Who Will Save Us From PDP?

By Adewale Francis

By any law of political or
social science it [Nigeria]
should have collapsed or
disintegrated years ago.
Indeed it has been described
as a failed state that works.
Maybe but some people are
living fabulously wealthy lives
amid the ruins. And others
survive and get by. How? It’s
a mystery” – Richard
Dowden.

Many Nigerians died during
the long enduring march to
democratic rule during the
terrible days of Babangida
and Abacha military rule.
They died with the hope that
they and their children will
one day live free from
oppression. They died with
the hope that a Nigerian
nation where justice and
equality before the law will
triumph over dictatorship.
We thought we won that
freedom from the jackboot of
dictatorship when we
succeeded in driving military
rule from governance of our
nation in 1999. Sadly, the
democracy we got is not the
one we fought for, the
government we have does
not in any way look like the
government of the people for
the people. Our struggle was
hijacked by militricians who
care less if Nigerians eat
from garbage or live in
ramshackle houses. What is
more, they have also hijacked
our judiciary, the only and
perhaps last hope for the
common man in Nigeria.
Even during the terrible days
of military rule we have
military rulers who are willing
to listen to the voice of
reason by our judiciary.
One could recall an attempt
by the regime of Raji Rasaki
to forcibly evict Dim Emeka
Ojukwu from his father’s
house at Villaska Lodge,
Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Biafran war General
simply went to court and the
Supreme Court restored him
to his home with an order.
The then military rulers do
not pick and choose court
orders they will choose to
abide. Fast forward to the
civilian rule of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and
you can bet Ojukwu would
have rot on Queen street,
waiting for the government of
the day to obey a decision of
judiciary restoring him to his
home.
How else can one explain the
refusal of the People’s
Democratic Party to honor
the decision of the
constitutionally created
Judicial Council restoring
Justice Salami to his position
as President of the Court of
Appeal?
Time and again, PDP as a
party have shown itself to be
anything but a democratic
party. Its conventions often
end in charade. Party
members’ burn and maimed
each other, use any means
including violence to win
electoral primary and then
dragged the main election
between parties to court
based on the rigged primary.
None of its governors save
Governor Duke, can be said
to have performed with any
distinction, rather they have
been indicted by anti-
corruption agencies in
Nigeria and abroad. It is a
party that could not be
trusted to obey its own
constitution not to talk of the
country’s constitution. They
rule by their own dictates
and answer to no one but
themselves only. The party
and its members can be
fingered in every political
murder, assassination and
mayhem since 1999. Their
thirst for Nigerian innocent
blood is evident in the many
air disasters, road accidents
and terrorist attacks foisted
on the nation by their willful
and negligent misrule of
every federal governmental
agency.
It is against this background
that many thought Jonathan
promise to bring a change to
politics as usual was viewed
as a breath of fresh air when
Nigeria helped restore him to
presidency after the demise
of his former boss- Umar
Yardua. What we forgot is
that it is difficult for a
leopard to change its skin
colors. And now we know
that the salvation of our
country lies in our collective
struggle to rid our land of
Peoples Destroyer Party!
Sadly, our options are
severely limited. Even when
we vote, we have been told
that “he who counts the vote
determines the outcome of
the election”.
We can choose to drag them
before the judiciary but they
will pick and choose the
court order they will obey.
We are indeed running out of
options other than mass
protest and rallies. The petrol
subsidy protests in January
make it apparent that the
government will do anything
to infiltrate the ranks of
prodemocracy activist and
hijacked it for its own selfish
ends. It is time for
prodemocracy activist to go
back to the drawing board
and start strategizing on how
to rid our land of every
vestiges of People’s Destroyer
Party. We may not have a
country left when the looters
in government are finished
with us. History will not
forgive us if we sit idly by
while we let them destroy
our hard earned democracy.

#CONSENSUS 2015