GOOD GOVERNANCE, NOT GNU
DESPITE the fact that he has not said so himself openly at any forum, President Goodluck Jonathan has been reported to be considering the idea of forming what has been tagged a government of national unity. According to these ‘rumours’, the political parties being considered for inclusion in his new administration are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Both had asked their supporters to vote for Jonathan in the presidential election and did not field candidates for the presidency. Although the ACN recorded a resounding victory in the legislative and gubernatorial elections in the South-West, a majority of the electorate in the geographical zone voted for Jonathan instead of the ACN’s presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. The National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Chief Olusola Oke has however refuted the report of GNU saying it was all a kite by the opposition.
IN Nigeria’s political history, there has been no single case of a coalition government, alliance or government of national unity that has ended as blissfully as it started. In the first republic, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) came together to form a coalition government because no political party had the parliamentary majority to form a government at the centre. Although born out of necessity, the coalition ended up as a fiasco. In the second republic, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of President Shehu Shagari went into an alliance with the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP). The alliance did not last the four years of Shagari’s first term in office. The junior partner in the alliance, the NPP, came out of it licking its wounds. It was not all its members who were given ministerial appointments under Shagari that returned to its fold when the alliance collapsed. They declared for the president’s party.
IN 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo had a comfortable majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly. He still brought into his government, members of the two opposition political parties — the All Peoples Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD). The two opposition parties ended up as losers. In 2007, the do-or-die election conducted under Obasanjo gave the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an intimidating numerical strength in the Senate and the House of Representatives. In pursuit of what was generally believed to be his quest for legitimacy, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua brought in other parties into what he called a Government of National Unity (GNU). The gesture ended up as a Greek gift for the parties that joined his government.
ANY political party that wants to take advantage of the lessons of history and thereby preserve its collective integrity should find the idea of a GNU repulsive and distance itself from it. Nigeria is not at war and neither is it embroiled in crisis. There is therefore no need for a government of national unity. It is an outright misnomer in the present context. Nigeria operates a presidential democracy in which a chief executive can successfully run a government even when the legislature is dominated by his political opponents. Jonathan has a working majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly. He may choose to bring in seasoned technocrats who have no party affiliation whatsoever. He does not need any other political party to form a government. The PDP should run the Federal Government the best way it can and take the credit for everything it does right. It should by the same token take the rap for its failings and create room for other political parties to offer themselves as better alternatives that can give the country a more purposeful leadership.
IT is gratifying that the ACN has come out boldly to state in categorical and unmistakable terms that it would not participate in any government of national unity. In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party dispelled rumours that it was already negotiating for its own share of ministerial portfolios and directed that any of its members interested in the proposed GNU should first resign from the party. This is the type of courage and forthrightness that was lacking in the leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) which in 2007 opted for the poisoned largesse that led to its fragmentation.
WHAT makes democracy meaningful and compels the party in power to serve the people’s interests is the existence of a virile opposition that constantly puts the government on its toes. A party that wins an election should justify the people’s confidence in it by giving a good account of itself in the management of the country’s affairs. A situation in which leaders of opposition parties jostle for appointments under their political opponents is antithetical to the practice of democracy. Opposition members appointed as ministers are mere appendage in the cabinet because they cannot implement the policies and programmes of their own party. We commend to other political parties the dignifying position of the ACN. Opposition parties should see themselves as a government-in-waiting and not as a bunch of politicians who will always jump at any invitation — even if half-hearted — to “come and eat”. What Nigeria needs is good governance and not a GNU.
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