The Hypocrisy of the Progressives By Enenim Ubon

Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 saw the coming on board of three political parties (PDP, APP, AD). These three parties held sway in various zones of the country, (depending on the ideologies that lead to their formation) until 2003 when a political tsunami masterminded by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo swept through some states and handed them over to the PDP (giving the PDP a seeming semblance of a national party).


One thing the three parties had in common was that they were all formed and headed by people who had been in government prior to 1999 and had either contributed to Nigeria’s problems as a nation or had looked the other way when they ought to have spoken out for the Nigerian state and its people. It therefore became impossible for these persons to achieve any ‘tangible’ thing that would benefit the masses, after all they weren’t even part of ‘us’ in the first instance. They belonged to an exclusive class of persons who had life going well for them with the men in uniform around and only blended with the new era. Some just changed their uniforms and joined the new teams. Even the few who didn’t occupy any public position prior to 1999 immediately caught the craze that power seemingly confers forgetting about the people they ought to serve and save from decades of penury.

Fast forward to post 2007, when through the court the AD (which had transformed to ACN then) got back some of their states, a situation which went a long way to revive the opposition and also paved way for the merging of various other parties to form the APC – a party referred to by some Nigerians (eager for change) as the ‘PROGRESSIVES’. As an individual I wasn’t impressed by the merger because to a large extent, I saw it as the coming together of people who either created some of our problems or have over the years helped to amplify them. I wondered if men who helped create our problems would be genuinely willing to solve the same problems but somehow I hoped they would prove me wrong especially considering the goodwill they enjoyed (on the social media) coming on board, but the recent actions of these ‘PROGRESSIVES’ leaves much to be desired.

Their recent romance with the G7 and ‘new’ PDP members and even wooing them to their party keeps me wondering if the ‘PROGRESSIVES’ are still on track. This are men who are asking that their financial activities as governors should not be investigated – which to me is an open admission of corruption, yet this are the same persons the ‘PROGRESSIVES’ are inviting over to be washed, cleansed and addressed by a new name.

The APC already has within its fold men of questionable characters who in some climes will be cooling in prison, but these men are the key figures of their party. As if that’s not enough, the ‘PROGRESSIVES’ also want to add those presently responsible for our woos to their fold. Isn’t this a clear signal that anything goes in the camp of the ‘PROGRESSIVES’, in as much as the individual leaves the camp of the ‘non- progressives’? A clear indication that all ‘sinners’ are welcome. Come as you are and probably continue your old ways under a new name.

Recently the ‘PROGRESSIVE’ train moved to Minna, to woo people who should be in perpetual obscurity. Yes one of them was instrumental to the return of democracy, but I know it cost this nation a lot in finances as his ‘pay off’, I hear he turned down their offer which to me is a blessing to the Nigerian people. The story of the other general is better left for another day. How would a party preaching change keep gathering the same persons responsible for our woes and yet expect people to take them serious. How can the ‘PROGRESSIVES’ guarantee the Nigerian people, that this wolfs they are gathering when added to the ones they already have will not continue to devour our common wealth, leaving millions to starve to death?

Yes we need change in almost all spheres of this nation, but can these ‘PROGRESSIVES’ guarantee this change? With the way they are going, I seriously doubt it. The term ‘PROGRESSIVES’ is just a new name, the characters and their characteristics are likely to remain the same.

The Writer is on Twitter @enenimubon .