TUKUR, PDP AND THE BURDEN OF REFORM (By Anthony Ubani..Opinion)

Tukur With Ubani

During his reform focused, sometimes controversial but very successful two tenures as President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton narrowly survived many attempts to impeach him from office or out rightly destroy his political career. But as frequently as he came dangerously close to the edge of political oblivion, so also did he manage, with enviable dexterity, to climb back to the centre of political reckoning and relevance. Clinton’s masterful knack for survival in the murky political terrain endeared him to many and earned him the affectionate accolade ‘the comeback kid of US politics.’

Today, a similar process is playing out in the shallow and shark infested waters of Nigerian party politics. Dr. Bamanga Tukur, the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria has survived so many real and imagined attempts to remove him from office that it is now apt not only to declare him the ‘comeback father of Nigerian politics’ but also the proverbial cat with nine lives.

But what really is Tukur’s original sin which attracted the ire of the political sharks that are constantly manoeuvring to pull him down as the party chairman. The issues are as complex as they are difficult to properly locate and define. Opinions are even more widely divided. A lazy but simple way to explain away the furore is to place the blame at the doorpost of the politics of 2015, however, the reality is that no such simplistic analysis provides us with an acceptable rationale for the storm that has been threatening to rip the ubiquitous PDP umbrella apart.  

Political observers are, however, of the firm believe that Tukur’s woes are directly traceable to his courageous determination to reform the PDP and institute a regime of party supremacy in accordance with best practice standards in party democracies in more civilized climes. From the onset, Tukur made no secret of his admiration of the ANC ruling party in South Africa, a party he has followed keenly since 1994. It was therefore not surprising that shortly after resuming as PDP National Chairman, Tukur proceeded to South Africa to rub minds with ANC party leaders with a view to gaining better insight and understanding of the inner workings of the ANC. The reason for his fascination with the ANC was obvious. The ANC is one party that is robustly structured in terms of party management, administration, discipline and leadership. So strong is the grip of the ANC party on its members that it was able to force President Thabo Mbeki out of office and direct his deputy to take over as acting President. The closest we have come to experiencing this type of party supremacy and discipline in Nigeria was during the days of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) where the then National Chairman, late chief Adisa Akinloye held sway like a king with then President Shehu Shagari and the NPN Governors bowing to the wishes and directives of the party under Akinloye’s leadership.

This is Tukur’s ideal and the type of discipline and party supremacy that he set out to instil in the PDP. For Tukur, the law of the land is clear to the extent that it is the party that the electorate votes for and not candidates. Candidates ride on the party as a vehicle to come into office. It is therefore natural and logical that the party is able to control and determine, via the instrumentality of its manifesto, the policies, programs and conduct of persons elected on its platform. From the very beginning when he unveiled his ‘Tripple R policy’ which stands for Reformation, Reconciliation and Rebuilding, Tukur made it clear that he was not going to be a “chairman who will see wrong doings and close his eyes. We shall strive to show the people how to be productive. If you are a member of a party, that party should be able to teach you how to fish and not to give you fish. We have to win the hearts of the Nigerian people. If we fail to win their hearts, they will never vote for us. People say PDP will rule for ever, it is a lie. We can only rule for ever if the party continues to do the right thing that it was known for.”

Strong, positive and encouraging words! But, unfortunately, long years of military interventions in our political system had occasioned such deep seated decay in our political culture to the extent that democratic tenets like internal democracy, party discipline, and party supremacy had atrophied. Corruption, power play, lawlessness and influence peddling were now the order of the day. In this new political climate, the effort by Tukur to restore the good old days of party supremacy and discipline was bound to clash with the egos of Nigeria’s new gate keepers of power and sundry powerful players within the system who have become accustomed to getting their way all the time.

Now, between the second republic days of the NPN and today, the Nigerian governors have morphed into revered emperors whose words are laws that must be obeyed; leaders who control the party and government both in their state and in Abuja; power brokers who nearly aborted President Olusegun Obasanjo’s second term ambition; demi gods who now determine who gets what, when and where in Nigeria. To ask these ‘big men’ to bow in the name of party supremacy did not sit well with some of them. Informed political observers aver that this is the true genesis of Tukur’s travails. Indeed, the genesis of PDP’s current challenges.  

As desirable and commendable as Tukur’s policy of restoring party supremacy in PDP is, it was clear that it was going to take a stubborn hope, an uncommon political will and a steel determination to stay the course to be able to execute his reform agenda successfully and bring all the party’s leaders and governors’ on board. This is so because it is a trite fact that there were key stakeholders in the party who were going to resist the reforms. So far, Tukur has shown strength of character and an uncanny ability to survive the plots, schemes and plans to undermine or remove him from office. In all of these, Tukur has been unfairly assailed with a barrage of criticisms, much of which is obviously orchestrated by opposition political parties and fifth columnists. Clearly, the road to reforming the PDP is a tortuous road less travelled that is replete with bumps, traps and dangerous turns. To succeed, Tukur needs to stay focused and ignore the din of negative criticisms that populate the public space.

Indeed, a common trend which is fast becoming a cultural reflex in Nigeria, is the tendency to criticize, condemn and crucify our leaders unfairly. So prevalent is this debilitating phenomenon that it has been accorded a popular cliché, the Pull Him Down Syndrome otherwise known as the PHD syndrome. Now, I have vigorously argued elsewhere that, ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with criticism. Actually our ability to freely criticise those in authority and in leadership positions is a fundamental part of our freedom of speech and a vital aspect of the democratic process which is necessary to keep our democracy healthy and progressive. But, this is true only to the extent that such criticisms are constructive, solution driven and ideas centred. Unfortunately, what we have in preponderance in Nigeria is what I will call the negative type of criticism. Criticism that is destructive, bereft of any sublime insight and devoid of any alternative vision that illuminates the way forward. This type of criticism has no noble objective, it simply sets out to destroy, malign, blackmail and compromise the target of the criticism. This is a major challenge to growth, development and progress in all sectors of our polity in Nigeria.  Conversely, Leadership thrives, grows and stays focused when it is constantly confronted with constructive criticism that proceeds from an attitude of reformation, correction and enhancement.

These are some of the reasons why a sustained program of political education is critical at this critical junction in our democratic journey. Declaring reform is one thing. But it is primarily more important that the message, purpose and dividend of reform is first communicated creatively with a view to multiplying the opportunities for comprehension, support and cooperation. In this regard, the Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) is strategically placed and equipped to begin to engage elected and appointed party leaders at all levels with political education, information and enlightenment programs that are carefully calibrated to not only communicate the PDP Tripple R Reform Agenda but to also address and mitigate different challenges within the system.

In the interim, having survived, against all odds, the recently held PDP NEC meeting, Tukur should ignore much of the unfair criticism that persists and take solace in the knowledge and understanding that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and change is the most difficult thing to bring about anywhere in the world. But the end will justify the means and the sacrifices he is making. People are innately programmed to resist change even when the change is for their own benefit. But with Tukur’s strong leadership and abiding determination to stay the course of holistic reform, it is certain that success in reforming, reconciling and rebuilding the PDP for better governance and greater electoral victories will ultimately be realized.   

Anthony Ubani, former Director General, PDI, writes from Abuja