PDP AND ITS EXCESSES

Right there we go... It is may 1st,2015 and it is the greatest boxing match in history and also the highest money spinning match in history, billed as the "fight of the century" - it's the undefeated FLOYD MAYWEATHER JNR vs MANNY "PACMAN"  PACQUIAO. Thus turned out to be a brutal and intense fight watched by over a hundred million people around the world and ultimately won by the "moneyman" himself, Floyd Mayweather. But in the case of this piece, the fight is not between two traditional boxers nor is it a boxing match that would be watched by a hundred million people around the world but this is a political fight between two political heavyweights, Ali modu-sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi. But nonetheless this fight still shares some striking and significant similarities with the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight. They are both a "fight" just that in this case unlike the Mayweather - Pacquiao match which is a boxing fight, ALI MODU-SHERIFF vs AHMED MAKARFI fight is a political one. Another significant similarity is just like the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight was watched by hundreds of million of people around the world, the ali modu sheriff vs ahmed makarfi fight is also being watched with grasp attention by hundreds of million of people in Nigeria and also in the world over. However the biggest and most significant similarity I believe the ali modu sheriff - ahmed makarfi shares with the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight is that at the end of this fight and tussle there is only going to be one result which is the WINNER and the LOSER. It has always been the case from time immemorial. Whenever a fight erupts between two individuals or groups of people, there is going to be only ONE winner. Now the ultimate question is who is going to emerge the winner from this intense fight? Ali modu-sheriff or Ahmed makarfi?

It all started like a child's play when the seat of the people democratic party chairmanship seat became invariably vacant in the aftermath of the resignation of its acting chairman, Uche Secondus. Events and situations that have unfolded and still yet to unfold after this have been nothing but shocking, eye-catching and disastrous to say the least. It has been a show of shame. It can be said be said to be nothing short of disgraceful that a party once branded the largest political party in the whole of Africa are going through a path of low esteem and a ridiculous period in time that they can't even choose their own leader from a concensus vote. This is absolutely ridiculous and catastrophic. Without sounding too critical and harsh, I think the people democratic party have all but dwindled into oblivion. The PDP are currently going through their darkest days since the party was formed in 1998. As the days go by and the chairmanship tussle lingers on, the party keeps going down the memory lane, the party keeps becoming irrelevant and outdated as far as the game of politics is concerned, and the expectations of Nigerians of them becoming a strong and objective opposition to the government of the ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS becomes weakened. And the worst of the problems is-they can't even help it!

And the bad news for them is just as these fracas and tussles is threatening to dismantle the foundation of the party, this is exactly working in the opposite direction for their opposition, the APC. This is working in favour of the APC. Just as the the PDP is getting very weakened beyond words by the day, the governing APC is getting way much stronger and bigger. The APC headed by the ever popular John Odigie-Oyegun are making history. Whether the "history" in this case is duly deserved or not is a question for another day but the bottom line remains that they are making history of some sort. Members of the opposition PDP are defecting to APC in their hundreds and they are defecting fast. When you have a political ambition and desperate for power and you find out that your current you are in are not doing enough for you towards fulfilling your ambition, what do you do,? You jump ship, rite? And that 's exactly what the PDP members are doing and they seem to be doing it in their large numbers. Critics have come up with a theory of "disloyalty", criticising the defected members of being disloyal and power thirsty but again whether this criticisms is justified or not remains to be seen. It is a matter and process of time. Time I believe, will be the judge. The present situation still remains that there is a massive defection of PDP members to APC.

Three substantial theories could be effectively deduced to be the main reasons for the PDP collapse. First is their loss in the last general elections. PDP where roundly beaten to their game in majority of the states, seats in the house of Representatives and the senate and most of all,  in the presidential election. This obviously weakened the PDP, and to my disappointment, they've not yet recovered from this fall. The second reason is the leadership tussle ravaging their party. What could be said of a party of PDP status not to be able able to elect or atleast "select" their own leader. That is nothing but discouraging. And finally, I think am forced to agree with the critics that labeled their members as disloyal and hypocrites. If the party members had stuck together as one, and not defected like "domestic dogs" that leaves their parents to follow a stranger with a piece of bone, the disaster befalling them might not have happened in the first place. Maybe they would have won the battle of coming together and re-strategising for the next elections come 2019. But what Nigerians have on ground now is the remains of a party that have nonetheless failed the Nigerian people.


Exclusively written an edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE for odogwublog.com
Daniel Ekwunife is a political analyst and International affairs observer.