ESPERANCE IN TOPSY-TURVYDOM

Whilst the euphoria that trailed the registration of APC has subsided somewhat, its spokespersons are unwittingly failing by focusing too much attention on the PDP. There is no surer path to failure. There's a lot more to opposition politics than mere attacks on the government of the day. Opposition politics in many countries in Africa fail themselves, and deny their populations the diverse opportunities that a vibrant opposition can, and should, provide. Little wonder it is nigh impossible to dislodge ruling parties on the African continent. The quality of the opposition is often depressingly poor, leaving the electorate with not much of an option. The evidence bears witness to this. Zimbabwe springs to mind (whether rigged or not)

Nigerians are neither stupid nor blind; we know how things are and how much better they could be. We know the thieves, the collaborators, the good, the bad and the ugly. We know the shameful state of our education system; we are privy to the loss of millions of lives brought about by the virtually non-existent healthcare system; we know how unemployment has blighted the lives of millions of Nigerians; we know how much damage the lack of adequate power supply has done to our economy. Do we really need to be reminded that Nigeria is one of the most mismanaged countries in the world? The APC should stop wasting our time, and theirs. We hardly need reminding of what we live daily.

Indiscriminate finger-pointing and blame-allocating are the hallmarks of an immature and irresponsible main opposition party. The APC should be wary of the pitfalls. What Nigerians are most interested in is what policies it proposes, and how those policies will have the transformative effects on their socio-economic well-being. For instance, how does the party propose to tackle the most debilitating ailment of corruption that has been woven into our social fabric? How does it propose to deal with oil bunkering? What is it going to do about the cost of governance? What about the issues of unemployment, healthcare and education? So far, we know nothing. That's what the APC should focus on: talk to Nigerians, debate with Nigerians, listen to Nigerians, relate to Nigerians. Show us that you are relevant and ready to change the course of history. Write your story for Nigerians to read, and learn from their reviews.

It would be a massive error of judgement on the part of the APC to rely solely on the disaffection of Nigerians with the PDP for its success in 2015. It would also be a catastrophic miscalculation for the APC to revel in the current war of attrition that threatens the cohesiveness of the PDP. The APC should be in no doubt that it has a long and arduous road ahead. Bisi Akande and all the interim officers should stop this war of words with irrelevant hangers-on like Abati and Okupe because it adds no value to your argument for alternatives. Get your house in order, get your structure right and put forward your arguments. The APC can be the esperance in this topsy-turvydom that Nigeria has become. There's no better time to start demonstrating that than now. The APC cannot afford Nigerians to become insouciant to its emergence. Nigerians cannot afford the failure of the APC.