By Jaye Gaskia
As the 2015 general
election rapidly approaches, and the tempo of war drums increasingly gathers
momentum, it is pertinent that we once again remind ourselves of certain
truths, while we draw inspiration from other climes.
Let us begin by going
back to the metaphor of the ‘choiceless choice’ that we as citizens and
electorates are unfortunately confronted with in this election.
I have said elsewhere
that the difficult choice that we face in this election is sadly one between
the proverbial devil [in which case one needs the longest spoon in order to dine
and remain alive], and the deep blue sea [in which case one needs to be a
record breaking Olympics swimmer in order to stay alive]!
This is eminently
demonstrated by the fact that not only are there no significant differences in
what passes for their party manifestos and election platforms, but also more
decisively there is also no significant difference in the character of the core
membership of the two main parties.
Let me explain
further: the main opposition party, the APC, which unlike at any other time in
our history has a real chance of defeating the incumbent and ruling party, is
today a mirror image of the party that the ruling PDP was a few years back.
It is now a fact that
a majority of the power blocs [up to 80%] who were once party of the PDP
coalition the height of its power are now in the APC. In other words, after the
merger of the legacy parties [A C N, CPC & APP] with the New PDP, the APC
had become fully transformed in reality into The New PDP. This process of
becoming the PDP has been further accentuated by the renewed implosion of the
PDP as a result of its fractitious party primaries.
How truly tragicomedic
our situation is, is demonstrated in the ongoing general election campaigns.
Three core examples will suffice. How many of us have seen the campaign adverts
of the Sokoto, Rivers and Kwara State PDP chapters of recent?
They castigate
the incumbent APC governments for having presided over the ruin and long term
devastation of the states. Really? These same APC governments which until less
than 2 of the previous 16 years ago were PDP governments. At what point did
they begin the ruin and devastation of the respective states? Less than two
years ago when they decamped and joined APC?
Equally nauseatingly
childish and bereft of rational intelligence are the campaign trail
pronouncements of persons like the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign
Organisation in person of incumbent Rivers State governor. So according to
these APC leaders, who for 14 of the last 16 years of civil rule were leaders
of the PDP, the ruling party is responsible for the grand theft, humongous
scale and scope of corruption, as well as crass incompetence in governance that
has messed up the once thriving and vibrant economy of our country, thereby
leading to the impoverisation of more than 100 million of our people.
Truly? Were they not
until less than two years ago leaders of this same party? At what point in time
did the party, the PDP, undertake the devastation of our economy? At what point
in time did it begin to preside over historic levels of corruption? Were these
APC leaders not all leaders of the PDP during our January Uprising of 2012? Did
that Uprising not expose an unprecedented level of corruption in the fuel
subsidy regime alone, amounting to N2.7trn, more than 50% of our annual budget?
So forgive me if I am
not enthused by the options placed by history before us. The election campaigns
by the two major parties further buttress my point, and increases the level of
my anxiety about the future of our country.
What the incumbent
ruling party, the PDP has continued to engage in is the promotion of ‘Falsehood
as Transformation’. On the other hand the opposition APC has not fared better,
as it has continued to promote ‘deception as change’.
For instance the PDP
continues to advertise its so-called transformational achievements in power.
Among these is the purported transformation of power sector. So the party
claims to have increased immensely access to grid electricity in the country.
Yet in spite of the more than $28bn investment in the sector over the last 16
years, by official account, power generation has not increased above 4,500MW at
any point in time, and the national grid continues to suffer an average of 20
system collapses annually of which at least 16 are total system collapses. If
we factor in the fact that power generation capacity as at the time of the 1999
return to democracy was more than 3,500MW, then we are left at a loss as to how
the addition of a mere 1,000MW at the cost of 428bn could be bandied as an
achievement, much less a transformational one.
Or take a look at the
claim by the agriculture ministry that it has created 3 million new jobs. Oh
yes? In what way except by a sleight of hand can the registration of 3 million
out of the population of existing farmers constitute the creation of new jobs?
