By, Uchechukwu Ugboaja & Osita C. Nweke<\/p>\n
For any democracy to flourish and the government in power made to fulfil
\nmost of its promises to the electorates, there must exist a virile and
\nresponsible opposition. This did not exist in the first two years of the
\ncurrent All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the center. The
\nreason being that PDP was in the limbo, struggling to live with the
\nchallenges associated with its new status as an opposition party in a
\ncountry where it boasted it would rule for 50years.<\/p>\n
The Poeples Democratic Party (PDP) which lost power in 2015 after 16years
\nwas bedevilled by intra party conflicts that lasted for over 14months
\nbefore the Supreme Court judgement ratified the Makarfi Caretaker
\nCommittee as the authentic leadership of the party. A victory that has
\nbeen described by political watchers to have provided another window for
\nPDP to provide the necessary opposition to keep the ruling APC in check.<\/p>\n
Although analysts are of the opinion that the functions of a political
\nparty in opposition is better appreciated in a parliamentary system of
\ngovernment especially the West Minister model in United Kingdom, where we
\nhave a shadow cabinet which is made up of senior members of the parliament
\nfrom the opposition party that are designated with ministerial portfolios
\nthat they are expected to defend and proffer their party’s position during
\nparliamentary debates. This could also be well replicated in the current
\npresidential system of government practiced in Nigeria today where the
\nopposition can clearly provide the party’s position on any government
\npolicy.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the PDP minority caucus in the Senate and House of
\nRepresentatives are expected to be more active in presenting positions of
\nthe party on topical issues of public interest during their debates in the
\nNational Assembly. This is actually imperative to the extent that the
\npeople appear to be more closer to the Parliament than the executive in
\nterms of constituency access.<\/p>\n
However, the important things is for the public to be aware of PDP
\nposition on critical national issues for example the citizenry will like
\nto know the position of PDP on current clamour for the restructuring of
\nthe Federation ? What is the PDP position on how to revive the national
\neconomy and dwindling exchange rate of the naira against the dollar ?<\/p>\n
How can the PDP government solve the recurrent Boko Haram insurgency,
\nsessionists agitations by Indegenous Peoples of Barry (IPOB), the
\nincessant threat of militants in Niger Delta region, the rise of
\ncommercial kidnapping in the South-west and the endemic scourge of the
\nFulani herdsmen against farmers in various part of the country as well as
\ntheir position on the rehabilitation of Federal roads and other
\ninfrastructure.<\/p>\n
Another issue the PDP has to address as we move towards 2019 general
\nelections is the reorganisation of the party. The forthcoming elective
\nnational convention billed to take place in December 2017, will provide
\nthe forum to resolve the contending issues of the party that was
\nresponsible for its intra party crises after the 2015 general elections.
\nFirst in the list, is the resolution of all outstanding intra party
\nconflicts at the national and state organs, the Peace and Reconciliation
\ncommittee which have been set up must resolve all the disputes and put
\nmembers in one page.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the party must be seen to embrace internal democracy in its
\nnational convention and state congresses. Imposition of candidates both in
\nthe election of its party leadership and its flag bearers for elective
\nposition should be resisted. The funding of the political party should be
\ndemocratised, let all members contribute towards the funding of the
\nparty.<\/p>\n
How does the party plan to deal with the activities of god fathers which
\nnormally start with the provision of the entire revenue of the party ? If
\nthe PDP is interested in winning the hearts of the people again, all these
\nshould be discouraged. As a matter of urgency the first priority of the
\nnew chairman of the party after the national convention will be to engaged
\nin a robust membership drive across the country. This should include
\nbringing back aggrieved members of party that decamped to other political
\nparties as well as wooing new members to join the party.<\/p>\n
If the PDP is able to bring its members together and eschew those factors
\nthat weakened it before the 2015 general election, it could spring up a
\nsurprise in future elections.<\/p>\n
Finally, we cannot overemphasised the need for Nigeria to have a virile
\nopposition to check the ruling party from sliding into a dictatorship or
\ntyranny of any sort and for the rule of law, freedom of speech to be
\nsustained even as we must differenciatiate government criticism from hate
\nspeech which must be condemned in its entirety.<\/p>\n
Since any government without opposition or any known threat of been
\nremoved through the ballot box normally shirk its responsibilities, it is
\ntherefore the responsibility of the PDP to dig deep within itself and
\nprovide the needed opposition that will ensure Nigerians better governance
\nfrom the APC.<\/p>\n
Osita C. Nweke
\nInternational Institute of Journalism, Jahi District Abuja.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By, Uchechukwu Ugboaja & Osita C. Nweke For any democracy to flourish and the government in power made to fulfil most of its promises to the electorates, there must exist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n