This is a friend’s letter. Since we shared the same political beliefs and aspirations for a better Nigeria within the same party for almost 12 years, I’d want to take this opportunity to call you a friend. I also remember convincing two rich friends to join me in Dubai, where you were living in exile, to celebrate your fiftieth birthday. In order to meet with you and another of your Canadian friends, I traveled to Dubai twice more with various delegations. For the same reason, we also met again in Accra, Ghana.
To meet with your friend and current rival, Nuhu Ribadu, I also went to Rwanda and Liberia. Under the ACN at the time, these journeys were made to choose the best candidate to fly our presidential banner. Later, I set up another meeting between Ribadu and our leaders in Dubai. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Segun Osoba, Bisi Akande, Niyi Adebayo, Rauf Aregbesola, and a number of other people were present at the meeting.
However, our selected candidate, Ribadu, would not arrive until the third day, which led Osoba to quip that I should give up on my goal of becoming a senator if he did not arrive from his headquarters in the United States. When Ribadu finally showed up, we made do with him. You quickly became marginalized after defecting to Goodluck Jonathan’s side out of rage.
For a brief period, I oversaw Ribadu’s campaign, enlisting bright and motivated young people, but that endeavor was short-lived. Our tendency toward expediency caused that ACN’s presidential bid to fail. Our AC ticket was picked up by Atiku Abubakar during a previous “transfer season,” but that too went miserably.
In addition to all of this, you were a part of the 2015 merger that resulted in Muhammadu Buhari. I observed from a distance as a small group hastily crafted what appeared to be a manifesto, which was quickly rejected due to the fact that it was not the result of group thought.
In retrospect, none of the subsequent endeavors, including the significant union of CPC and ACN to establish APC, have produced any noteworthy results. The people they were supposed to help have become poorer, while those we previously thought were good people have become wealthy. Bitterness has resulted from unhealthy competitiveness that has shattered long-cultivated friendships. And despite all of the conflicts, alliances, betrayals, and reconciliations, our nation is still in a coma.
After Abacha and Abiola died, I was placed in solitary prison while others were released. I have heard—but not confirmed by you—that you were in charge of the committee that General Abdulsalami Abubakar established to find me.
We frequently crossed paths throughout my eight years in the Presidency, whether in Abuja or Kaduna, when you were the governor.
However, friendship and nostalgia are not the subject of this letter. It has to do with your recent political actions and their meaning. Those who criticize you for leaving our alleged party are not me. Not at all. I’m worried about Nigerian politicians’ never-ending merry-go-round and their unrelenting aimless wandering, or what musician Fela once referred to as “perambulation.”
The Crucial Question: What Exactly Is This Move About?
Your move from the APC to the SDP and the hectic cross-carpeting of politicians nationwide are things I am aware of. However, I genuinely hope that this isn’t just another barber’s chair motion that spins in circles without accomplishing anything.
Only a madman, they say, repeatedly performs the same action and expects a different outcome.
Tell me, Nasir, is this a human issue. Or is it just another self-serving endeavor, driven by individual aspirations and the current unhappiness in the nation?
Is this just another hurriedly put together political endeavor, designed to benefit a select few who were excluded from the existing overlords’ banquet and are now looking for a fresh platform to reposition themselves for the upcoming election cycle?
You have always impressed me with your intelligence, diligence, and occasionally strategic thinking. However, I have to admit that you haven’t always been reliable.
You adopt a stance today, just to retract it the next day. And that kind of contradiction is deadly in politics. At this crucial point, that is not the type of leadership Nigeria needs. We need leaders who are steadfast in their beliefs, not ones who follow the tide, if we are to genuinely free our people from the abyss into which the nation has fallen.
Please pardon me if this comes across as personal. Nasir, this letter isn’t truly about you. The failure of governance, the lack of true political organization, and the shallowness of our party institutions are all part of Nigeria’s larger political culture failure.
However, since institutions are shaped by persons, it is impossible to completely divorce the character of our politics from the disposition of those who hold political office.
Political Parties, Not Just Political Leaders, Are What We Lack
To put it plainly, there are no legitimate political parties in Nigeria.
The APC, the PDP, and the SDP are not legitimate political institutions.
These are only tools of power, quickly put together machines used by individuals with money, cunning, and courage to take office and then compete to outspend Aliko Dangote.
Read Also: “Nigerians Are in Deep Hardship Under Tinubu” – Sani Lament
Nigerian politicians frequently move parties, treating politics like European football players who switch teams every transfer season, due to the lack of organized, purpose-driven political groups.
We, the so-called political elite, will continue to be unprincipled, self-centered, greedy, and insincere actors who lack vision and patriotism until we comprehend the structures, objectives, and obligations of a true political party.
This is about creating a party, not about owning one, Nasir.
Don’t try to own a party for the benefit of future generations. Rather, rally supporters to create a genuinely national political organization that can endure Nigeria’s unstable political environment.
When I say “like-minded people,” I’m wondering how moral people can be seated at the same table as Major Al-Mustapha, General Sani Abacha’s chief security officer, whose hands are smeared with the blood of several innocent people, including Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
When I recently read of the joy with which you welcomed him into your new party, I became agitated and overcome with wrath.
Why do we forget things so quickly every time?
What does the term “party” mean? What are its essential characteristics? What objectives does it need to meet in order to be considered a legitimate political movement?
A party that prioritizes individual aspirations will fail. You will be back in four years, searching for another party to join or going back to the one you just left, if you start this path without giving it careful thought and acting on your principles.
Follow Chief Awolowo’s example. He did not develop the Action Group on personal ambition when he and other nationalists founded it. They organized it according to three main goals:
Free education for all is the absence of ignorance.
The lack of illness – Easy access to medical care.
Prosperity and economic empowerment are the lack of want.
They developed policies that changed the Western Region based on these objectives.
Concluding Remark
You’re wasting your time, Nasir, if this most recent movement is merely another barber’s chair that spins but doesn’t move.
Do it correctly, though, if it is genuinely about the people, about real change, and about creating something long-lasting.
