A formidable opposition party needed

To say the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in a coma and preparing for their last funeral rites is an understatement.

Most people see the PDP as a pressure group or a non-governmental organisation (NGO) rather than a serious political party.

In recent days and weeks, people have been asking if we really have an opposition party. And what caused the demise of the PDP, the party that held sway from 1999 to 2015.

In fact, they boasted at one period that they would rule for 60 years. But thanks to the change hurricane in 2015, that lofty ambition was cut short.

Things went from bad to worse in the last general election. No thanks to the insistence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to contest the presidential election and jettison zoning.

To be fair to Atiku, his argument that most of the presidents of the PDP are from the south is genuine apart from the late Umaru Yar’Adua. But the feeling in the country was that after the eight-year rule of President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, it is only natural for power to shift to the south in 2023. Atiku’s arguments are valid and the mood in the country was another matter.

No doubt fielding a northerner as a presidential candidate in 2023 and the emergence of Peter Obi as the third force effectively killed PDP in the south-east and some of their strongholds. In the south-east, they just have a governor.

Also, the emergence of President Bola Tinubu has not helped matters. As a master strategist and thoroughbred politician, he is working with politicians across party divides.

Also, the PDP showed they lacked balls during the recent Rivers crisis. The last time I checked, Rivers state Governor Sim Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, are still PDP members. The crisis was getting out of hand and the party was just there helpless. It was after the intervention of the president, that they finally found their voices.

I don’t think I can name the current chairman of the PDP, that’s to show you how they have faded from our consciousness.

The PDP desperately needs a rallying point – a leader. If Atiku Abubakar can jettison his presidential ambition and lead the party, they may revive because I can bet anything that he will appear in 2027 to vie for their presidential ticket and that may be the final nail in their coffin.

So far it seems most of their governors are not even interested in funding and running the party. It’s like there is a deliberate plan to kill the party.

No democracy survives without the opposition, if not we will just encourage tyranny.

From 2015 to 2023, Wike was practically funding and running the party and I don’t think there is anyone in their current set of governors who is ready to play that role.

Another way is for them to beg Peter Obi to return to the party. An Obi in the party will go a long way to galvanize the party.

They also need a new set of leaders. Either former Senate Presidents, David Mark and Bukola Saraki, should take over as the national chairman of the party and set the party on the right path.

If they don’t play their cards right, they may cease to exist as a political party in 2027.