Reminded recently of a sense of betrayal by many Nigerians who in 2015 voted Buhari because of his party’s promise to restructure Nigeria and people’s disenchantment over his current stonewalling on the implementation Nasir El-Rufai committee report on restructuring, Governor Kayode Fayemi told us it would be “unfair for Nigerians to blame All Progressives Congress (APC) or Presidency for not implementing restructuring agenda as promised in its manifesto. He wants Nigerians to take their frustration to the doorsteps of the National Assembly who “should be tasked to work on the reports of the Nasir El-Rufai committee on restructuring formally submitted to the legislature by all the APC governors”.

Governor Fayemi has learnt very fast. He has grown from being a social activist and public intellectual to a politician, a man of many words, who has learnt through timeless world of politics, the brinkmanship of how to cope with party intrigues and balance the ambition of party and non-party members. But the consolation is that Nigerians know where the buck stops. They know those to be held responsible now or in future for their current nightmare. Nigerians know the party that controls 65 seats in the 109 seat Senate, 190 of the 360 Lower house seats and about 21 of the 36 state governors but lacks the political will to address nation’s crisis of nationality.

Those who genuinely care for our country know the answer to our crisis of nation building is restructuring or “how best we can move towards a more perfect union through better management of our diversity” as Governor Fayemi puts, it to allay the fears of those who are afraid of the word restructuring. It is the most cost effective and less painful approach towards addressing the menace of cross border herdsmen; mindless killings of subsistence farmers in the middle belt region and in other federating states across the nation; importation of labour of other societies by unpatriotic Nigerians who import or smuggle substandard goods to kill our budding industries; end killing of Nigerians through importation of fake drugs and stop the export of social problems of some states in form of unemployable angry youths who grew up without knowing parental love or equipped for challenges of modern society through education, to some more prosperous southern states. And since we operate at different levels of cultural development, it is the only way for elite consensus between National Assembly members who want to advertise their four wives and 27 children as evidence of power and affluence and those whose forebears engaged in such past-time in the late 19th century purely for economic reasons as children and women back then provided much needed farm labour. And finally, a consensus on how to manage our diversity will end the current ‘feudal system’ in the country whereby resources of states are cornered by a dysfunctional centre and shared or looted by a few privileged members of the political elite as various judicial and house probes have shown since the end of the civil war.

From the experiences of other multi-cultural societies such as India, Canada, Australia and Germany, elite consensus on common values is best negotiated through political parties, the 18th century ingenious creation of students of society. Here at home, our independence constitution which guaranteed an ordered society until a military that was never equipped to manage society destroyed it in 1966, was negotiated by NCNC, NPC and Action Group.

But confronted with social problems they were ill-trained to manage, rather than allow normal evolution of political parties through free association of those who shared identical interest and values, the military decreed two political parties, NRC and SDP headed by Tom Ikimi and Tony Anenih. It got more bizarre with an intellectually- challenged General Abacha setting up his own five parties – UNCP, CNC, NCPN, DPN and GDM, with all of them adopting him their presidential candidate. The PDP, ANPP and AD that emerged during General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s 11-month transition program were infiltrated and hijacked by retired military Generals and their contractors.

It was therefore not a surprise that PDP described byJohn Campbell, former US envoy as ‘an elite cartel at the centre of power in Nigeria that came together for sharing of oil rents and political spoils’, and its military-baked ‘newbreed’ politicians did what soldiers of fortune do best – sharing the loot of conquered territories.

For eight years, Obasanjo’s roadmap promised to provide stable electricity, attain agricultural revolution, end massive importation of foreign goods as well as fight corruption. President Yar’Adua had a seven-point agenda and President Jonathan added his own ‘transformation agenda’, but PDP only served the interest of PDP.

In August 2013, the All Progressives Congress unfolded its own eight-point cardinal programme- devolution of power, accelerated economic growth and affordable health care, electricity generation, war against corruption, food security, integrated transport network and free education”; all of which Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, dismissed as s “a very poor imitation and a bland parody of PDP manifesto.”

What is not in dispute however is that PDP and APC members are all military-baked ‘new breed’ politicians and share identical mind-set. Nuhu Ribadu, a man who should know better as former EFCC boss and as a politician who has operated within the inner circle of the two parties told us that looking for saints among current Nigerian politicians will be an arduous task.

Unlike the first and second republics, when there were strong parties and party supremacy, APC and PDP governors are answerable only to themselves. Again, this was perhaps why Nuhu Ribadu, had during a two-day summit of Northern Development Focus Initiative (NDFI) in Kano in January 2013 said “the 19 northern state governors and the 414 local governments have nothing to show for the N8.3 trillion that accrued to them between 1999 and 2010 whereas Ahmadu Bello’s NPC with an annual budget of N44m maintained law and order and ensured effective security of life and property among other achievements.

There has been similarly nothing remarkable about the outing of southwest governors whether PDP or APC. Intra-city and inter-state roads are in states of disrepair, rural health programmes that thrived in the first republic have collapsed. Neither Bodija housing estate for workers nor Ikeja GRA built in the first republic has been replicated elsewhere since 1999. About four ranches were located in various parts of Western State by the Action Group government of Awolowo and his colleagues within eight years but 20 years into the fourth republic, southwest continues to depend on the north for about 10,000 cows consumed in the geopolitical zone daily.

Unlike political parties, both PDP and APC that don’t dream dreams cannot perform miracles. It is also obvious from their baleful record since 1999 that they have both failed the nation over routine responsibilities of government that do not require the intervention of angels or men with special talents.

If anything, Fayemi’s response to the betrayal of Nigerians by his party has confirmed there is little or no difference between PDP and APC neither of which seems to have any philosophical foundation or an ideological orientation.

By Jide Omojuyitan