LAGOS PDP: EXAMPLE OF HOW NOT TO BE AN OPPOSITION & LESSONS FOR RIVERS APC

LAGOS PDP: EXAMPLE OF HOW NOT TO BE AN OPPOSITION & LESSONS FOR RIVERS APC

Goodmorning dear Respected & Respectable Leaders and Members of Rivers APC.

We are continuing our discussions on the future of our party in particular and our State, Rivers at large. Collectively, let’s take a peep inside the opposition in Lagos and see what lessons we can draw there.

There has been Six Gubernatorial Contests in the State between the PDP on one hand & the AD/ACN/APC on the other since the return of Democracy in 1999.

One feature that is easily noticed is that the PDP always changes her candidate every new election year.
Take for eg, in 1999, they presented Chief Dapo Sarunmi against Sen. Bola Tinubu.

In 2003, they changed to late Chief Funsho Williams.

For the 2007 elections, they used Sen. Musliu Obanikoro; then it was the turn of Chief Ade Dosunmu in 2011.

Expectedly,the party abandoned Dosunmu for Chief Jimi Agbaje in the 2015 elections.

Clearly showing that for 5 consecutive election years, spanning about 20years, the PDP in Lagos kept changing their minds & candidates as though its baby Diapers so that, even when they represented Agbaje in 2019, Lagosians had lost confidence in the party’s ability to win the State having been trounced 5 different times.

Fortunately for us in Rivers APC, we have only tried twice, we mustn’t allow ourselves get to the point where the Lagos PDP got themselves to. While we are very lucky to still command considerable respect of Rivers voters, thanks to Wike’s lack of vision, we must learn from the abundance of lessons around us.

Like i had argued previously, an opposition party does not have luxury of much things because by virtue of being an opposition, she doesn’t have the depth, resources, contacts & other advantages of the ruling party, however, those shortcomings must be made up by way of coordination & superior thoughts. Any opposition which does not realise this is only headed for the doom
Our party should not be emotional or impulsive but deliberate & intentional with identified objectives and clear processes towards achieving them

This piece, like others before it, is intended to share information about political events that have occurred around us and assist our party make INFORMED decisions. The essence of History is to know what, why & how events happened, based on which to reasonably predict how it may recur or not in the future.

Ikenda is a member of the APC & writes from PH