the party shelving their swords, terminating virtually all litigations relating to the party and returning to fully contribute their parts to the continued development of the party, but also ace members of the opposition party, moving in drove into the party.
Governors, party bigwigs and movers, members of the National legislators were dumping the sinking PDP for APC in numbers; from across regions and zones of the country, the tallies stand the same. The silent achiever he is; not perturbed by the noise of PDP, the empty barrel that mistakens and abuses popularity by spreading false propaganda, but was busy presenting the APC to Nigerians in a way that is convincing enough for no one to deny and neglect. The unspoken truth now is that no one is left in the opposition who does not desire to have a place in the ruling party; the reason why the likes of Governor Wike would remain in the sinking ship till 2023 would be for their pride. They all can see the rejuvenation, the seriousness, and their non-competitiveness compared to the ruling party right now.
Someone asked me: why are the governors and PDP party bigwigs moving into the ruling party at a critical time in the life of the country like this when the opposition has repeatedly continued to poison the citizens to see the ruling party as the nemesis of the country. The response is very simple, the work has been made easy for the Buni-led Committee by the President. Across the country, right amid nationwide insecurity and economic woes, government presence, the dividends of democracy abound. PDP lies and propaganda would only mislead the gullible but not the informed. Nigerians see and would make their decisions regardless of opposition rhetoric. All His Excellency, Mai Buni has to do is to present the reality of APC’s sincerity and performances in contrast to the decaying PDP’s collapsing structure, administration, and internal incoherency.
The single act of making peace within the APC fold is enough boosts for the acceptance of the party by all citizens and politicians coming in and those that are on their way. The blueprint designed and implemented by the Buni-led committee must be integrated as the permanent blueprint for the party’s conflict resolution and definitely, we would begin to see political parties across the continent approaching to understudy the highly efficient conflict resolution plan.
I have come to learn two critical lessons from the rejuvenation of APC under the administration of His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni; good works speak louder than any other considerations, and you don’t have to join the noisemakers and haters in their enterprises to get your results. Continue with the good works and the result is bound to come.
GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA!
