Recently, I watched Pat Utomi’s television interview where he announced his moves to form a new political party still in pursuit of the seemingly unattainable Nigeria’s redemption. We have always witnessed formation of new political parties in these uncharted waters that have become our political sphere, but what interests me about Utomi’s idea is its philosophical insight and pragmatic soundness. Incidentally, it reflects the position I have always canvassed in my suggestions about how to change the course of our perennially ailing nation.
Utomi said he is forming a new party because Nigeria has never had any “real” political party that can drive good governance. From his words, I determined that his ideas of what makes a true political party completely align with mine. A political party should be an ideological platform where individuals that share common beliefs come together to work towards realising them in the governance of the country.
The first republic gave us some semblance of this when the leading political parties could be attributed with some ideological posture. For instance, the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group (AG) had some socialist disposition which clearly reflected in its policies including the famous successful free education programme. Today, what we call political parties are mere vehicles for seeking power; their members are only united by common power interest and never by any common ideology. To use the words of Senator Ben Obi, the parties are “rainbow coalition of strange bed fellows.”
Utomi said his new party will seek to be different. It will pursue ideological consciousness first before talking about participating in elections. When the TV presenter asked him about who could be the party’s presidential candidate in 2027, he retorted that he was not talking about election yet. With visible frustration, he described Nigeria as having become “an election circuit” where people gather for elections every four years and disperse thereafter without getting anything right.
Every regular reader of this column would have known that this has been one point I have consistently laboured to make here. Our nation has become one big election theatre where we all gather in excitement every four years to cheer those we love and see as messiah, and jeer at those we despise. Incidentally, since the first republic till date, this circuit has yielded nothing in the direction of collective progress.
Utomi is proposing a cultural change where his new party will first of all focus on building the right consciousness both internally (among the members) and externally (among members of the public). Going through this process will, according to him, ensure that in the event of the party succeeding in winning elections, all and sundry, including that official in the lowest cadre of the civil service, would have been fully aware of the new direction things would take henceforth and his/her role in it.
Utomi’s strategy, in other words, is to seek ideological clarification before grabbing power, so that power will not be held and exercised for power sake, but exercised in accordance with a definite philosophical and moral persuasion directed towards transformation and progress. It is a strategy that seeks to get everyone on board an ideological ship so that all will be on the same page as to the direction we’re sailing towards.
This is contrary to what we have had over the years where people desire change without knowing exactly what that change entails. This is a great threat to the change we all yearn for. My experience in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election is instructive here. It turned out that a friend who works at a federal government agency whose staff are in the usual business of extorting members of the public in the course of rendering service to them was among those energetically calling for change during that frenetic episode. His social media updates regularly reflected this disposition. He identified as an “obidient.” During one of our conversations, I asked him, “you were once complaining of a new boss in your office who was restricting the rate at which you guys extort, yet you want a new Nigeria. Do you know if Peter Obi would be the right person to change the system, he would do more than your new boss by not just restricting the rate of extortion but ending it completely?” He got a bit perplexed.
The above experience is not an isolated case but a reflection of what has been a dominant attitude. To buttress this point, let me reproduce at length my submission in an article I wrote in this column in August last year: “Unfortunately,” I wrote, “the 2023 elections seem to suggest that we are not yet ready … [for change]. There was so much excitement in the build-up as many people seemed poised to make a statement through the ballot. The cliché “youths want to take back their country” became popular. Nonetheless, I felt strongly that the excitement was not ideologically grounded in terms of details of what is expected of any leader that will accomplish this task and of the citizens who will cooperate with him on the task. Thus, I understood fully when Femi Falana, SAN, was labouring in a television interview shortly before the elections to make the point that apart from the seemingly unprecedented public interest and excitement accompanying the 2023 elections, nothing essentially different was happening in terms of the quality of discourse vis-à-vis all previous elections.
