Democracy 1999-2007: "PDPgate"?

There will be time for history and posterity. There will even be space for revisionist heist and hackers. Oh yes, there will be time for honour and ultimate disrobement. It will ALL come!

As eye-witnesses and active citizens of the land, we must help history with base material and fore-help posterity with healthy suppositions. We should do so with a fair and open mind. We must not hide behind one finger, as our elders warn.

After the evil of military rule/dictatorship, did democracy dawn us a new day or a near doom? Can we or do we look back on the 1999-2007 era with pride or pain?

As the dominant political force, was the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) truly "power to the people" or tragically "PDPgate"?

What lessons for da future?

It is difficult, even painful, to deny ourselves and the role we played or did not play in the ways of the past. Are we all culpable? Well...

Now, to the meat of our matter. Those who led must ask themselves the following questions, just as those who lead now:

a) What were the expectations of Nigerians in 1999?
b) What did both the PDP and its various candidates promise the voters?
c) What were the levels of national resources vs the levels of budget-implementation?
d) How much was consumed as recurrent expenditure vs capital votes?
e) What was spent as security votes at each tier of government?
f) How much did local and foreign trips cost the nation?
g) Where are the projects financed by our huge external debts recently settled?
h) Of all indicted or suspected looters, how many are of the PDP?
i) When will federal agencies and the presidency be audited, probed or cleared?
j) Did the ruling party have or uphold democratic practices within its fold?
k) Were the electoral bodies at all levels truly or ever independent?
l) Why was our petroleum sector shrouded in darkly secrecy, with loud hints of "monkey " business and screams of "cloak & dagger" gymnastics?
m) Why were legislators helpless or colluding with their (as is now so clear) reckless executives?
n) With the failure of public utilities and parlous state of infrastructure, how can the party sell its diabolical statistics of a successful tenure or healthy economy? Where were them graphs cooked or manufactured from?? Where are the spin doctors today???
o) Over its tenure, and particularly leading up to the April elections, what is the aggregate image and record of the party and its governments as regards da rule of law, obeying court orders and deploying security forces/agencies?
p) Where are the founders and other distinguished elders of the PDP today? What are their tales of separation, and parting shots of angst or love?

Final Question: Why are successors (though mindlessly and ruthlessly imposed by the PDP) so consciously, cautiously, cleverly, courageously and calculatingly dismantling the old order, gradually and gratingly gravitating away from the party line, and publicly parting ways with the ways of their benefactors/godfathers???

Ultimate Pointer: Have you been reading celebrated press interviews of erstwhile pillars and partisans of the party recently? Using big grammar to describe their regime's failure, and sledge hammer to slam their former leaders? As the race for party positions heats up after the NWC resigns from October, and the corruption trials take their tolls - compounded by some lost cases from the election tribunals - how will the public posturing pan out? Will the centre still hold?

Verdict? May the reader don the voter's hat and answer the intriguing posers above. Then, decide. May the party wear the citizens' robe and answer all the unnerving posers above. Then, decide. Was the eight-year era for gain or for pain?

Did we have PDPgain.....or.....PDPgate!!!

PDP "Crunch" Fortnight!

With its "Red Alert" Weekend tentatively concluded, Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party is starting its "Crunch" Fortnight Monday, 11 December 2006. Reports from around the country now indicate a mixed bag and very mixed fortunes for both candidates and party in the governorship primaries. All incumbent first-term governors, including the usurper in Oyo State, won. Just as the so-called "anointed" or "imposed" candidates scaled through, the aggrieved and disenfranchised either boycotted or are protesting loudly. Several states had either postponed or cancelled or rescheduled the primaries. The fallouts will unfold this week. So, we wait.

Presidential aspirants will be screened from Monday. This, as there are rumours that the party hierarchs are scheming for either a consensus candidate or to impose a favourite of the top man. Rumours! But you know how these things come or go.

Why "Crunch" Fortnight? Because this is the top prize. And many will do any and everything to clinch it.

Why "Crunch" Fortnight? Because the party still thinks that it controls the political scene and thus holds the key to President Obasanjo's successor. So, its leaders swing and stagger with a touch of arrogance and a hint of invincibility. Understandably.

Why "Crunch" Fortnight? Because several erstwhile opposition leaders (some say these were always moles/spoilsports!) have returned or defected to the ruling party, in quest for the post or some collateral consolation. And these include some really big names, legislators, and a sitting governor!

Why "Crunch" Fortnight? Because the party chieftains are determined to bar Nigeria's vice president from contesting...at all costs, it seems. He is one of the founding pillars and has a chunk of devoted followers in the PDP! Of course we all know about the raging battle between him and his boss...over some alleged corrupt practices. The VP has already formally declared for the race. Battle Royale is ahead.

Why "Crunch" Fortnight? Because everything be not up for grabs, yet nothing is sure.

If this process gets murky or marred (we pray not), then, the fallout will meld with that of the "Red Alert" Weekend to compound the party's simmering problems. The combination could combust its electoral prospects and political fortunes. Watch out.

Worrisome is the fact that, despite the party's spirited denials and continuous assurances, its members are spinning rumours like hell, some swearing that there is a hidden agenda! Many many times in the past, we have found that "there was no smoke without a fire". So, there.

PDP leaders should keep their word, and their honour: Be free, fair and transparent in both the screening and the primary election for the presidential slot. No more, no less!