By Garba Shehu
As the war on corruption heightens, the political battle-line
between the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP has sharply been drawn.
While leaders from
both parties voice out their support for the clean-up of the country by ridding
it of corruption, the National Working Committee of the PDP seems clearly to be
working contrary to the anti-corruption rhetoric of their Board of Trustees.
Their public communication organs have, in particular, become increasingly
combative against the exercise.
*Buhari
All that the
President, leading the APC change orchestra, is trying to do is to revamp a
moribund nation with growth, jobs and recovered looted funds. Sadly, only a
few, if any in Wadata House are treating the war against corruption as the
extra-ordinary event which it is. Instead, when they speak up, they do so most
ardently against it. In a clear demonstration of obstructionist politics, they
challenge the government in every move it makes, but fail to spell out
alternative roadmaps to curbing the monstrous corruption that threatens to
consume the country; they rush to condemn and dramatize even the smallest of
measures which, given time and patience will manifest through positive
outcomes.
Doing this gives the PDP the illusion of being an effective opposition party but taken in the context of national interest and the mood of the nation, it is doubtful it is yielding anything beyond limited political returns. To most Nigerians, the cacophonous opposition is just a media spectacle to distract or mellow the President.
After an historic loss in an election to the opposition for the first time in the annals of this country’s political history, PDP has not looked inwards in any serious way to seek its revival. The first and major leap at reform ended disastrously when first, the party establishment rejected a well-timed apology tendered on its behalf for their past failures. Then, the leader of the reform movement got himself mired in allegations leading to court charges of the theft of billions of Naira voted for weapons purchase to fight terror in the North East. Chief Raymond Dokpesi's trial (and Col. Dasuki's) is no doubt a serious blow to any prospects of a turn-around in the PDP.
Doing this gives the PDP the illusion of being an effective opposition party but taken in the context of national interest and the mood of the nation, it is doubtful it is yielding anything beyond limited political returns. To most Nigerians, the cacophonous opposition is just a media spectacle to distract or mellow the President.
After an historic loss in an election to the opposition for the first time in the annals of this country’s political history, PDP has not looked inwards in any serious way to seek its revival. The first and major leap at reform ended disastrously when first, the party establishment rejected a well-timed apology tendered on its behalf for their past failures. Then, the leader of the reform movement got himself mired in allegations leading to court charges of the theft of billions of Naira voted for weapons purchase to fight terror in the North East. Chief Raymond Dokpesi's trial (and Col. Dasuki's) is no doubt a serious blow to any prospects of a turn-around in the PDP.
