Can Jonathan save a dying PDP?

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

Without equivocation or hesitation, my answer is NO. And mark you, I don't care about PDP. It's a very wicked party. It's the party that underdeveloped Nigeria the most. The so called largest political party in Africa is  all over the place now in sixes and sevens.

One would expect the former president, Goodluck Jonathan to salvage the situation by re-uniting the party, but he will not and cannot. As the last known leader of the party, he's expected to step out forcefully to call the warring parties to order, even if to give APC a semblance of opposition. For where? He's receiving one faction after the other and denying alleged support for one faction. Same thing he did as president, when his weak and conciliatory leadership style almost sank the ship of state.

A very humble and otherwise good chap, GEJ lacks the sterner stuff required to rescue PDP. Compare him with the grandmaster, OBJ. Compare them at your own peril. I don't know why he visited Baba recently and even IBB more recently, but it is obvious he doesn't command the respect and clout required to rein in the dissenting and contending factors in the dinosaur, PDP.

And so, we are left with an APC, thickly populated by elements of PDP posturing as converts-most of whom are hoping jumping ship would save them from EFCC. The major difference between six (APC) and half a dozen (PDP) is perhaps the leader of the former, Buhari. So, Nigeria might have to put up with 12-16 years of APC and another party takes over-if we haven't had the "Arab Spring" or "Orange Revolution" by then.

Like most democrats, I hate one-party states. It's akin to the dictatorship of the proletariat, which the Bolshevik Revolution turned into, unfortunately. The signs are there-that APC could be worse than PDP, if not checkmated by a strong opposition and a vocal populace since the human rights community has been regrettably compromised.

Honestly, it's not that I wish PDP well (in fact, I wish them a hoodoo), but I'd love to seem some opposition against the ruling party. To that extent, therefore, I'm hoping the elders of the PDP led by GEJ, one of the greatest beneficiaries of the 16 years of PDP domination, to rise to the challenge and recover the party.

If they like, they should take my advice; if they like they can ask me to shove it. Soon, the South-East and South-South will convert to APC and we, the people, will be totally snookered.