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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Why true national party eludes Nigeria, by Obasanjo
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday lamented the absence of a "truly national" political party in the country, calling for urgent constitutional reforms that would pave way for the "proper functioning" of the parties.
At the launching of a book "Party Politics and Power Struggle in Nigeria" written by the former Deputy National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Iro Abubakar Dan-Musa, Obasanjo said that efforts at building national parties had been impeded by "political hiccups of our society."
Such impediments, according to him, include political opportunism, corruption, lack of discipline and philosophical bankruptcy.
In addition, "one must highlight the series of military interventions that often terminated democratic political experiments in our country" said the President, adding: "On the whole, they have destroyed much more than they have built. It is refreshing to note that we are only beginning to get out of this embarrassing quagmire as we have not only conducted two successive elections but we are also generating the sort of internal discourses within political parties that make ultimately for stronger, more effective and democratic party arrangement and engagements."
The constitutional review that would bring about the reforms in party politics in the country, he said, would streamline the requirements for the formation, registration and functionality of the parties.
Such reforms, he noted, is capable of ensuring corporate ownership, management and financing of political parties at all levels.
Though he is still in support of values embedded in the plurality of parties, Obasanjo stated that the reality of the moment was that it would be counter-productive to continue funding some political parties that add little or nothing to the political system.
He said that "plurality of parties is good for democracy and provides legitimation for the democratic process. However, it is also important that as a developing nation, we do not dissipate our meager resources, energies, and efforts in nurturing structures that only create nuisance value in the system.
"I believe that an individual who cannot find accommodation within few political parties must have a different understanding of party politics in a democratic society, more so when political parties have no ideological differentiation," he added
Reiterating his earlier position that power struggle in Nigeria was largely being perpetrated by a " dependent economic elite that was very reliant on acquiring power to promote accumulation of private wealth", the President stated that these leakages had, in the past, encouraged corruption to the extent that development was undermined, integrity compromised and accountability subverted.
He, however, canvassed for a shift in the "normless struggle for power," adding that power should be seen and used as an instrument to promote equity, social justice, development and democracy.
Commending Dan-Musa for putting his thoughts, philosophies and ideas into book form, the president called on all political leaders and retired professionals to emulate the author so that the society would have the privilege of tapping from their vast reservoir of knowledge and experience.
Meanwhile, Obasanjo has expressed confidence that the economic and social reforms being put in place by his administration would continue beyond 2007 because Nigerian is owned by everybody. They are not just government reforms.
Obasanjo was speaking to the out-going Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Akira Matsui, who paid a farewell visit to State House after his tenure of two years, ten months.
The President said where necessary, legislation would be put in place to ensure that the reforms have legal foundation and support, adding that for reforms to be successful, they should be on the agenda of a strong political party, not an individual crusade.
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