Toxicity: The Wrong Way to Wrestle Power
I think it’s completely needless stating how the All Progressives Congress(APC) came to be, but nevertheless I will state that the APC was the coming together of splinter opposition parties headed by the President -elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In opposition the APC showed full working and the hallmark of what an opposition party should be,haven been shoe honed by a man Bola Tinubu,who could best be described as the father of modern opposition politics in Nigeria. In opposition, the APC gave what it hasn’t been able to give as the party in government, the APC brought hope, through it’s “Chang Mantra”.
Though, much is left to be desired if the party has delivered on it’s change mandate.
The APC came to be as as a result of tenacity,tact and calculative capacity of a people united in one common quest of taking over power, not by toxicity and mudslinging.
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Even those of us who championed the course of the All Progressives Congress to rule Nigeria in 2015 weren’t toxic, despite all the derogatory names, statements and public image battering of the then APC candidate and now President Muhammadu Buhari,we sticked to issues and gave convincing reasons why the APC should replace the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the federal level.
Meanwhile,the APC which was dubbed Islamic Party by the PDP and their apologists,who are now either in the Labour Party or has joined the APC, is the the dominant ruling party in Nigeria. The party has the highest number of governors in Nigeria, in other words it’s in charge of more States than any other party in Nigeria.
The APC has majority in the National and State Assemblies, and by the special grace of God, when the President -elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is sworn in come 29th of May ,2023. The APC will be on course to ruling Nigeria for sixteen years. That’s one year lesser than the PDP which ruled Nigeria for fifteen years.
To be a formidable opposition party entails sacrifces, the people seeking to wrestle power should not be selfish,we saw that in the APC, when after it’s formation, one of it’s figure heads Senator Ahmed Tinubu and now President -elect, gave up on becoming the Vice President designate to the then APC Presidential standard bearer and now President Muhammadu Buhari.
Instead he nominated another, ahead of 2023 General Elections, there were a lot of disaffection against the APC, even I was not happy with the choice of the APC Presidential candidate.
What some of us expected was another formidable opposition that will oust the party from power, at least from the federal level. But , the opposition headed by weak and crises laden PDP, didn’t do much in terms of galvanizing other opposition parties, as was the case in the build up to the formation of the APC.
Hence,the three major parties that should have challenged the APC, namely PDP, Labor Party and NNPP went into the 2023 elections separately instead of forming a one strong party. And, the rest is history.
A weak opposition, coupled with toxicity, gifted the APC victory in the almost concluded 2023 General Elections. With my experience in the build up to 2015 General Elections and as one who was actively involved on social media, what is needed to convince people to vote for a party are issues,well presented arguments laden with facts.
Not, toxicity, propaganda, mudslinging, name calling, hate, religion and ethnic rhethorics.
In 2015, those of us dubbed “Buharist” did matter in terms of marketing our candidate, compared to those who supported Jonathan.
In 2019, the Buharist, repeated same against the Atikulators, that’s Atiku/Obi ticket. In 2023, the Agbados, did better in terms of image making than the Obidients, Atikulators and the Kwankwasiya.
In all, what all these tells us is that, toxicity in whatever guise is the wrong way to wrestle power. Most especially, from united formidable opposition party.
Rosemary Mbe