Or is it the fathom 22,000KM of new roads said to have been constructed. Which
roads are these? The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the East-West Road, the
Abuja-Lokoja expressway? All of which have remained under construction or
rehabilitation for decades?
Well, the truth is
that we know what the PDP has done, as much as we know what it has not done.
But what do we know of the APC? The antecedents of its major promoters,
leaders, and candidates give little room for cheer.
What can the APC do
in a fundamentally different way from how the PDP has governed? Let me go back
to the power sector. Does the APC know how much and how long it will take to
increase all three capacities – power generation, power distribution, and power
transmission to 10,000 MWs or 15,000MWs apiece? Once in power how does it
intend to raise such funds?
It is in this sense
and against this background that ordinary citizens, the victims of the
collective misrule and impunity of the ruling class, should continue to
intervene in the political process. It is our duty to raise the issues that the
treasury looting ruling class does not wish to be raised, it is our duty to
continue to ask the hard questions and force them to make commitments. But more
decisively it is our duty to continue to expose the ruling class, and to
continue to build an alternative political platform to their parties.
In doing this we can
and must continue to ceaselessly draw lessons and inspirations from the global
class struggle of the exploited and oppressed classes and peoples. Just as our
January Uprising drew inspiration from the Arab Spring and the global Occupy
Movement, so must our radical and uncompromising engagement with the political
process draw inspiration and lessons from the fortunes of Radical Left parties
across the world. In this regard, we must learn the lesson of the unfolding
events in Greece.
The electoral victory
of Syriza, the radical far left Greece party in the January 25th
general elections has sent shock waves across Europe and the Americas, causing
panic in the economic epicentres of the global capitalist system.
This Greek Victory,
though still unfolding represents a historic moment, and if the momentum is
sustained across Europe, could become an historic turning point. The election
campaign of this radical left party was closely watched across the globe.
The dominant parties
of the global capitalist system intervened through scare campaign, issuing
threats and ultimatums. Kindred radical left parties intervened by supporting
and promoting the campaign of the Greek radical left, while also increasing the
tempo of their own radical organising and mobilising at home.
The tentative result
has been that the Greek victory has become a European radical left opening.
PODERMOS, the Spanish Radical Far Left party, established barely a year ago has
received a surge from the Greek victory, it has become emboldened, and its lead
in opinion polls towards upcoming Spanish elections has increased.
If the Greek victory
can be followed by a Spanish victory, and a strengthened repositioning of the radical
left parties in France and Germany, then a fundamental fault line would have
been opened up across Europe, threatening a foundation shaking tremor for the
global capitalist system.
It is in this sense
that the Greek victory, like the Brazilian victory 16 years ago, may have
inaugurated a radical shift to the left politically and economically in Europe
similar to the one that has occurred in Latin America in the wake of the
victory of the Brazilian Workers Party nearly two decades ago.
But the lesson for us
in all of these remains the same; a radical left alternative is possible; such
a radical left political platform can be built in the midst, and as a
consequence of the global crisis of capitalism; such a radical left political
party platform, can transform itself into a popular mass movement; and such a
radical left popular mass political movement can defeat the ruling class
parties in crisis elections.
In the midst of the
existential crisis confronting our nation, one that is engulfing the ruling
class and causing it to implode, it is possible to build such a radical left
alternative political platform, it is possible for the deepening crisis of
ruling misrule to precipitate in no distant future or by 2019 a crisis
election, and it will be possible for such a radical alternative to defeat the
ruling class parties at such an election.
History imposes a
task on us, that of achieving of National Liberation and Social Emancipation.
We can achieve this task only if we redouble our efforts at organising and
mobilising to Take Back Nigeria.
JAYE
GASKIA IS NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF PROTEST TO POWER MOVEMENT [P2PM] AND
CO-CONVENER OF SAY NO CAMPAIGN [SNC]
Follow
me on Twitter: @jayegaskia; and Interact with me on FaceBook: Jaye Gaskia &
Take Back Nigeria.
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