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Obj and PDP: A marriage made in heaven

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BOMBSHELL: Obj calls Awujale, ruler of Ijebuland, a serial liar

There was a small frenzy over the weekend with the sighting of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at a PDP event. Observers were of the opinion that he just may be meandering his way back after publicly denouncing the party in the lead to the last general elections. Obj, as he is popularly called, had seriously denounced the party and also dramatically supervised the tearing of his identification card which to me finalized his exit.

This movement over the weekend, although denied has brought to my mind the lack of ideology in Nigerian politics. Our leaders are not steeped in ideology, hence the ease with which they shift camps and grounds. We are bereft of issue-based politics and continue to chase material value and ego-driven ambitions to the detriment of ideology which is usually the cement with which you weld political cohesion.

The bandwagon movement towards the APC during the last epoch perfectly explains this. Or, how do you explain strange bedfellows like the APC Leader, a well-known progressive dining on the same table as OBJ whose leaning is towards the conservative hue. This could only be possible as a result of blind short term opportunities.

Let’s look at what is happening in America today. I really do not like using them as examples simply because we are of a different culture and we face different challenges in national development, but this example is too big to be ignored. Today, the Republican Party is in a quandary simply because the strength of the institution has thrown up a mad man. There is nothing they can do legally do to stop him from emerging. Nothing. The best is refusing to vote for him or at worse vote for the democratic candidate for love of country and not due to any inducement or promise of political appointment. We have not heard anybody cross carpet, we have not heard anybody jump ship and tear his Identification card while urging all his supporters to come join the party.

The simple reason is ideology. The ideology of the party and the politician’s strong believe in it will not ever let him cross carpet. What would a Republican who was born into the Gun Lobby or is anti-choice be doing in the Democratic Party that supports a curb on the gun lobby or is pro- choice? What would a republican be doing in a party that has different views on the economy, a party pushing for more welfare, increased taxes, relaxing of the immigration laws?  He would be like a fish out of water.

But here what drives us is not ideology but once again self-motivated avarice. The offer for plump appointments, contracts and all would see a politician jump in and out of party depending on who controls the power of state. The controversial PDP chairman who has refused to step down is known to have criss-crossed both parties to a point now that even he is tired.

So it comes as no surprise to so many people that the sighting of OBJ at a PDP event could be translated into an attempt to come back. For all we even know, this could be him testing the waters, to gauge public response or also to gauge how this administration would react if such ever happened.

For us to grow as a nation, ideology has to come back to the centre stage for this would ensure policy continuity, give voters a clear direction as to what kind of leadership they would be voting for and finally give the nation a sense of purpose.

Let’s do the right thing.

 

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