This APC will give Nigeria migraine

By WILFRED JIBRIL
There is so much fuss about the capability of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) to sort out the mess into which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has plunged the country since her return to democratic rule in 1999. The promoters of the party say APC is the panacea for the nation’s protracted and seemingly intractable political quagmire. They are telling us that the party has got the magic wand to take us to the much desired socio-economic and political Promised Land. What gives them the impression that they have the capacity to tackle the myriad of woes staring us in the face? What is unique about APC? Is it any different from PDP?  For me, APC is old wine in a new bottle.
Considering the antecedents of the three parties that fused into the so-called mega party, I have no scintilla of doubt in my mind that APC will go down in history as the worst political party to have emerged on the nation’s political landscape. The reason is not far-fetched. The party does not have the interest of the people of this great nation at heart. The reason for its emergence speaks volumes about its mission and vision. It wants to wrest power from PDP at the centre. That is all the party is after. The question is, how does their wresting power from the ruling party better the lot of the downtrodden in the country?  Nigerians are very gullible; before you say Jack Robinson, they will give in to the antics of APC and start campaigning for them because the party parades people with sugar-coated tongues. I wonder what magic APC will perform if voted into power in 2015.
For instance, in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, apart from Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State who has taken what I call real development to all the nooks and crannies of the state, most of his colleagues are only performing on the pages of newspapers. Everywhere you go in Edo State, you notice the presence of his government. Little wonder then that for the first time in the history of the state, a sitting governor won election in all the local government areas in the state. He even crushed his opponent in his ward and retired all the political godfathers in the state as he vowed on his assumption of office in 2008. The governor has wormed his way into the hearts of the people so much so that a commercial bus driver in Benin City reportedly disgorged a passenger from his bus for using a derogatory language on the comrade governor.
But in Lagos State, the reverse is the case. They tell us Governor Fashola is working but he is not doing anything spectacular. He is only concentrating development in areas that are already developed at the expense of the suburbs which have been neglected from time immemorial. Highbrow places like Lekki, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lagos Island and others keep getting his attention while suburbs like Ikotun, Ijegun, Ijagemo, Isheri-Osun, etc, remain neglected. A governor, who performs, is one who connects with the downtrodden. For instance, Ikotun road has been in this sorry state before the 1999 election which threw up his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as governor.
All Tinubu did throughout his eight years in office was to patch the road. Now the road is in a terrible state and nobody is doing anything about it. For the users of the road, passing through Iyana-Ejigbo is hellish. But the wonder governor of Lagos State does not see anything wrong concentrating development in highbrow areas at the expense of the hewers of wood and drawers of water who queue up under scorching sun to vote for his party at elections. You now spend about two or more hours doing a trip of about 15 minutes.
Methinks a performing governor is the one who makes judicious use of the resources at his disposal to develop every part of the state. The residents pay through the nose to transport themselves to and from work daily. The excuse has always been that the problems of Lagos are too daunting to be surmounted by one government. This is a glib excuse. It does not hold water.
Former Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) only spent four years and three months in office, yet his legacies are still visible everywhere in Lagos. Alhaji Jakande was selflessly committed to developing the state; no wonder he left the seat of power a poor man. He is a true Awoist. The agenda of these latter-day Awoists is diametrically antithetical to that of the UPN governors then. Their own agenda was that of total transformation. Ask the people of the old Bendel, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Lagos states about the performances of these former governors and they will tell you they performed excellently.
Even former Governor Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo of the old Kwara State, who spent only three months in office consequent upon the 1983 coup, performed brilliantly. Were it not for the military intervention of December 31, 1983, Jakande would have catapulted Lagos to the apogee of infrastructural development. Regrettably, these legacies are left to rot away. They are not being maintained. A case in point is the deplorable state of the housing estates built by the former governor across the state.
Aping the dressing style of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo does not make one an Awoist. By nature, Awoists are selfless performers.
There is something unique about Governor Oshiomhole. He does not discriminate against any person or community irrespective of political affiliation in his development drive. For instance, when I travelled to Benin City before the governorship election last year, the driver of the bus I boarded from Lagos, showed me the road to the residence of the two-time governor of the defunct Bendel State and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, which he macadamized. A co-tenant, who travelled to Benin City recently, told me he missed his bus stop because he was held spellbound by the unprecedented development the governor has brought to the city. This is the only ACN governor who has etched his name in gold in the area of development. Some of us are not surprised by the massive infrastructural development going on in Edo State. As President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Oshiomhole became the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the oppressed. He became a thorn in the flesh of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He gave a good account of himself.
In Lagos, people keep paying taxes without anything to show for it. Nothing is working in Lagos, yet they keep telling us, Eko O ni Baje. To borrow the words of my former editor and a columnist, Ebere Wabara, Eko ti baje tan.
You cannot develop a state by sloganeering. Why must a governor take delight in frittering away tax payers’ money in the name of beautification? Infrastructure are collapsing and some people are being awarded contracts worth millions of naira to plant flowers in some parts of the state. Yes, there is nothing wrong with beautification; I believe road construction across the state should be the topmost priority of the government.
It must be noted that the problem we have as a nation is not the system, but the operators. And since it is still the same set of people who have disappointed the electorate at various levels and times that are the brains behind APC, I don’t see the party taking the country out of the woods. It will only give Nigeria migraine instead of curing her headache.