The New Opposition Party in Town
The Peoples Democratic Party is not doing badly as an opposition party, writes Onyebuchi Ezigbo
Since the switch of fortunes that saw the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lose the last presidential election to the All Progressives Congress (APC), fears have been expressed as to how the PDP would fare in its new-found position as the symbol of opposition in the country. Understandably, such fears arose due to the beliefs that the PDP has been in the driver’s seat for a very long time, 16 years to be precise.
Within the period, the party has had access to the spoils of office such as better funding, lucrative government patronage and above all, held a prime position in media patronage. All these goodies were luxuries the opposition parties can ill-afford and yet, they were expected to function and keep the ruling party in check.
So, the concern of many was that given the sudden loss of power at the centre, will the PDP muster enough steam and courage to play the opposition role as expected? Will the party be able to adjust to its new role of giving Nigerians, especially those with dissenting voices a credible platform to push alternative view point?
Can the handlers of the PDP, particularly those in the publicity wing of the party be articulate enough to offer constructive criticism that will put the ruling APC-led government and party on their toes? Those were genuine concerns and fears of Nigerians after the ouster of the PDP in the last presidential election.
Some people felt the PDP might be unable to fulfill this role because it has been in power for too long and as such, does not know how it feels to be out of power, while others seriously hold the view that the party will be so depleted with exodus of defectors that the remaining ones will be so heart-broken and destabilised to offer any meaningful opposition.
Among those who expressed doubts that the PDP cannot play its role creditably were the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Mr. Kayode Ajulo. Mohammed, while cajoling his PDP counterpart, Chief Olisa Metuh even offered to provide free tutorials on how he played the role during his opposition days.
Ajulo, on his part, felt that the PDP has been so pampered in the last 16 years with government patronage that it would find it difficult to operate from the opposition front. He believed that PDP would rather embrace the new power block than stay-put in the opposition.
But in just two and a half months into the new dispensation, the PDP has achieved a remarkable turn-around. The party has taken its defeat in its strides and is gradually regaining confidence. Surprisingly, it was the PDP that woke up from its slumber occasioned by the defeat at the polls to pile up scathing criticism on the APC, which unfortunately found itself in an avoidable early quagmire in the National Assembly.
Like a boxer that suddenly found himself plummeted in the ring by his opponent, albeit temporarily, the APC was forced into a defensive position trying to ward-off an obviously rampaging Olisa Metuh from inflicting more injury to the image of the ruling party.
Metuh took the advantage of the early goofs by the APC leadership to try and shore-up the battered image of the PDP by insisting that what was happening within the ruling party was never the change Nigerians bargained for. He also spotted a hole in the delay in the formation of the federal cabinet and quickly capitalised on it to push the argument that APC is apparently not ready for governance or that the ruling party was showing signs of lack of capacity.
But for the enormous goodwill, trust and credibility which President Muhammadu Buhari commands locally and internationally, PDP would have succeeded in putting the administration under considerable pressure and possibly caused the APC to be in disarray. Another area which has proved a test case for the opposition party was the internal face-off it had with its employees over the management of party finances. The PDP had embarked on the downsizing of its staff in response to the present state of affairs.
But the move sparked off resistance from aggrieved workers, who in turn accused the party’s NWC of misappropriation of funds. The matter presented a delicate challenge for the man in charge of managing the image of the party. In fact, Metuh found himself in a dilemma and almost greatly constrained to continue to criticise the ruling party and its government when his house is not in order.
But the quick resolution of the crisis of confidence between the NWC and the workers and with an apology from the staff retracting their earlier damaging claims, the party has saved its image from the embarrassment. Also the National Publicity Secretary seems to understand very well the adage that says “charity begins at home” and that for anyone to come to equity, he or she must do so with clean hands.
And so, Metuh realised that being in opposition and firing shots at the ruling party and its administration calls for purity on his own side otherwise he may be consumed when the all-powerful government descends on him. Metuh has therefore said he would make himself available for probe by the Department of State Security Services or any anti-corruption agency.
Metuh in a statement said it was not unexpected that he would be subjected to persecution given the role of the National Publicity Secretary in the rebuilding of our great party and how uncomfortable the ruling APC has been for his outspokenness. According to Metuh, being aware of the challenges that come with his new role, he has offered himself, his office as well as all his private companies for probe by the Department of State Services (DSS) or any other government agency for that matter.
The PDP Spokesman has also secured the backing of his home state, the Anambra State chapter of the PDP, which recently exonerated him from an allegation that he worked against the interest of former President Goodluck Jonathan during the March 28, Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The allegation was leveled by the PDP staff welfare Association in the wake of the dispute they had with National Working Committee of the PDP over staff rationalisation. But in a communiqué issued by an enlarged meeting of all stakeholders of the party including senators Andy Uba, Stella Oduah, Uche Ekwunife and other members of the National Assembly from the state on PDP platform as well as the state Assembly and the newly elected State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the stakeholder dismissed as misleading allegation linking Metuh to any misappropriation of party fund.
They added that since Metuh is not a signatory to the PDP account in line with the party’s constitution, he could not possibly be in a position to approve, withdraw, disburse and account for funds of the party. The Anambra State chapter of the party said it was not unaware of the plans by the APC to deploy every means to distract and discredit Metuh and Senator Ike Ekweremadu respectively in order to deny the PDP a credible voice in its new opposition role.
However for Metuh and the PDP, the challenge of being an outspoken opposition requires more than just relying on mere sentiments of alleged witch-hunt but in presenting itself as a credible advocate for good governance and one who is ready to constructively engage the APC-led administration by always proffering credible alternative policy arguments.
No doubt, the PDP Spokesman may still be on the learning curve on his new opposition roles, he has so far shown competence in offering quick responses to perceived lapses in governance. But how far Metuh and the PDP can go in this challenging journey of opposition will only be determined by time and performance.
In just two and a half months into the new dispensation, the PDP has achieved a remarkable turn-around. The party has taken its defeat in its strides and is gradually regaining confidence. Surprisingly, it was the PDP that woke up from its slumber occasioned by the defeat at the polls to pile up scathing criticism on the APC, which unfortunately found itself in an avoidable early quagmire in the National Assembly