PARTY SUPREMACY AND ELECTED OFFICIALS
Before an election the supremacy of the party over electoral candidates is unquestioned and unquestionable. But after the election the elected officials become the leaders of the nation and their political party loyalty shifts to the nation. Their political affiliation and loyalty is still held but the interest of the nation superintends. Many people who should know this seem not to know. Nigeria owns President Buhari much more than APC and PMB's loyalty is to Nigeria not to APC. APC is useful to him only when APC politicians help him achieve what is good for Nigeria. Since APC is not Nigeria, it follows that occasionally what is good for APC may not necessarily good for Nigeria. In such cases PMB would go against APC. The fight between President Obama and the Democratic Party on Fast Tracking is submitted as exhibit 1.
What is said above also applies to Saraki and Dogara the Senate President and the Speaker of the House respectively. It is because the leaderships of the Legislature are expected to hold the nation at a higher place than the party that the Senate and House rules call for the election of the leaders by ALL elected members regardless of party affiliation. The result is that most often the moderate members of the majority party is the one usually elected because such a leader would garner the required number of votes. This is exactly what happened in Abuja after the 2015 election. Nigeria expects that the policy to be implemented would be the ones that would serve a majority of Nigerian people. It will follow that since APC has a clear majority that APC's policies would dominate the new policy direction.
Nobody has so far insinuated that the election was illegal or failed to conform with parliamentary standards for if it were so they would have gone to court to settle the issues. What is happening in Abuja as I have implied in the past is that we do not have a true party called APC but an amalgam of power Hungary politicians who are seeking leadership position to carry out their personal agenda. Unfortunately for Nigeria she faces a paradox: until APC unites there will be no progress in the legislature; until the Legislature is united there will be no progress for Nigeria.
The challenge is how to get out of this quagmire.
APC must first get its house in other.
What is going on in Abuja is in another sense not a political fight but a tribal war in words. It is war between Igbo and Yoruba as they are being manipulated by Hausa Fulani who is using one to keep the other in check. The two young women are wooing a rich and handsome prince while the prince sits back enjoying himself and waiting for the winner to fall into his arms. Readers can arrange the illustration to be two men chasing a beautiful young woman. The fact that this is what is at issue is illustrated by the fact that at the center of the mess in Abuja is DSP Ekweremadu. All people who have aired their views have generally said that DSP Ekweremadu is unacceptable. APC, PMB and others have made this clear. Readers should note that APC, PMB and others are not saying that the presence of PDP as DSP is not acceptable. This silence implies that should Ikeoha give up his DSP position and is replaced by another PDP member from any other ethnic nationality it would be acceptable to APC (Tinubu wing at least). By making Ekweremadu the principal subject it makes PDP (SESS wing at least) more entrenched and resolution more intractable.
What happens next?
There is no easy way out. The current stalemate strengthens PMB's hands by giving him freedom from fragmented APC wish to control him and from PDP that would like to frustrate him. It also partially explains why he does not have an official cabinet. PMB is using the appointments to his cabinet as a bargaining chip. We must concede that PMB is a crafty statesman. After he has obtained maximum commitments from both side he will then announce his appointments, but for now he wants to give worshippers more time to beg for his grace.
What happens next could be the fragmentation of APC or the untangling of the weak coalition that brought PMB to Aso Rock. One thing that militates against this fracture is that PMB needs some support to get his policies through the legislature. APC is a ready instrument to use to accomplish that objective. But a solid APC controlled by Asiwaju would at the same time make the impeachment of PMB so that Asiwaju's son would take over, possible if not via impeachment then by election in 2019. PMB might protect himself by keeping the APC unity a low priority instead claim an alliance between Saraki and PDP to help him get his agenda on the road. It is an arrangement that is of course unique.
On the short term there seems to be no known resolution. And on the short term the promised “change” is not happening and ordinary Nigerians may be wishing for the “glorious days of GEJ” when there was something called government.
The smooth transition seems to be unravelling.
God save Nigeria from Nigerians
Written by Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba.