Of Tom/Nuhu's Defection and the Disappearance/Search for Idea-Based Opposition Parties in the Nigerian Political System!

See Some Excerpts From: "Game Change: The Uncertainty of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and A Case for Progressive Option", written March 16, 2012

Presently, PDP is creating a one party state through the back door - the number of committees and study groups so far created and being created by the President and his serving Ministers are more than necessary by any Government or Ministry to function effectively. They are systematically co-opting members of the opposition parties and retired technocrats into the government stealthily and openly, with a view to decapitating alternative voices and the opposition parties.

Don't be fooled, President Jonathan is a chip off the old block. He is a PDP in flesh and blood - once a PDP, always a PDP. What is most troubling is that ACN, CPC, and Labor [presently, APC] do not have leaders with a commanding presence at the national level to match the political strength and influence of PDP heavy weights lurking behind the political scene. Adding to that, none has the credibility or records of performance to brand a contrast and mount a vigorous nation-wide campaign to oust the ruling class from power at the national level.

Moving Forward:

The first step is to separate the wheat from the chaff within the progressives circle. There are numerous political parties in our country today, without any distinctive manifestos, but each masquerading as real alternative to the PDP. Within these parties you have pockets of real progressives laboring in vain to find a voice at the national level, while interlopers and career politicians hold sway and calling the shots.

For instance, the fact that you wear the Pa Awo style of hat doesn't make you an Awoist or imbue you with Awo's values and his leadership virtues. Do you profess Awoism in true sense, and be willing to apply them to the best of your ability relative to the volume of resources within your control - pragmatism? That is the test.

In other words, you don’t have to be an Afenifere to wear the crown. After all, Professor Claude Ake who introduced “Awo” as a course of study in his Faculty at the University of Calabar, was not in any shape or form a politician or of the Yoruba race. He was simply an authentic Awoist and a true witness to the accomplishments of the late sage. That he decided to propagate the message (Awoism) to the younger generations via classroom setting was quite understandable. So, it is mandatory; Awoism shouldn't be about slogan and rhetoric, but action and performance. Right now, there are no traces of Awoism or the philosophy of Pa Awo in any of the registered  political parties in Nigeria. 

In similar vein, the fact that you exude an Aminu Kano's populist activism or image doesn't make you a lover of the talakawa or a talakawa sympathizer. Do you have what it takes to organize with righteous intent, designed exclusively to serve the under-class? Are you willing to practice egalitarianism? How many people have you liberated from poverty, decadence, illiteracy, and mental slavery? Are you willing to accept that there are people in your community deserving of socio-economic emancipation? That is the test. Alex Aidaghese, March 16, 2012

It's time true PROGRESSIVES stand out and be counted. It's time true PROGRESSIVES stop running after political leaders who have never in their actions or utterances profess egalitarianism or populist principles in governing process. It's time commentators in the social media who espouse progressive and populist principles stop whining and crying over defection of the Toms, the Nuhus, and all the Femis of our body politic to where they truly belong - the conservative block. It's time non-aligned progressives and non-political progressives storm the Nigerian Political Scene by any means necessary and rescue the progressive movement from interlopers, and positioning it in line with the thoughts and visions of the Enahorohs and the Soyinkas, the Pa Awos, and the true maverick of Nigerian politics, Malam Aminu Kano. We cannot save Nigeria without changing it. President Jonathan, granted, is not originally from the usual power clique; nevertheless, his presidency is a vital element of the status quo, an extension of the IBB/Obasanjo hegemony. Therefore, the narrative shouldn't just be about how to kick GEJ out of Aso Rock, but about dislodging PDP as a political party from managing our political system. That was where Tinubu and Buhari and the entire leadership of APC got it wrong. GEJ is a broda; not just to me, but to most minority men. If you take the fight personal, as you have been doing, most guys will rally round him. If, on the other hand, you direct the fight at his political party (PDP) on ideological ground, you stand a better chance of getting new supporters and nation-wide acceptance.