By Temitope Adedeji
Alhaji Atiku has made unity a cardinal point in his manifestos. He has also made it appear as one of the major policies of his government if he is voted for.
Two critical issues, from my opinion, defeat his claim to unity. The first is the lopsided positions in his political party and the fact that he is struggling to come into the Nigerian presidency when a northerner and of Fulani extraction is exiting the stool after spending 8 uninterrupted years. Nothing could have destroyed the very trust and essence of his claim to unity than the skewed attempt by the PDP to retain the presidency in the North and same tribe at that.
I recall the outcome of the pseudo government of unity that Atiku and OBJ practiced when they held sway. Chief Bola Ige, after several attempts to replicate the manifesto and idea of the progressive in respect of energy development failed, he though planned to exit the government but he never did. For a man or woman who does not belong to your party to be in your cabinet , the conflict of ideas and implementation will be audibly pronounced even in silence except if such a nominee is pr prepared to renege on the ideology of his political party. Even where they share same ideology on campaign issue(s), implementation and subsequent party positions may make the two difficult to work together.
Politics in our clime is largely devoid of concrete ideology and therefore lacks ideological class. The electorates are not moved by ideas but sentiment,.patronage and pretence. So, how do you espouse great ideas in a cabinet that it’s political.ideology is different from yours?
I think the promise of government of unity by PDP and Alhaji Abubakar is more of a political campaign than reality of governance and the tenets of democracy all over the world.
