Weathering The Challenges Of The Golden Age (II) [CONCLUSION]

[Defender]

Following the 1999 General Elections, the states in the South-West geo-political zone of Nigeria all came under the rule of the Alliance or Democracy (AD). Clearly, by its plans and programmes as contained in its manifestos, the AD was the most progressive of the three existing political parties in the country. It would be recalled that the three political parties which dominated the political landscape prior to 2003 were the Alliance for Democracy (AD); the All-People's Party (APP); and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). It would also be recalled that in the 1999 General Elections, there was alliance between the AD and the APP regarding a consensus presidential candidate, in person of Chief Oluyemi Falae.

Whether that alliance worked or not is a matter of history. What we saw was that the PDP was declared to have had a sweeping victory at the presidential polls. In the gubernatorial polls, the APP had grip of numerous Northern and Eastern states. With those results, one would have expected the alliance to work better. But military might could not be undermined in that kind of results, especially when it is reckoned that the candidate fielded by the PDP was a military officer i.e. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. In its own, the AD won the gubernatorial elections in the six south-Western States of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states.

Given the fact that grassroots politics is the order of the day in Nigeria, the above-mentioned fact did not go down well with the principal actors in the PDP who are of the South-West origin. President Obasanjo, for instance, became President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces through the PDP. But that same party failed to win any elections at Obasanjo's indigenous ward in Abeokuta, not to talk of his business fortress at Ota in Ogun State. This case was rampant among several other arrowheads of the PDP. They therefore saw it as an assignment which was larger than life to employ series of manipulation, ploy and treachery to confiscate the entire region in 2003.

Events which unfolded between 1999 and 2003 were many and diverse. Some were natural, some circumstantial, while some were designed and manipulative – obvious attempts by the power-that-be to have absolute dominance of the reins of power. Within that space of time, it had become clear that the alliance between AD and APP would not work; at least not in the next election. Also, both the AD and APP had begun to be plagued by divisive tendencies which constituted serious threats of set-back to their very existence and formidability in winning polls at federal level.

In the light of these internal problems, the All-People's Party (APP) had become All-Nigeria People's Party (ANPP). The AD also had started to witness cracks which eventually led to its disintegration. In the crumbling witnessed by the two parties, the hand of the ruling PDP was ignobly visible. Also between 2009 and 2003, more political parties had sprung up, which provided more avenues for the break-up of the prominent opposition parties. In other words, the ruling PDP saw in the creation of more political parties a potent tool of weakening the opposition, which it explored to the fullest.  In defence of this proliferation of political parties, the PDP-controlled Federal Government cited democratization as chief rationale.

To Be Continued...