The widely reported invitation by the newly formed All Progressive Congress on President Goodluck Jonathan to join its fold clearly justifies our often repeated position that the opposition political party lacks the human resource to provide good and effective governance for the Nigerian Nation and will always have to depend on the Peoples Democratic Party for leadership in all ramifications.

While it is not out of place for political parties to make overtures to those they believe have the capacity to assist them gain greater acceptability among the electorate, it is noteworthy that this invitation is being extended to a sitting President who was elected on the platform of another political party and whose unquestionable performance in the last two years have often been derided by this same political cynics.

It is noteworthy that in extending its invitation to the President, the National Chairman of the APC made reference to what it called “crisis rocking the PDP”; forgetting that the real test of leadership is not in running away from crisis but in resolving them firmly and fairly. The very nature of democratic politics envisages conflict of ideas, interests and aspirations which must be aggregated for the overall good of the public and which all true leaders must be mentally and emotionally prepared to tackle.

This is why Mr President has continued to pursue the Transformation Agenda with zeal, focus and unequalled determination despite the enormous security challenges mostly orchestrated by elements in the opposition political party who had hoped that the ship of the Nigerian Nation would not stay afloat under the first President ever produced from a minority ethnic group.

Unlike the APC which its chairman confessed was just putting together its manifestoes and leadership structure, the Peoples Democratic Party which produced the President has pursued and currently executing a definite blue Print to take Nigeria out of the woods of economic stagnation and social deprivation, with verifiable degrees of success in the last two years.

With this invitation by the APC to President Goodluck Jonathan and open declarations of its unpreparedness by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, it should be apparent to Nigerians that this new political party is directionless, lacking substance, and without a clear purposeful leadership.

In a Presidential democracy, leadership is central to a focused and visionary political party, therefore it is unimaginable that a party which desires to be a substitute to an institutionalized ruling party, will be comfortable with operating an interim leadership structure rather than planning to ensure that its substantive national officers and leadership, are elected at its planned National Convention in November 2013. The obvious explanation for their failure to do this is the fact that they do not intend to expose their inherent fragility, which will continue to bedevil the party till its ultimate demise.

The assertion by Chief Akande that the Presidency was not a priority of the party is certainly a smokescreen to shop for a candidate outside of its fold because in reality the APC does not have any electable presidential material in its ranks as those it presently parades are political liabilities without any modicum of National electoral value.

Nigerians will note that the bulk of those who make up the APC are having their debut in the National political space and therefore have little or no understanding of what it takes to steer the ship of a great Nation, with such complex socio-cultural diversities and the intricacies of balancing these diversities within the polity for national stability. The destiny of Nigeria is too big, and the aspirations of Nigerians too important, to be entrusted into the hands of political learners or neophytes on the National platform. The APC’s promise of change therefore is not a dependable incentive for Nigerians to take a gamble with our collective patrimony.

•Dr. Doyin Okupe is Senior Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to the Nigerian President.

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