“Around that time, I was speaking with some students and asked about what they thought should be done exactly by whoever became the next President. Their answers were, in a nutshell, a rehash of the familiar lines like create jobs, provide electricity, provide roads etc. Even though some of them mentioned ending corruption but then they appeared not to possess any in-depth understanding as to what doing this entails in its full spectrum and dimensions. This became more obvious when I asked them to tell me in all honesty whether they were ready to lose whatever privilege they may enjoy now or in future by way of having an influential uncle that will influence their NYSC posting to a favourable state and place of primary assignment or an aunt that will give them job at the CBN or NNPC upon graduation, and whether they would be ready to insist on honesty and refuse any invitation from their most trusted friend to look into a leaked examination question paper were such opportunity to come. Lo, the students were not sure they were ready to do any of these. At that point, I told them that if they could not answer categorical YES to the questions, then they are really part of the problem and not part of the solution, they are part of those holding the nation to hostage and not part of those wanting to ‘take it back’. At best they are cooperating with the hostage takers rather than wanting to do away with them. You cannot want your nation to change without being morally involved. This reinforces my conviction that when eventually our much-sought-after political messiah will come, we may not recognise him – nay we may stone him for speaking in a language foreign to our ears.
“Our youths require some leadership in their political involvement. They need to be properly oriented on what it means to be an agent of change. It is not all about dreaming, but importantly they need to become ideologically and morally involved in realising the dream. This is a challenge to all mentors of the youth, all civil society groups involved in civic education, and indeed all of us as we contemplate the agenda for the next round of general elections come 2027.”
From my interpretation of Utomi’s interview, he appears to be seeking to reverse the above trend. He wants to begin by pursuing an ideological clarification as to the way to go, both among those who will lead the way and among those who are to follow behind them. This, he believes, has been one crucial element that has been lacking in our democratic experience. According to him, he wants to start off by raising “a tribe” of ideologically committed individuals (inside and outside the party) who will stand uncompromisingly by certain principles, professing these principles and living by them.
I’m obviously thrilled by Utomi’s idea and strongly convinced that it’s what we need most now to change the course of our nation. But then, my misgivings – very serious misgivings for that matter – lie in his intention to bring in the unsuccessful candidates in the last presidential election who, in his words, will be “the base” of the new platform. I am worried here because I do not see any of the former candidates keeping aside his 2027 ambition to patiently commit energy and time to building this ideological platform, which a different person may end up becoming the beneficiary. Atiku Abubakar has already stated his intention to run for the presidency again. Peter Obi would certainly like to quickly build on his very impressive outing of last time. The two candidates are formidable and would fancy their chances in 2027.
This would mean that these influential politicians will likely see the new party as another platform to seek power. It will expose the platform to the risk of ending up like other political parties where politicians defect to for the sole purpose of grabbing power. This, evidently, will defeat Utomi’s vision.
If I had opportunity to advise Utomi, I would suggest that the new platform forget about contesting the 2027 elections and make this decision clear to all and sundry. (Even though he said contesting elections is not in the immediate agenda, but I believe he needs to be definite about the next elections coming up in 36 months time – 3 years). This will discourage power-seeking politicians from deflecting to the new party and only to desert it in the event of failure. Second, I would suggest to Utomi that the party constitution prescribe stringent criteria for qualifying to fly its flag. These would include being a member of the party for at least consecutive four years before the election in question. This will further discourage turning the party to a mere vehicle for riding to power.
Without measures like these being strictly implemented, I’m afraid Utomi may labour in vain. His new party will become another space for the dirty politics of use-and-dump which has been the unfortunate fate of other political parties we have had. In the interview in question, Utomi lamented how the APC he played a crucial role in forming was “hijacked” by certain elements that did not share the vision that inspired the formation. He should watch it this time; history has a way of repeating itself.
Henry Chigozie Duru, PhD, teaches journalism and mass communication at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
Pat utomi’s idea is great. Though I have my doubts. For instance, how will he get people with the same mindset as his? Which Politician will be patient to wait for years until the ideology is achieved. Politicians will want to use it as an avenue to promote their political ambition just like they used the labour party. It is not about the vision but the implementation. Dr Henry I wish you would borrow our politicians your brain😂
You can’t want your nation to change without being morally involved.
Hmmm, that is completely the truth