Blackmailing the opposition Mahmoon Baba-Ahmed There is no disputing the fact that the Peoples Democratic Party is extremely officious, always interested in other peoples’ businesses ostensibly to intimidate or suppress them in order to acquiesce or condone its unfair acts. That is precisely manifested in its bitter relationship with members of the opposition parties whom it castigates unnecessarily and unjustifiably. While the party and its leadership simply relish the pleasure of reproaching others. They have also progressively become unreceptive to good counseling and particularly hostile to excellent reasoning and superior argument; often indisposed to logical thinking. Its reaction to any meaningful criticism is an angry, sharp or insulting rejoinder which is more often than not intended to humiliate and disparage anybody who dares raise finger against it. How else can one explain its haughty attempt to stifle opposition politicians in a manner quite incompatible with its self-proclaimed reputation as the biggest party in Africa? The party always finds fault with whatever Governor Rotimi Amaechi has said as if he has no right to exercise his civic liberties. He was unnecessarily persecuted over supposed and fabricated statements, and on so many occasions he decried what he called threats to his life by a federal government agency which purportedly issued a last warning to him for his supposedly careless and obviously mischievous utterances which it said could truncate democracy. Whenever the PDP Government takes half-hearted and an unpopular step to bring to an end the unrelenting security situation in the country the opposition was always uncomfortable, believing and describing such move as a deliberate ploy to subvert constitutional democracy. In the same vein the opposition harshly criticized the continuous imposition of emergency order in the three troubled northeastern states which did not yield any desirable result but rather caused the rapid deterioration of the already worsened situation. That was because the emergency regimes were not the appropriate solution to the Boko Haram menace because their provisions have flagrantly violated the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because they gag the press and tamper with the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. In a terse, vindictive reaction, which clearly betrayed the government’s glaring inability to contain the insurgency its party, the PDP blamed the opposition for allegedly having sympathy for the insurrectionary forces and therefore branded them as supporters of the Boko Haram sect. That was indeed a frivolous accusation which the PDP cannot successfully substantiate anywhere. It had only resorted to such baseless allegations because it was unable to invalidate the veracity of the opposition’s reflection of its poor handling of problems or difficulties facing the nation including security issues. Similarly, some influential figures in the PDP had some few years ago exhibited similar style of intolerance and prejudice by ill advisedly calling on the federal government to immediately order the arrest of General Muhammadu Buhari, an intimidating opposition politician, over his scathing remarks on the conduct of the military campaign on the Boko Haram terror group, occasioned by the state of emergencies which his political ally, Chief Bola Tinubu had earlier dismissed as autocratic. It was therefore clear the federal government was from the onset intent on unfairly threatening its political foes through chief blackmails and unwarranted coercion to achieve a particular, but sinister result by identifying them with the dreaded sect members. Another gesture expressive of the PDP government’s unnecessary insensitivity to constructive criticism was its needless indignation over comments by fellow compatriots that often descend heavily on the impact of Jonathan’s style of leadership on the nation which they often likened to a sinking ship in the hands of absolute autocrat. In the same vein, various well-meaning citizens also deplored what they called sectional politics peddled by politicians in unreserved disregard of institutions or individuals who preach against the unity of the country. That attitude was largely responsible for the malady that is currently afflicting the country. As if opposition politicians have no constitutional responsibility to offer constructive criticism to the government, Reuben Abati, its egotistical mouthpiece, will always engage them in a most disgraceful war of words which was absurdly ludicrous. His diabolical associates had variously described General Muhammadu Buhari as dictatorial and a semi illiterate jackboot while the irrepressible Asari Dokubu, a leading fanatical supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan promised hell and brimstone to the northerners if they failed to endorse his principal in an election which he insinuated had already been won by him. It is quite interesting to know that Dokubu and his wayfarers have never been reprimanded or called to order over their unwarranted and incendiary comments. But Reuben Abati’s caustic and erratic remarks have never addressed the substance of the opposition’s frustration with President Jonathan’s despotic style of leadership; rather they compounded the situation by portraying his party and its government in poor light for being impervious to suggestions for improvement having already become insensitive to other people’s feelings or indifferent to situations that define their predicaments. This in a nutshell is the opposition’s daring audacity to challenge and deal with the PDP government’s duplicitous precedents which may after all prove to be an important departure or moment of change from PDP’s ineffectual rule. That cannot effectively be done under duress and unprovoked or intimidating threats to the opposition by heavy-handed officials of an impassive administration.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 12:41:10 +0000
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