Going by the depth of bitterness, anger and frustration emanating from the ranks of the PDP and its supporters, it is obvious many of them never anticipated defeat in the presidential contest. I find that amazing. How is it possible that they didn’t consider all possible scenarios? If they did, the bile that is still gushing would have become a weak dribble.
Their anger is not only directed at the Buhari and APC who pinched their precious presidency, it is also leveled at Jonathan who some blame for not doing “what is necessary” to win. I have had a couple say to me that were they to be in the man’s shoes they would have rigged their way to a second term.
Online I get great entertainment reading the posts of ruling party supporters straining to find cracks in APC as members wrangle over spoil. When they identify what they presume to be evidence of trouble they celebrate such gleefully with such unoriginal exclamations as ‘We told you so’, ‘It has already started’ (the in-fighting they mean), and ‘We don enter One Chance’ – just to mention a few.
Of course, I have also heard intemperate remarks coming from the APC end suggesting that some supporters are still giddy with adrenaline they’ve forgotten that Buhari has been given his certificate of return. You guys won remember?
I would suggest to all sides of this bruising battle to calm down. To APC supporters: you won so be humble and compassionate. To the PDP supporters: I feel your pain. But you lost so get used to it. Buhari is going to be your president for the next four years at the very least. Live with it!
The new government has not even been formed; it is indecent and undignified to be plotting how to savage it when it hasn’t even taken one step. Fairness demands that they be allowed a honeymoon period to bed down. That may not be in the interest of politicians who are desperate to see APC falter as quickly as possible, but it is in the national interest.
Just as the new government needs time, the outgoing ruling party requires time for proper soul-searching. Many PDP’s leaders don’t grasp the gravity of the shift that has happened in the polity. That is why they make rash claims about reclaiming power in 2019.
While that is not impossible, it excludes the possibility that the APC could do so well that 2019 would be the final burial of the last vestiges of PDP. The only way they are going to make headway in opposition is through creativity, rebranding and offering fresh ideas. Take their slogan – ‘PDP! Power! Can this organism survive now that it has been separated from power?
Not much thinking is happening right now. Instead we continue to be treated to regurgitations of the same vile utterances that caused Nigerians to turn against Jonathan and his party. If they don’t take time to purge themselves of the poisonous tendencies in their midst they would soon be known as the party with bad belle as its ideology.