Organising parties for specific struggles

Organising parties for specific struggles

"BUT, why can't these people organise a political party specifically to fight against zoning?" asked a Calabar politician in anger. He was reacting, in Calabar, to the reported declaration by Alhaji Abubakar Rimi that he would no longer abide by his party's policy of zoning political offices, and would, henceforth, support the decision of any Nigerian to contest any office of his or her choice. He would, in particular, contest the 2003 presidential election regardless of the part of the country to which the post would be zoned by his party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP). Rimi holds that the zoning principle is undemocratic. He complained that in the 1999 election, he was persuaded to withdraw his presidential candidature for the sake of party and national unity and to ensure that no excuse was given to make the military go back on its pledge to relinquish power. But he is now convinced, more than ever before, that the principle of zoning poses immense dangers to party and national unity and, indeed, to the survival of democracy in Nigeria. I have known Abubakar Rimi for about 20 years. I admire his straight-talk culture. Whether he is right or wrong is another matter, whether you agree with him or not is a different question. The point is, Rimi is a straight-talker. And this should be admired in a country like Nigeria and in a "political class" like the one to which Rimi belongs.

However, the Calabar politician is right: politicians and activists like Rimi, who hold strong positions on Nigeria's social-political system but who are nonetheless persuaded that abstaining from electoral politics under this system is undesirable should resolve the conflict by organising political parties whose main platform would be the campaign for political reforms. In particular, the agitations for "political restructuring", "true and fiscal federalism" and "resource control" ought, by now, to have produced strong political parties committed to the realisation of these reforms. The present ruling parties in Zambia and Malawi were organised specifically to fight for "multi-party democracy" in their countries. The main opposition party in Zimbabwe was founded for the establishment of "democracy" in the country. Whether these parties were sincere or have been able to deliver on their promises is quite another matter. The point is that they chose an important issue in the country, made it their main political platform and fought elections on that platform.

There is, in leftist politics, a revisionist argument, very old, but ever current. It goes somewhat like this: "You can only change a system from within, in any case, it is much easier to change a system from within than from without. You should therefore find a means of getting into power or joining those in power, to be able to practicalise your ideas. Otherwise, you risk becoming irrelevant in politics - that is, if you are not imprisoned or rendered materially miserable, or even killed." This argument which I have deliberately simplified, is sometimes presented with much rigour and sophistication, especially by Marxists. It is nonetheless revisionist and often opportunistic. The opportunism inheres in its generalisation to cover all situations: From Abubakar Rimi to Balarabe Musa; from Gani Fawehinmi and Femi Falana to Olisa Agbakoba; from Anthony Enahoro to Marxist Leftists. Although our political history has provided thousands of examples of how the principle of entrism can lead to disaster for individual entrists and whole communities and organisations, the entrist argument has proved resilient. It is resilient not because it is correct. It is not. It is resilient because political activists of the left have failed in two particular directions. First, they have failed to credibly combine non-electoral politics with electoral politics. Hitherto, it has been an "either - or" attitude, abandoning or even denouncing popular struggle as soon as they become electoral politicians or are appointed into political offices. Secondly, they have failed to elevate their advocated reforms or transformations to the status of clear electoral platforms undiluted by entrist principles and political alliances.

Going through the programmes and various position statements of the Peoples' Redemption Party (PRP), the Movement for National Reformation (MNR) and the National Conscience Party (NCP) and consulting my political notes, I find at least three issues from which a political party genuinely committed to reforming the Nigerian polity can choose a main election campaign platform while not ignoring other issues of "good governance." These are: the sovereign national conference; geo-political and fiscal restructuring; human rights and directive principles of state policy. It follows from here and what I have earlier said in connection with Abubakar Rimi that political parties can also be organised specifically to oppose any or all of these platforms.

The call for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) is essentially a campaign for a new agreement by living Nigerians on how they want Nigeria and its peoples to be governed and its resources managed and administered: fairly and equitably for the benefit of all Nigerians. The name historically given to this type of agreement is constitution. In the formal sense therefore, an SNC is a constitutional conference. But it is a constitutional conference of a particular type, reflecting the turbulence of the country's history, and the abuses and dehumanisation to which its peoples have been subjected over a very long time. The demand for an SNC also reflects the experience that the world has accumulated over such conferences in the past decade, or so. The current (1999) Constitution is no constitution at all. It is a mockery which powerful people and institutions interpret the ways it suits them. A sovereign national conference, the way it is conceived, will reflect the complexity of the nation and the current problems and demands. The composition of the conference will therefore, of necessity, be complex: comprising, democratically elected representatives of the people as Nigerians, representatives of ethnic nationalities, non-party organisations of the civil society and Nigerian state institutions. The political party or parties canvassing a sovereign national conference will have to work out the relationship between the conference and the incumbent government and the way its decisions will be ratified and put into effect. This, together with the composition, structure and rules of the conference will define its sovereignty.

Geo-political restructuring has two components: territorial and political. The territorial component entails, first, the grouping of the present states into regions as a way of bridging the gap between the strength of the Federal Government and the weakness of the states; secondly, adjusting, where necessary, the boundaries between the present states and even creating new states; and thirdly, creating new local government council areas or adjusting the boundaries between the existing ones, as the case may be. The political component of restructuring entails, first, the distribution of functions and powers, including the powers of material appropriation, between the three levels of government: federal, state and local; secondly, redefining unambiguously, the relationships between them; and thirdly, establishing the status of the regional structure. Although the demand for true or fiscal federalism can be subsumed under the campaign for geo-political restructuring, it has now become necessary to treat resource control, a particular aspect of true or fiscal federalism, as an autonomous subject.

The party or parties genuinely committed to social reforms may start with a thorough critique of chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the 1999 Constitution. These deal with Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy (Chapter 2), Citizenship (Chapter 3), and Fundamental rights (Chapter 4). For this exercise the party or parties will required the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the United Nations' Declaration on Human Rights and the Conventions, Charters and Declarations of the United Nations' General Assembly as well as United Nations' sponsored conferences on social, economic, political, legal, religious, cultural and gender rights. The objective here is to produce a document of comprehensive and concrete rights to be enjoyed by the Nigerian people everywhere and at all time. The rights should be comprehensive, they should be justiciable, that is, legally enforceable. The document should also include the duties and obligations of the Nigerian state and its various governments to the Nigerian people and, of course, conversely. Not to be left out is the question of state robbery, nepotism, corruption and the proportions of the wealth of the nation that state and political functionaries are permitted to appropriate as salaries and allowances, or steal, either directly or through privatisation.

November 2001