Can Tinubu rescue AD?

By

Shehu Sani

The flag of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) carries a lone star. With the advent of democracy in 1999, the star rose and shone, dispelling the darkness of the conservative -dominated political landscape of Nigeria and beaming forth a progressive light. By the year 2000/2001, the star staggered in the galaxy of crisis of leadership. Then the star found itself on the suicide plane piloted by a reformed military apologist and panel beaten to shape in the name of expediency. In the aftermath of the April 2003 elections, the star fell. But for the survivor,  the Lagos chief executive, and his vigilant web of counter forces, the star could have  been smashed into smithereens.

The AD was intended to be a flame of hope for the masses of Nigeria. It was intended to be a rallying point for progressive and revolutionary forces who stood up in the defence of the ideals of freedom and democracy when the nation was held hostage by military dictators.

It was intended to be the realisation of all that Nigerians yearn, hope and dream for in a democracy. It was intended to be different, to be an alternative to the continuity of the status quo. What happened to the Alliance in the democracy? How did the giant become a midget? Can the star rise and shine again? Can the optimist defeat the pessimist on the future of the party?

The annihilation of the party by the Obasanjo civilian dictatorship is made smooth and easier by the following: opportunism and betrayal on the side of the party’s leadership, gullibility of its membership, deviation from its established principles, confusion of strategy, crisis of identity and domineering influence of ethnic jingoist spanning the last four years. The zoning formula that insist on the party headed by a northerner landed the party on the hand of an undertaker, in the person of Ahmed Abdulkadir. He literarily made Aso Rock his second home with an unrestrained access to the President and the presidency. The party rank and file turned the other side while it sank in slow phase, disarmed and neutralised. The PDP-led federal government was quite aware that AD’s territory is vital and its threat potent. The party was sold the dummy of an alliance. An alliance so undefined and unspecified but stuffed with deceptive bounties of juicy appointments and speculation. In one of its national executive council meetings, the fraudulent alliance was given a semblance of truth with a mandated committee set up to ‘meet with Obasanjo’ and perfect the terms of the alliance. With the usual zonal representation, the committee simply dissolve in the fluid of its mischievous and fraudulent conception. Among members, rumour became the order of the day and the dream of the night.

Before the April presidential elections, the party was stuck in meaningless and aimless valley of argument and indecision. Even the most upright and principled members of the party became drawn into the web of deceit. As a man with the ears of President Obasanjo, the party chairman, Abdulkadir hurriedly assumed an idol statue to the misinformed who became entrapped. Promises of ministerial, ambassadorial and board membership of federal parastatals was dangled to pacify critics, convince skeptics and pave way for the party’s slaughter in PDP’s hatchery. For a party that parades some of the best and principled brain that defy the military and sacrificed life and liberty for democracy it simply crumbled to the deceit of an Abacha politician who now wear a progressive clothing.

Unaware of the fact that President Obasanjo does not represent the interest of his class and associates spread across the country, all AD governors with an exception of Bola Tinubu, gave Obasanjo their heart, soul, mind and trust. They trusted Obasanjo and he thrust them out of their jobs. They played to the gallery and now ended in it. They campaigned for Obasanjo and defended him in case of attacks in such a way that made the President’s party and even PDP governors jobless.

The AD governors deluded themselves in ethnic flight of fantasy. Blindfolded, the hyena, Obasanjo pulled them across the Niger River on a paper boat. In the actual sense, Obasanjo’s PDP mischief in the southwest is not about bringing Yoruba to mainstream national politics, it is simply about mortgaging his people to the power cartel of retired military dictators of the northern extraction. This he did as a compensation for his rehabilitation and imposition as a President courtesy of one of the fraudulent event of the early part of this century: The elections.

The attitude of the former AD governors towards the way the party is run is one of nonchalance. Neglecting the fact that the existence of the party is the life buoy of their power base, they left the burden of the financial aspect of sustaining the party to Tinubu and other ghosts and goblins to shoulder. While they could be right for ‘refusing to use state funds’ to fund the party, they became wrong for not remaining vigilant to the onslaught of use of state funds by the PDP to dislodge them.

The AD as a party with roots in the struggle against military misrule must stand up high and be counted on the side of the people. For how long will AD stand on the fence? For how long will the party remain on the seesaw of complexity and indifference? The party’s sympathy and support for Obasanjo has not just destroyed it but has imposed on Nigerians a ruler now gradually becoming a monster. He is Mr. Know all. He is the only nationalist and patriot. He is the only saint.

The relevance of AD to the critical phase of the democratic process and its prospect for the future of democracy is principally and decisively dependent on its ability to now operate and function as a principle opposition party capable of challenging the misgovernance and evil of the imperial PDP-Obasanjo regime. The anti-people policies of the government demands of the party to clearly distance itself from the failure of leadership and misdeed of the PDP led federal government.

In the Alliance for Democracy today, Tinubu is the last man standing with a flaming torch. His position and his tilt is capable of affecting the fortune and future of the party. He can either revive the party to life or lay a wreath on it.

May 2004