What role for the opposition?

EVERYONE has a way of descending a slippery slope. Peter Gregory Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party at the 2023 election, has long accepted Nigeria as a unit of development.

In coming to grips with the bitter decision of the Supreme Court over the outcome of the election, Obi quickly assigned to himself and his party the enviable role of the Official Opposition to Government.

Obi does not intend to stand against the government on every issue. But in government, there must arise, those critical moments when government, by its acts of commission or omission, is going adrift. Then, the opposition must step in to offer its viewpoints and proffer bold alternatives.

Experience remains the best teacher. At a point, we were afraid that Peter Obi was going to win the election and run into the turbulent waters of facing a National Assembly predominated by an opposition party.

Obi maintained that that was not going to constitute any problem. He had been there before. He became the Governor of Anambra State under the APGA platform, and the state House of Assembly members were 100% PDP.

Of course, they threw him out through an ill-conceived impeachment process. But he was reinstated by the courts; and he ruled successfully with the PDP-dominated assembly.

Obi was right that the legislators are Nigerians first and partymen after that, and that if you were embarking on good policies and programmes, they would go with you, the party differences notwithstanding. He was right.

However, today, we see leaders of the opposition parties, particularly those of the Labour Party persuasion, feeling thoroughly disappointed at the mild gesture of their representatives at the National Assembly.

The feeling here is that these representatives should have carried the fierce fight people saw in them during the campaigns to the chambers of the National Assembly – tie up the Assembly; oppose everything that came from the government; and make the government impossible!

They wonder how these people would be sitting there, while billions and trillions of Naira are being frittered away on luxuries for the revamping of the presidential fleet; the fleet of cars for the First Lady; the presidential yacht; and other frivolities; and this is a nation where every Nigerian is suffering and the leaders, so-called, keep asking people to tighten their belts! What type of opposition do we now have, if they couldn’t bring down the roof: and let the spoilt world spoil? The opposition leaders that ask these questions simply miss the point.

The dynamics have changed, somewhat. During the campaigns and the legal battles that followed at the courtrooms nationwide, the Labour Party candidate at Isiala Ngwa, Abia State, could throw banters at his Birnin Kudu APC counterpart in Jigawa State. It didn’t matter. But today, legislators of all party persuasion now live in the same complex; go to work in the same legislative chambers; serve in the same committees; attend the same churches and mosques; eat the same rice; and have just taken delivery of the same jeeps that are good for the worst roads!

Essentially, their struggles are the same and their enemies everywhere are also the same. In the legislatures everywhere, there is an esprit de corps that cannot be broken, no matter how hard anyone tries. Look at it this way: The battles and wars have been fought, won, and lost. In a manner of speaking, treaties have been signed.

It is a new lease of life for the legislators. After the bitter struggles for their elections, they have now arrived in Abuja – some in public transport and some in their old jalopies. But they have recently taken delivery of their N160million jeeps that can ply the worst roads without qualms. This is without party coloration.

Since arriving to Abuja, the legislators have been located to their various legislative quarters that have been tastily furnished.

At the National Assembly, the factors that unite the members – government or opposition – are a lot more than the ones that divide them.

This is the season of unity and full cooperation – the appropriation time. More than any time else, this is the time when legislators bond together to see their Constituency Projects into the budget. The bonding becomes necessary as every legislator sees this as an opportunity to impact his or her constituency.

Every year, the President presents to the National Assembly, an Appropriation Bill for the following financial year. After a short period in the Assembly, the Bill limps out, invariably higher than it was at presentation. Apparently, the Constituency Projects have become a fact of life in Nigeria.

The environment in the National Assembly is one of groupthink and teamwork, rather than confrontation and stark opposition. In retrospect, it would be difficult to imagine how the Late Edwin Ume-Ezeoke (of the NPN/NPP Coalition) would have coped without the active support of his old friend, Hon. Debo Akande of then opposition Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). During those intensive and acrimonious debates, when it appeared that the roofs were going to come crumbling down, Mr. Speaker had a way of signaling Akande, who would promptly respond. They would put their heads together for a few minutes, after which Mr. Speaker was ready to put the question. This is the type of relationship that exists in most legislatures till today.

Contrary to the imagination of the distant observer, it would be impossible for the opposition legislator to press for division on every issue that comes before the Assembly. And it is not every time the opposition legislator plays along with the government side that he must be seen as a sell-out or one that has been compromised. He is the one on the spot; and he is the one who must be allowed to exercise discretion.

The foregoing does not vitiate the fact that the leadership of a political party must keep its members together. There must be cohesion within the party. Ideally, this cohesion flows from disciplined leadership.

We remember the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909 – 1987). In the Second Republic, he kept his eyes on the ball on issues of the UPN. He held regular parliamentary meetings with the UPN members of the National Assembly at his Park Avenue residence in Apapa, Lagos. When it came to issues on which the party should take a solid stand, he issued specific instructions to frontline members of the party. The instructions were strictly executed. To Chief Obafemi Awolowo, any party that is left rudderless, soon faces the risk of extinction.

Truly, a viable opposition exists to put government constantly on its toes. In doing so, the criticism of government must be constructive, and issues based.

National interest must supersede other interests, which presupposes that government and opposition must co-exist peaceably – neither blind confrontation nor total capitulation. Between the two extremes lies a situation of a healthy mutual interdependence, which smoothly oils the engine of democracy.

HERE’S WISHING OUR ESTEEMED READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR FULL OF CONTENTMENT.