Ikhide excerpted just one part of Okey's piece. The totality of Okey's op-ed, if I read it correctly, makes a more expansive argument. He is not simply arguing for a third force beyond the PDP-APC binary. He is saying that there are more fundamental questions confronting Nigeria than the question of the forthcoming elections and of choosing between the two main political parties. I wholeheartedly agree with his analysis. Okey is decrying the myopia of fixating on elections which, whatever the outcome and no matter which party wins, will not magically heal the fissures and existential malaise plaguing the country. As an example, he posed the question that I have posed in several interventions, that of whether we Nigerians actually desire to continue as one country and if we do under what terms. His argument, which I have made several times, is that obsessing over elections and the party paradigms that will be on the ballot misses the point of how the status quo will be reaffirmed no matter who wins because the current system (fiscal, structural, and constitutional) is designed to produce failure and to reproduce the familiar problems no matter who or which party is at the helm. I believe Okey's piece should be read in whole and not reduced to his advocacy for a political third force. He wants us to prioritize first questions in the order of things, to get the structures right before getting to the question of who will occupy the political kingdom.
--
-- On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 7:25 PM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
My People:Let us forget about Ikhide Ikheloa for the moment, who has told us too many times already that he won't talk about Nigeria any more, only to come back writing the day after someone who voices his own arid opinion about Nigeria steps forward.So I wish to engage Okey Ndibe: he should form the "Third Force", and I am sure that many people will join him. But until then, since two comes before three in Arabic arithmetic, we are stuck with the two major tendencies in Nigeria: APC and PDP.Coming to think of it: what am I "saying" sef? There are twenty four other political parties in Nigeria than APC and the PDP. They all can JOINTLY form Okey Ndibe's "Third Force", abi?And there you have itBolaji AlukoShaking his head
S/N
Political Party [with Party Acronym]
1
Accord [A]
2
Action Alliance [AA]
3
Advanced Congress Of Democrats [ACD]
4
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria [ACPN]
5
Alliance For Democracy [AD]
6
African Democratic Congress [ADC]
7
African Peoples Alliance [APA]
8
All Progressives Congress [APC]
9
All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA]
0
Citizens Popular Party [CPP]
11
Democratic Peoples Party [DPP]
12
Independent Democrats [ID]
13
Kowa Party [KP]
14
Labour Party [LP]
15
Mega Progressive Peoples Party [MPPP]
16
National Conscience Party [NCP]
17
New Nigeria Peoples Party [NNPP]
18
People For Democratic Change [PDC]
19
Peoples Democratic Movement [PDM]
20
Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]
21
Progressive Peoples Alliance [PPA]
22
Peoples Party of Nigeria [PPN]
23
Social Democratic Party [SDP]
24
United Democratic Party [UDP]
25
Unity Party of Nigeria [UPN]
26
United Progressive Party [UPP]
--On Sun, Nov 30, 2014 at 12:28 AM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:Between 1960 and 1999, that is to say 39 years, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA EARNED N4.8 trillion (NAIRA). FROM 1999 TO 2013, WHICH IS 14 YEARS, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA EARNED 50 TRILLION NAIRA. From 1999 and hitherto, the PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP) has been in control of the Federal Government and money accrued from crude oil export. We Nigerians should feel concerned over how the PDP has managed over 50 trillion Naira revenue received by the Federal government for the past fifteen years instead of engaging in mental masturbation about if APC that has never been in power at the centre is the same as PDP. With the election coming less than four months, it is too late to organise a new party to confront PDP and APC. As things are, Nigerians have tasted the government of PDP for fifteen years now and it will only be fair to test another party for the next four years, most especially when our experience of the PDP government is negative in all aspects of life.
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 03:30:13 +0000
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Neither PDP Nor APC By Okey Ndibe"Given the deep current of political disaffection I detected in Nigeria, I had expected to see new, outside-the-box thinking about the way forward. Instead, I was confronted with a paralyzing sense of helplessness. I found that Nigerians, including those one expected to know better, were trapped in a conceptual political mindset in which only two parties—and, by extension, two paths to the future—exist in the Nigerian universe. Those two parties—and paths—are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).In conversation after frustrating conversation, one had a hard time nudging Nigerians to release themselves from their binary entrapment in order to see a third way. And yet, to hear them speak was to realize that there was no doubt in their minds that the two parties whose fortunes and prospects alone excite them represent dead-ends. As I argued last week, the PDP and APC are kindred spirits, two parties beset by ideological aridity, and most of their most prominent figures fueled by the same contemptible idea that politics is, above all, a means for accumulating riches. Why else do they hire thugs, kill or maim their opponents, betray all lofty principles, submit themselves to the most diabolical rites? It is certainly not to serve Nigerians.If the two parties jostling to define Nigeria's future are essentially ideologically similar and deeply pathological—and I insist they are—then why don't we unshackle ourselves from their stultifying reins? That was the question and challenge I put to many a friend or fan I met last week in Nigeria."Brilliant analysis, lame option. *shrugs* We are stuck. Democracy is not an option but I don't really know what to do or say about the Nigerian situation anymore. As folks keep reminding me, I no longer live there. I leave the ilo for those who own the problem, those "on the ground." I hereby still my voice box. No more talk about Nigeria, biko. Abeg I will have nothing to do with Nigerian politics any more. I am done with all that, such a time waster.- IkhideStalk my blog at www.xokigbo.comFollow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
--
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