There is disquiet in the once-peaceful
house of the All Progressives Congress(APC). To put it more lightly, all does
not appear to be well. After the March 28 presidential election, most
people(including this writer) only imagined“doom” for the party’s bitter rival,
the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) after it lost the presidential election.
The
APC strategists must have thought that with the presidency in the bag, all will
be well after all. But this was never to be. Can it be the case that the tables
are turning fast?
This writer has written severally on the
need for the party to review its post Presidential election strategies and
attitudes. Like I have always maintained, it appears the party overestimated
its position against the PDP. Another possibility is that some APC “optimists”
might have felt the PDP would have given up just because they have lost the
presidential election.
But if recent events are anything to go by, it appears
to me that the tables are turning and fast against the APC except things are
done now, and fast!
Bad enough it is that more than a month
after President MuhammaduBuhari was sworn-in, Nigerians are still left in the realms
of speculations about the administration’s cabinet selections, ideological
colouration and policy direction. To me, this only confirms that we are to
agree with those who observed that the party is not really prepared for the
Presidency.
If we take the face value of this position from the standpoint of
recent events in the National Assembly crises and the APC government is yet to
properly form about a month into its swearing-in, then we may not be too far
from correct.
In parenthesis, it was reported in a/some national newspaper(s)
in the heat of the presidential campaigns that the party had in fact given up winning
the election and has decided to mortgage the presidency for winning the
gubernatorial elections in some states.
Like I wrote earlier, the warnings of the
escalation of crises within the party have gone largely unheeded. They only
expressed in the recent National Assembly crises. This does not mean the PDP
doesn’t have its own set(s) of internal contradictions; the only difference is
that the latter was able to properly diagnose its problems and root them out ruthlessly
while the latter pretended all was well. Can you now see how the tables turn?
Immediately after the presidential
election, there was loud noise with the former ruling party over its loss of
power. Suddenly “factions” arose as to who was to blame for the party’s loss. The
situationcalmed down with the “removal” or “resignation” of the party’s
erstwhile National Chairman-AlhajiAdamuMua’azu.
At least for now, there appear
to be a boost of morale for the PDP following its control of the National
Assembly with which it could use as a protective shield for itself at least for
the next four years. All these the PDP did while our APC strategists were on
holidays enjoying their honeymoon.
One should be surprised the APC strategists
could not see or pre-empt the present crises with a view to preventing this
mess. One would equally have doubted the party’s foresight for thinking the
well-known PDP would just give up a fight after losing in the first round.
If
the party did not see the fact that the PDP infiltrated its ranks before the
elections, then one is left to wonder if they did any proper diagnosis of the
PDP at all. If the APC missed out on all these, then my unsolicited adviceis
that the party leaders should by now be in the market shopping for strategists!
Some things can be very painful. It can be
more painful when you are bitten in your own devices, your own game. Just about
four years, the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) one of the merging parties in
the present APC, openly celebrated the victory of AminuTambuwal as Speaker of
the House of Representatives which the PDP had to live with for four years.
For
those who know, the APC’s position was strengthened by the PDP’s loss of that
position. The APC has every right to kick; to weep; to make loud noise or to
scream because the tables are turning and fast!
I will not end this piece without the
mention of the chorus in the beautiful lines from the British song writer,Adele Laurie Blue Adkins’ (better known as
Adele) song “Turning Tables”
which goes thus:
I won't let
you close enough to hurt me, no
I won't ask you, you to just desert me
I can't give you what you think you gave me
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables, to turning tables
Turning tables, yeah, turning
I won't ask you, you to just desert me
I can't give you what you think you gave me
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables, to turning tables
Turning tables, yeah, turning
So, whoever must turn the table must always be in
the position of strength. If the APC must take any advice I gave or have given,
it must be this one!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OlalekanWaheed
ADIGUN is a political risk analyst and an independent political strategist for
wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns. He is based in Lagos,
Nigeria.
His write-ups can be viewed on his website http://olalekanadigun.com/
Tel:
+2348136502040, +2347081901080
Follow
me on twitter @adgorwell
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