Akwa Ibom APC’s race to the bottom
The shenanigans in Akwa Ibom APC is just beginning. Upon my numerous persuasions to the leaders of that dearly beloved political party to tow the path of peace building, come together and share the booty amicably, they have just set themselves up for defeat, exactly the same manner they did prior to the 2019 elections.
It is sad to behold the spectacle unfolding right in front of us. Like every organization, a political party emblematizes some culture by a variety of factors, including founders’ values and preferences, policy demands and ideology, goals, etc. Culture is maintained through attraction-selection-attrition. Membership should be inspired by shared vision, group interest, future opportunities, desire for leadership, and reward system. That should be the case. Except in Akwa Ibom APC.
The coming weeks and months would be testy for the soul of Nigeria’s ruling party especially in Akwa Ibom. Judging from the flawed outcome of the scandalous so-called Ward Congresses, there is no doubt that all is not well. The players are stone-deaf to any sort of advise. The leaders seem to be on a one-way race to the bottom. I feel ashamed that the political party I supported at great cost and inconvenience to me and my family, has sank so low, and is ready to sink even deeper.
What would be the end game?
Too many strange bedfellows with zilch desire to build have congregated over the years just for the sake of fulfilling vaulting inordinate personal ambitions. Players driven by disparate selfish interests – and disgraceful kindergarten inability to think-outside-the-box, intolerance for ideas, incapacity to see-the-big-picture, crass ineptitude, disdain for truth, etc,. dance naked under all shades of political monikers – ADF, AAC, etc. These groups serve to further the narrow interest of their principals whose only motivation is to control the levers of power through the APC superstructure. Nothing more.
The danger in all these is that attractive fine ethos and principles which propelled stakeholders to pitch their tents under the APC tree are thrown to the dogs. In their place, might and underhand tactics, virulence of the powerful few, bickering, rancor, subterfuge and strife battle to erode everything nice from the party. Sadly so.
For supporters like me, who have never hidden our indignation for the unholy wedlock between the alternative PDP and the criminal past, ours is double tragedy. More so, because we have realized rather inexorably that the APC is nothing but a more noxious mutant successor to the morality-challenged PDP. This dilemma is made worse by the horrible history of the wanton persecution that early subscribers to the APC mantra, received from then hyenas of PDP, who have transmuted into today’s hyenas of the APC. What a tragedy.
As it stands, the stage is set for an epic decomposition. All the pretenses and lies are primed to come to their shattering end, with injuries on all sides. The tom-toms of discord can only get louder as the selfish dramatis personae poise for their final showdown, precursor to 2023. The thinking is that access to the public honey-pot is sine-qua-non to the continued sustenance of the dominant culture of the bosses.
The race to the bottom does not care about the strategic long term cost. Shame!
*****Celestine Mel is a vocal supporter of President Buhari. He writes from the FCT, Abuja.
