By Godwin Amunde
The Director-General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman said the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) should be able to return to the original vision of the party whereby every member of the party should have a voting right during the process of electing leaders for the party and selecting candidates for elections at all levels.
In a statement titled: Seductiveness of Conventional Politics and the Challenges facing APC, made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, Lukman noted that instead of some of the dry press releases throwing banters at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders who are struggling to bounce back to political reckoning, the messages from the Caretaker Committee of the APC should be about rebuilding the party.
The PGF DG said poor consultations, coordination and communication makes party members to be contemptuous of every decision taken, which strengthens the confidence of those opposed to internal party reform.
He added that the solution to all these lies in the ability of the 13-member Caretaker Committee to work harmoniously with the required professional competence.
The statement read in part: It will be unfair to argue that the leaders of the legacy parties that produced the APC Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Rochas Okorochas All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and later the New Peoples Democratic Party (NPDP) did not make conscious effort to depart from the conventional Nigerian politics at the point of negotiating the merger in 2013.
It is to the credit of our leaders that the 2013 merger negotiations adopted a comprehensive process of party building covering issues of membership recruitment (registration), leadership formation (congresses and convention). Even the administrative setup of the party was a product of negotiation as the merging parties had to dissolve their administrative structure into the new APC.
Between February and June 2014, membership registration was followed with Wards (Saturday, April 5), Local Governments (April 12), States (April 23) Congresses and National Convention (June 14). Membership registration was organised with a clear vision that the party will produce a membership database, which should be democratically accessible with all the necessary infrastructural platforms. Accordingly, investment to establish a computerised Data Centre for the whole country located at No. 10 Bola Ajibola Street, Off Allen Avenue, Ikeja Lagos was undertaken.
This was the first of its kind undertaken by any political party and it underlined the commitment of APC leaders to produce a party, which is democratically controlled by members of the party. This implied that members will be able to produce both leaders of the party and candidates for elections as against the prevailing practices of some few delegates dictating the process.
As part of those initial debates, there was the decision that every election in the party, during Congresses, Convention and Primary will be based on the direct method, which will require every party member to take part. This was employed during the Ward Congresses of April 5, 2014. Part of the challenge was that the Congresses held at the time when the APC membership Data Centre was being setup and therefore records of membership wasnt very organised.
As at this point, in April 2014, the vision still remained that candidates selection process within the APC will be conducted based on the direct method involving every member of the party. To achieve that, under the Chief Bisi Akande leadership, the party invested considerable resources to complete the membership Data Centre before the commencement of candidates selection for the 2015 general elections. Unfortunately, on November 22, 2014, the APC Membership Data Centre was vandalised by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) based on the allegation that the party was going to clone INEC Permanent Voters Cards.
While it will be dishonest to claim that the attack on the APC Membership Data Centre is responsible for why the party resorted to the use of the delegate system to elect the partys candidates for the 2015 election, it is important to recognise that the vandalisation of the Data Centre weaken the capacity of the party to produce credible membership register. The old practices of taking over structures of party leadership by aspiring candidates for various elections have already consolidated itself in the APC. Perhaps, the only aspiring candidate that did not resort to that was President Muhammadu Buhari, who is perhaps by far more needed by the party.
Once the party is able to produce candidates at all levels for the 2015 general elections, which ended with the December 10, 2014 National Convention that produced President Buhari as the partys Presidential candidate, attention shifted to winning the 2015 election at various levels. And having won the 2015 elections at federal and 22 states, attention shifted to lobbying for appointments into both Federal and State Governments. The business of party building was practically suspended. In fact, once President Buhari emerged as the Presidential candidate of the party, negotiation for the selection of running mate was done outside the formal structures of the party. This is perhaps, one of the steps taken, consciously or unconsciously by power blocs within the party that undermined the capacity of the party to be able to exercise strong influence in many of the decisions of President Buharis administration both during his first term and now, in this his second term.
The truth is that after 2015 elections, leadership disagreements within the APC became the source of electoral strength of the PDP and other opposition parties. Most of the electoral defeats experienced by APC since 2015 are on account of inability to develop and strengthen processes of consensus building within the party, including issues of candidates selection.
From all indications, the seductiveness of conventional politics creates a strong opposition to reforms within parties. It is the determinant of success or failure in capacities of political parties to produce the desired change citizens expect.
While citizens, and to a great extent, party members, are interested in broad issues of democracy and rule of law, which should empower citizens and party members to elect leaders and make them accountable, for politicians, it is reduced to preservation of power, by whatever means possible. The point of unity between citizens, party members and politicians is simply located in the need for a strong political party with strong internal democracy to win elections and strengthen national democratic culture and practices.
There is the need to take every step necessary to ensure that the reform going on in APC strengthen internal democracy within the party. This will require that all activities of membership registration/revalidation, congresses and national convention are carefully planned.
To achieve this will require that members of His Excellency Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee are taking the necessary steps to strengthen the capacity of the APC National Secretariat to implement all decisions. This is largely about taking responsibility and communicating decisions to party members and the public.
Although, considerable progress has been achieved, it is important to appeal for more consultations, coordination and better communications of initiatives and all the internal reform process.
Poor consultations, coordination and communication makes party members to be contemptuous of every decision taken, which strengthens the confidence of those opposed to internal party reform. The solution to all these lies in the ability of the 13-member Caretaker Committee to work harmoniously with the required professional competence.
Therefore, instead of some of the dry press releases throwing banters at PDP leaders who are struggling to bounce back to political reckoning, the messages from the Caretaker Committee and the party should be about rebuilding the party.
The goal of reform therefore is to ensure that the party is fortified as the bearer of democratic values and progressive politics. This is the critical success factor for enduring reform that should come with commitment to democratic values and rule of law, which is not limited to preservation of power.
This is what is required to overcome the seductiveness of conventional politics. Eventually, the APC should be able to return to the original vision whereby every member of the party should have a voting right during the process of electing leaders for the party and selecting candidates for elections at all levels.
