The opposition as cry babies

The 2027 general elections are around the corner. They are only about eight months away, and the urgency and dispatch with which the parties are treating matters relating to the elections tell us that none of them wants to leave anything to chance. Many, especially the oppostion appear serious on the surface.

But deep down, they are not. They are involved in what is commonly referred to as all motion without movement. They are making all the necessary noise about preparing for the polls, but not doing anything serious to actualise their plans. All of them are behaving alike. How serious really is the opposition about 2027?

The opposition has a Herculean task ahead of it in the battle to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which is sturdier than all of them put together. It is not that APC is perfect as a party, but it seems to have got its acts right than the opposition. While APC is growing in leaps and bounds, the opposition keeps diminishing.

We are all conversant with the Law of Diminishing Returns. When an enterprise (insert a party here) keeps going down, the end result is predictable. It cannot make profit at the end of the day. Meaning the opposition cannot win jerk in 2027. I may be wrong though. But that is what the portents are saying. How can the opposition make any impact in the upcoming elections when their houses are not in order?

This is the main issue ahead of the elections. Today, the opposition as they are, are disunited,  disoriented and dispirited. All they know to do is to blame APC, the Independent National Electoral Commisssion (INEC), and the judiciary for whatever befalls them. A party that cannot organise itself is no party, it is as simple as that. The opposition should learn first how to organise themselves.

To do this, they must look inwards and not outwards. The rain started beating them if they do not know right from their homes. It is a common saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand. It is not a curse, but this is the curse afflicting the opposition. Internally, they are not organised.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which ruled between 1999 and 2015, to the Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the much-hyped coalition All Democratic Congress (ADC), the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), which only thing it has going for it is its identity, the newly registered National Democratic Party (NDP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), as well as several others which exist only in names and not in public consciousness, many of them are only good on paper and in noise making.

ADC is the most guilty of this. Though, it perceivess itself as the emerging leading opposition party, the truth is it is not anywhere near that. PDP is stronger than ADC nationwide. ADC only parades politicians with names, many of who brought the nation to where it is today. These are the politicians who are today talking of being “hungry” because they no longer have their hands in the public till. This is besides the point in this essay. What is at stake here is what do they have to offer the country severally and jointly?

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ADC and its spent political heavyweights have not told the nation. Every opportunity to sell themselves and their programmes is spent on pointing fingers to APC and INEC. Several months after it claimed to have taken over the legacy ADC which first presidential candidate, Prof Pat Utomi, is among those now charged with fashioning its manifesto and policy, the coalition remains a band of people brought together for selfish reasons.

They have not told Nigerians what they have for the country, but they are always quick to blame APC and INEC for the many troubles they brought upon themselves with the way they acquired ADC. How can APC and INEC be blamed if the right things were not done as stipulated in the law before the coalition took over ADC? The opposition is playing the politics of incitement because it has nothing to offer. What and what are their plans if they come to power? They have not told the electorate.

All you will hear them say is that 2027 is between Nigerians and APC! Really? Will they not be on the ballot too for the electorate to determine whether or not they are fit to rule? The truth is ADC is a group of failed politicians. They are full of noise, signifying nothing. They have nothing, absolutely nothing to offer the country. They will be shocked by what happens to them in 2027. They saw bits of it in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council polls and by-elections in Rivers and Kano States last February.

The outcome of those polls will be child’s play compared to what will happen to them in 2027. David Mark and his co-travellers should mark my word. The one who plans to relocate to Ghana with his spouse if the elections do not go their way should start dusting up his passport now. We will remind him of his statement when the time comes.