2015: Why Ordinary People Matter More Than Individual Politicians By Jaye Gaskia

We begin by again paraphrasing Karl Marx; "Philosophers have always
interpreted the world, the point however is to change it".
I am in a somewhat combative and polemical mood, so pardon what I
suspect might be the more or less aggressive tone of this write up.
Nevertheless this intervention is necessary, urgent and time bound.
This is a general, as well as particular response to the arguments
being made by very respectable activists, active citizens, and
patriotic platforms, with respect to the unavoidability of an APC
choice to PDP, and within the APC itself, the unavoidability of a
Buhari [GMB] choice as its presidential flag bearer. The arguments
have been pushed in such a manner as to be categorical that in 2015 we
are faced only with the proverbial choice between the devil [PDP] and
the deep blue sea [APC]. It is presented in a manner that forecloses
any other options, and any other choices.
My friends, Salihu Lukman and Chido Onumah being the most active
writers and explicit public advocactes of this trend of thought and
action, have written extensively and profusely to advance this cause.
The latest is the article by Chido and another colleague titled "2015:
why Buhari matters". I am going to quote directly from this latest
piece while articulating an alternative cause of action.
Now hear them, they begin thus: "We must state unequivocally that we
have no illusion about the present order. We do not think that the
present system can solve the fundamental crisis in the nation or bring
succor to our people.
The impoverishment of millions of our country men and women, the
wanton abuse of rights, colonization and exacerbation of the fault
lines of the country, are not issues that the current political order
can tackle.
As a first step towards addressing these issues, we recommend a
national dialogue of genuine representatives of the people on the
future of Nigeria. How to force this all important national dialogue –
whether through a bloody revolution or otherwise – will have to be
determined by millions of toiling Nigerians who bear the brunt of the
present anachronistic social order".
I have quoted this opening declarative statement in full and copiously
because I am not only in fullagreement with the diagnosis of the
problem, I am also in agreement with the recommended solution.
However,the very next paragraph opens with a statement that is not
only contradictory to the opening statement, but that completely
negates its thrust.
Once again hear them: "Having made this clarification, it is important
to note that we have to 'play politics' within the parameters of the
current bourgeois democratic order". The then go on to explain that
that is what the piece would do exactly and that it is inspired by and
directed as a response to what they termed the 'ostrich politics' of
Joe Igbokwe of theAPC.
It is important to state that I understand that the piece was written
in the context of internal party polemic and debate within the APC;
but since both Igbokwe's original piece, as well as Chido's response
were put in the public domain, we are justified in joining the debate.
However even more importantly is the fact that the debates and
struggles that go on within political parties are of utmost importance
to citizens, because through we can gauge the not only the quality of
life within the party, butalso the likely directions and thrusts of
its activities as a governing party, or as an opposition party which
mightlikely become a governing party.
So in this respect what they do withintheir parties, and what they say
within their parties, how they say it, etc matters a lot to us as
citizens.
Just before we go on to address the issues raised in these debates and
the contradictions which tend to make independent political action
impossible, let us take two other quotes which express the authors'
choice of a "Buhari – Fashola" APC 2015 presidential ticket as the
most viable.
The first quote: "There is little chance that the APC can make any
impact in the north if it picks its presidential candidate outside the
three zones in the North". And after ruling out some 'viable' Northern
candidates, they go on thus " However, Buhari stands out simply
because he has a cult following in the North [at least the core North]
which, if properly harnessed, will stymie any assault by the PDP
[particularly, a much weakened and divided PDP] in the zone".
"The last man standing is Babatunde Fashola, the popular, young and
dynamic governor of Lagos state. So what do we say about a
Buhari/Fashola pairing for 2015? This looks like an ideal choice for
APC moving forward."
Now to the nitty-gritty of the real issues; How can the present
political order be presented as incapable of addressing the real
challenges of our nation, and yet we are asked to play politics with
the parameters of the current system?Is an accommodation with the very
essence of the system and order that has and continues to bring
hardship, mass impoverishment and alienation,the only way we can
realistically engage with this system in order to compel the desired
change?
Why should we confine and devote allour energies to maneuvering within
the main political pillars of the system; a system that we have said
can not bring succor to millions of our people?
Why should the best pairing for an opposition political party, that
aims tobecome the ruling party, and that has any interest in making
significant differences in the lives of Nigerians, be one led by a
candidate whose onlyqualification is that he has 'a cult following in
the North', and perhaps that he is said and perceived to be 'upright'?
By this definition of the main qualifying criteria for this candidate
alone, it can be seen that he is no better than the most likely
candidate of the ruling PDP, the incumbent president, whose only
qualification is also apparently that he is a minority from the South
–South, a historically excluded and disadvantaged area, and that his
people, in particular the Ijaws, will back him to the hilt, back him
to death!
What that argument, and it is a very sincere argument, portrays, is
that thebest candidate for the opposition APC is decidedly a sectional
[Northern] leader, with 'cult following' in the North, and who happens
to be perceived to be 'upright'.
Yet by the very nature of the monumental problem confronting this
nation, brilliantly articulated in their opening paragraphs, what we
require is a visionary and Pan Nigerian Leader, in a Visionary and
Revolutionary political platform, with a radical program built around
redistributing wealth, and ensuring social justice and equity.
The authors even admit that there is no internal democracy in the APC
or inany of its constitutive parties; nor is there internal democracy
within the ruling behemoth, the PDP.
