It is no longer news that our political parties and institutions are largely captives of an oligarchy and serve mostly their interest and that of the few rich allies and powerful politicians. Or that our leaders have failed to unite and inspire our diverse peoples as a nation. As the APC congress draws near, it bears reminding that politics of patronage is central to what ails the political party administration viz-a-viz system of governance in Nigeria.
Our dysfunctional democracy gets its root from failed party system hence the administration that stems from the failure of the electoral system to excise the virus of the politics of patronage that has infected our elections. This vicious politics of patronage has allowed few oligarchs and bosses to rule us from colonial times to post-colonial times, and their rule has brought us nothing but a facade of democracy, its mirage but not its miracle.
The agenda of the oligarchy, the political dynasties, clans and cabals who get their candidates sponsored by their overburdened influences on party administration and get elected allow their legitimate capture of state institutions. They build on this dominance and perpetuate themselves in power, positions and wealth. It is unfortunate that all these deformities are intertwined and protected by the lapses inherent in the 1999 constitution. And this clearly call for a paradigm shift both from the political parties and in the system of governance.
The best that can happen to any of our political parties is having an enigmatic leadership that is full of energy, vibrancy, intellectualism, focus-driven and free of the usual cleavages. The country needs leaders who will lead and not hide behind power to escape accountability. There must be an agenda with patriotism as the hallmark for all those seeking party and public offices. Those that do not require us reading between the lines to know the direction that are headed. At this time, what we don’t need are individuals that use God to court our votes but are actually after their personal interests.
As the public expect more drama to unfold, the number of aspirants seeking the chairmanship of the APC is a welcome development for a party in government. And this is stirring the party and its various leadership groupings. Other political alliances may also step in as the election fever heats up. At this point however, neither of those in the old class or maintaining status quo deserve a place in the new party leadership; the APC deserve it better now than ever to maintain the lead and improve its electoral fortunes.
To all of the aspirants to the chairmanship, the decision to go for it should be as sacred as going to the polling booth to vote. Since the vote is sacred, there is a bigger responsibility on the part of potential leaders to decide and prepare to be a leader of this party and country.
The APC vision of the future and the nation requires a chairmanship candidate who must bring before the APC members and by extension the people, a vision of the future and the nation, which he will strive to realize if he is fortunate enough to get elected. That vision must be personal, shared by his party and supporters. He cannot substitute for this the vision or record of his predecessor or political godfathers; in the end he must lead alone.
Any of the aspirants could quickly become serious and viable candidate for the party’s highest office if he can do things differently when he announces his candidacy in the coming party congress once he can do the needful.
First, he should run on a platform of conviction politics – of fundamental values as a new breed politician, and what he believes will best serve the party and its purposes. Second, he should go against the grain of the entrenched political culture of dynastic politics, sectionalism, favouritism, money politics, parasitism on the public payroll, cronyism and patronage.
In recent weeks, names of former governors, ex-ministers and serving senators such as Tanko Al-Makura, Danjuma Goje, George Akume, Abdulaziz Yari, Mallam Saliu Mustapha, Abdullahi Adamu and Mohammed Sani Musa have been pronounced as likely successor to the former national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole. No doubt, they are all eminently qualified and loyal to the party.
However, one of the most unassuming contenders on everyone’s lips is Senator Mohammed Sani Musa – the senator representing Niger East in the 9th Senate. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa can quickly become a credible and potentially winning candidate if he can mould a vision for the party which will eventually translate to the nation and the future that the people can believe in. Musa is a plausible alternative candidate because he has chalked up a long and creditable record of service in both private and public sectors while his performance especially in the legislature stands him high despite being in it for just a little more than two years. The exercise of power will not be foreign to him.
It can well be said that this coming APC Congress will be an election about the future, not the past. Hence the real intentions of those seeking party and public office must be ideologically defined and promoted on the basis of shifting grounds from the status quo to a “new vision – new direction” – the doctrine that Senator Musa so believed in.
Despite APC seeking a consensus to the emergence of a new chairman, conviction politics should be the main driver. The party needs someone that will campaign based on his own fundamental values or ideas rather than attempting to represent an existing consensus or simply take positions that are popular in polls. And from various analysis, it is keen to mention that only thorough-bred new political actor can best fit in to this category and from all indications Senator Sani Musa is on this radar.
Pundits have argued that the incoming APC leadership should position the party for big, bold changes, grounded in the central principles of the driver’s ideology. The party need selfless, self-made and contented personality, who cannot be compromised easily with mouth-watering offers, but an honourable decisive personality that will set policies for the party based on clear and firmly held principles and which many believe Senator Sani Musa can accomplish for the APC.
True, Nigeria politics will never mature for as long as we are unwilling to end dynastic politics, reject cronyism and check money politics in our elections. Whoever happens to be the chairman of APC will face a herculean task of fixing the mess that has shrouded the party just as it is same with PDP and all other political parties in Nigeria.
Bakare is public policy commentator and analyst. He wrote from Abuja.
