CPC, WHERE IS MY VOTE?

With gallivanting bravery, I dare CPC to produce my vote or face the wrath of an angry young man. For if CPC still wants to hold on to my vote, let there be change in the way it is playing its own politics of opposition. Simple! So today, I will take on the party I worked for. My advocacy is not just about the wrongs of the PDP led government alone, it is also about ourselves, the opposition citizenry, albeit, I am not a card carrying member of any political party. Just for those who care to listen. So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

My vote for CPC was not just with the intention of winning the Presidency, but with the mind that even if the party should lose, I would be happy to see it as a party with a robust platform to check ruling party’s excesses and government policy somersaulting. Today, these two purposes have been consigned into the abyss. So today, I will expose the untold truth, I will tell the inconvenient truth, something we are always not comfortable with. I will dare the noise makers of the CPC, I will make them feel the pains I am feeling, I will make them think about my many unanswered questions, if only they can be sincere enough to take stock. So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

In my endless search for progressive leadership, I have come face to face with realities, with serious and unserious political goons, with hypocritical activists and advocates, with political parties of note and wingless ones, with loose blueprints, with very unready citizenry, with a society grilled in deceits seemingly beyond recovery, with bitter denizens yet in love with regression, with you the sycophantic reader who sees nothing good in checks and balances and with you the balanced reader who sees from both sides. In my search for the most wanted man Nigeria needs on the throne, my perception has been shaped by appointments and disappointments, moderated by failures and retrogression of the Nigerian society. But in the midst of heavy downpour of uncertainties in the future of Nigeria, I’m still holding my head up, peeping to see if indeed there is light at the end of the tunnel. It was this hope that made me voted CPC, won disciples for ACN and did media campaign against PDP in 2011. If you like, call me a confused voter. It is stale! So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

When in late 2010 CPC was floated as a breakaway part of ANPP, it was meant to provide platform for credible people to mainstream into politics, throw up flag-bearers of note and structure itself as a serious party ready for serious business of watchdog, the latter being the most important. In its hedonic pursuance of the country’s top seat, CPC failed to build grassroots structures, enmeshed itself in the delusion that it would unseat the ruling party at the central level. So at a point, it was so glaring that the sole reason for CPC’s existence was to clinch the number one seat and nothing more. I saw this, but I was blinded by my hurried quest for a change, which I later realized as an uncalculated hunger but with no equally assorting appetite. We were not ready for such drastic change. I am sure I’m not alone in this shoe, you may also be wondering. So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

In its hurried uncalculated rush to effect a change in Nigeria, CPC was gunning for a dream it did not erect structures for, no grassroots pillars to challenge the status quo at the local government level, no mechanisms to drive movement at the State level. In the States where CPC won at the presidential election, it lost gallantly at the gubernatorial elections, winning only one State as the encouragement it got from the National Assembly elections could not help. When it lost the presidential election, it lost touch with reality, thinking that the overwhelming success it recorded in some part of the north at the presidential election was a pointer to the fact that its machineries should go into hibernation at the gubernatorial elections, votes would just come in like soldier ants. Yes you can say PDP rigged its way in, but have you thought of Ogun and Oyo States? Didn’t they rig there? I mean PDP. So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

It is not in the business of any serious opposition party to boycott elections as elections offer an opportunity to win more followers even if it will not lead to an outright win. Election is a game of numbers. It was a big error for CPC to have boycotted Kebbi’s rerun election after securing victory in court. If ACN had boycotted rerun elections in Ekiti, imagine what the story would be. An opposition party that is serious with its business will not joke with strongholds at State and Local Government levels. The handwritings were tellingly obvious; CPC was not ready for a change itself or it didn’t understand the metamorphosis of change. Let me be clear, change doesn’t just happen; it starts from strong grassroots conviction, with machineries spread across the land to lead the campaigns. It takes time, but it will happen as time melts away. It is not just about floating a party to throw up candidates, it is far beyond that. So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

Of all the issues paining me beyond my bone marrow, the most important is the watchdog role CPC has failed in playing. This is where I am totally convinced that CPC is only interested in the Presidency, in elections. Are you thinking of Elrufai? He is only voicing on behalf of himself, not sent by his party. Is this the worth of my vote? Where is the voice of the party on national issues that are germane to our continued existence as a people? Does CPC have a voice? Or it lacks the will to pursue its cause? It is so sad, whenever we seek solace in the opposition parties; CPC is always missing in action. There are no statements issued, no voice to speak on behalf of the party, nothing coming, and nothing at all. It is killing! Recently when Buhari dropped a hint about his intention in 2015, the party quickly issued a statement to that effect. What about us? What about the issues killing us in this country? What about the excesses of the ruling party and its government? What about us who believe in your cause? I mean, what about us? What about us? Don’t we deserve statements? Don’t we deserve a voice to speak for us? Don’t we? So with gallivanting bravery, I am asking for my vote!

This is not how to rewrite history. CPC’s pen is too blunt for now. History written with blunt pen may not even be legible to read. CPC has not shown serious commitment to its own ideology. It needs to level up and reposition itself as a formidable platform. Let me sound it clear, my vote for CPC was not just for Presidential election, but also for the party to perform its watchdog duty with no recourse to fear and intimidation. In this case, there is a big lesson to learn from the ACN. Otherwise, with gallivanting bravery, I will continue to ask for my vote!

It is me, @Obajeun. Follow me on twitter