Elevating political discourse series 1, By Kayode Adebiyi

I will take time to address vital concerns of genuine people concerning Tinubu’s candidature and the seemingly disorganised posture of APC as a political party.

I have continually re-echo the fact that we must elevate political discourse from bullying and gross abuse of the social media platform to name call and carpet in a generalised term supporters of presidential candidates.

If there is one major area where some people have been very unhappy with APC as a party, it is the area of proper organisation and reward system that’s synonymous with a party that has continually won elections over two election circles.

First, I am not a card carrying member of APC but its glaring I have a soft spot for the party. I have gone out of my way sometimes to support candidates of other parties in the past, and would still do it if occasions calls for it.

Be that as it may, as a constant observer of political happenings in Nigeria and especially in the APC as a party, I know a lot of things were not right and people were aggrieved with the way the party was run at the national level.

APC as a political party is populated by human beings. In every human organisation, there is bound to be a difference in opinion on how the party must be organised. There is no perfect political organisation in the world. That’s why democracy is about the minority having their say and the majority having their way.

It is pertinent to note that the personality of the leader of the party determines the organisational trajectory of the political party. If we also observe, governing party at the National level often has a problem of dissention and internal wranglings. You can ask why? It is always because of power sharing and allocation. APC was more organised as an opposition party pre-2015 than as a ruling party post-2015.

If you check very well, PDP has the same problem as a ruling party. What binded them together was the fact that they were in charge of the government at the centre. Immediately after the 2015 loss, PDP imploded. But like all other big parties with very deep tap root, they were able to re-organise because they still have many governors and legislative office holders that were able to hold the party together nationally.

Naturally, President Buhari’s leadership style is passive and some times non-commital. He often wait till a situation is almost turning terribly bad before he acts. That is why I am still of the opinion that political party administration, organisation and key decision making mechanism must not be subject to the leadership of the President. Let the President govern the nation, while the Chairman of the party along with the national executive of the party determine the organisational trajectory of the political party. Of course, the president can be consulted on vital issues, especially on making sure the manifestos and ideological leaning of the party is reinforced in the policies of the government.

This is where the organisational acumen of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to the fore after the formation of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. I remembered vividly that BAT already obtained INEC form to head for Senate after his 2 term as governor of Lagos State. In the last INEC window for possible substitution of candidates, Tinubu withdrew his nomination for Senate election, handed it to one of his mentees, Ganiyu Solomon GOS and decided not to contest for any elective office.

The reason he gave then was that if he was in the Senate, he would be so busy with Senate work in Abuja and would not have the time to properly organise and grow ACN as a formidable opposition party in Nigeria, and most importantly, he wanted his successor, another of his mentee, Babatunde Fashola, SAN to concentrate on governance in Lagos and not be encumbered with political party organisational stress.

Political observers would readily agree that the experiment worked properly in Lagos. Tinubu not only organise, propel and grow ACN into all the SW states and Edo, Fashola was able to concentrate on governance of Lagos even more than Tinubu when he was both party leader and governor at the same time. BAT having no elective political office to run and preside over afforded him the time to traverse the SW and built momentum up to Edo state with electoral victory after electoral victory.

Without any shadow of contradiction, BAT is a better man manager and party organiser than President Buhari. Folks who are having second thought about the organisational strength of APC need not fear going forward. As at 2020, I have a friend who is a card carrying PDP member who is still a political appointee (Director) of a federal government agency under an APC national government. That’s a very serious sin against party organisation and cohesion.

A political party wins election inorder to run government. To run government you have to appoint capable and credible members of the party who toiled and campaign during the election into political offices. It is the norm all over the world. It is in proper organisation of the party that you are able to spot talents and fix them in key positions to turn the fortunes of the country around.

Therefore, while folks might have had reservations about APC organisational strength, I encourage you to have faith.

BAT is coming!