We have seen the dangers and threats to our national life and
socio-economic well being posed by this lack and absence of internal
democracy within the parties; just as we have been living witnesses to
the way this absence of internal democracy within parties have
impacted so detrimentally on governance, and have served to repeatedly
undermine the constitution and the constitutional structures of
governance and the state at all levels.
How can more of this mix be the solution to our problems? Or even lead
us in the direction of a solution?
What is even more dangerous is a Leader, at the head of an autocratic
party, with cult following, from only one section of the country! How
do you express dissent with such a leader and challenge the anti
people and unpopular policies of such a leader without unnerving and
unleashing his cult following base? And without thus jeopardizing the
stability of the country, in more dangerous ways than the ethnic
solidarity with an incompetent GEJ presidency has been jeopardizing
national stability and undermining national economic development and
human progress in our country?
But my biggest worry is that while weseem to be in agreement that the
existing social order needs to be radically and urgently transformed;
that the current system is incapable of making this happen or bringing
succor to the mass of impoverished citizens; and that the major
gladiator parties of the system lack internal democracy; my biggest
worry is that after agreeing on all of these we are then told our only
option is to 'play politics within the parameters of the current
bourgeois order' and to therefore 'enter' or join one of the gladiator
parties, the APC, as a way of playing this politics.
How can we hope to influence a party that we have admitted lacks
internal democracy? I mean influence it in a qualitatively different
direction? The PDP we all seem to be in agreement is a no go area and
is not a platform we should engage with; yet is it possible that we
might be able to make an APC government, under a Buhari/Fashola
presidency to begin totake steps to institute that genuine national
dialogue process that we agree is so sorely needed?
I think that the basic reason for the existence of this contradiction,
for theself limitation of our choices within this seemingly
undesirable confine is the exclusion of the mass of our long suffering
peoples, in their tens of millions from the equation; their exclusion
as a factor, not to speak of being the decisive factor, in this
political contestation.
We are living through a period of global crisis, which has spawned at
one and the same time global political, economic, financial,
environmental and social crises. The response of subordinate classes
and exploited and impoverished millions who are being made to bear the
brunt of this untoward hardships havebeen a global resistance, that
hasequally spawned the mass strike movement across Europe, the Arab
spring, including the inauguration of its new phase with the recent
turmoilin Egypt, the global occupy movement, the recent Turkish and
Brazilian Uprisings, and yes, our own January Uprising, and the many
mini uprisings that we have had since then.
We are moving towards and preparing for a general election in 2015
within this global and national context. This is what potentially
makes 2015 different from 2011, or even June 12 1993. We have an
opportunity; with a younger generation recently radicalized and
politicized by the most life changing occurrence and process of this
century: the January Uprising and the Global resistance movement.
This is the setting and context that makes the people, ordinary
citizens matter most, and matter more than any single politician or
party, and more than at any other time in recent history or memory.
We can transform the nature of electoral contestation towards and in
2015, by ensuring that we make issues and not individuals, party
programs and not just parties the decisive discourse. We must shift
from discussing personalities to raising issues and making our issues
the priority items on the national agenda.
And we can change the voting dynamics by launching a concerted effort
to ensure that youth and women, and in particular those radicalized by
and since the January Uprising to register and get on the voters
register; and subsequently to come out to vote and defend their votes
in the general elections.
But we must also complement these with ensuring that they do have a
realchoice; we can do this by ensuring that we build an alternative
radical, and revolutionary mass political party, from the experience
and convergence of all the ongoing party building efforts outside of
the major gladiator parties of the system.
We used to say that a major lesson of the first phase of the Egyptian
revolution in 2011 is the absence of a strong coordinating political
platform with structures spread across the country, of the youth and
women and workers groups that essentially madethat revolution. That
weakness made the Brotherhood, the historic opposition party to become
the default beneficiary of the revolution.
Nevertheless, the youths, women andworkers, chose to continue to wage
their struggle and deepen the process. They fought the military and
forced it to hand power to the Islamist President; and they continued
to fight the Islamist President as the Brotherhood embarked on a
program of creeping 'islamisation' of the civic life and society. By
the time of the November 2012 uprising during which they resisted the
assumption of autocratic powers by the Morsi presidency, they had
begun to establish a nationwide structure and platform to coordinate
their revolution which they proclaimed as a permanent revolution until
all their demands are met, encapsulated in the slogan 'Our Revolution
Continues'. By the time of the recent uprising, they had established
the Tamrod [Rebel] movement organisational structure; autonomously of
the Brotherhood [read PDP], the merging opposition National Salvation
Front (NSF) [read APC]; and also of the Military; a movement which
enabled them to collect in real time, not online 22 million signatures
to Recall the president/force his resignation; and as well enabled
them to bring tens of millions unto the street, even more than during
the 2011 uprising, across the country. This situation has enabled them
to isolate the Brotherhood, and to ensure that there is a viable
alternative to the NSFof the political elites of Egypt.
We can achieve similar results here, if we build, and devote our
energies to building autonomously of the PDP and the APC. We might not
be strong enough to take power in 2015, but wecan certainly build a
platform strong enough to represent a serious threat to both the PDP
and APC, and thus act as the sorely needed check to keep them both in
line, and ensure that ourissues remain a priority on the national
political agenda.
My urgent appeal to youths radicalized by the January Uprising, and to
active citizens tired of the treasury looting directionless leadership
of the political elites, and wary of the parties of the ruling
political elites; is to take our destinies into our own hands, build
our own political platform and challenge these charlatans, in
progressthief and conservathief gabs for political power, and
therefore the right and mandate to shape the future of this country by
altering its present course.
By the way it is our present and our future, as well as our country;
let us take it back!