WHY WE SHOULD SUPPORT THE NEW ORDER
BY Oluwamayowa Lala
To start with, let me introduce myself, I am a young social observer with a fair avidity for political discourse. For some weeks now, something historic had begun to happen, I call it the ‘new order’, why? in my few years of national consciousness, I’ve known Nigerians to have proven time after time that we are mostly cowards, Jan 2012 fuel subsidy protest was sure historic, but it never lasted long before we retreated to our various hidey-holes.
The truth is, we scarcely speak with one voice against these despots who have used power to deal treacherously with us over the years.
The new Order
Now, the ‘new order’, what’s it all about, New political movements are emerging across the country.A seasoned economist, Uncle Tope Fasua(TF), the convener of ANRP (Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party), is one of the prominent figures leading this movements, but something distinct here Is that, after a careful study, I found that there is this ideological concept of possibly injecting patriotic new bloods (young and old) with brilliant millennial ideas into the political system. I personally love the timing. But again, there were various reactions from different angles. Uncle Simbo Olorunfemi’s Column ’do we need a new political party?’ is an outstanding one.
Uncle Simbo is someone I greatly admire, in fact I consider myself his student, he has helped me to polish my ideas with his adeptness of political education and a down to earth eloquence in expressing those insightful facts,(We haven’t met except online). I carefully went through his column, he raised some concerns on salient matters like; how the new parties intend to sort out sensitive issues like funding, clash of personal interests, etc I think these issues are of paramount importance and should be carefully noted by leaders of the ‘new order’, it will to a great extent help the ‘new order’ to escape the tendencies that became pitfalls for the ‘old order’, Careful study of concerns raised In this column will help adherents of the ‘new order’-not to be wedged in the network of mischief like the ‘old order’.
Unworkability of ideas in an ‘old order’
This excerpt was boldly printed in Uncle Simbo’s column:
“what we need now is to join hands together and focus singularly on how we can infiltrate and weaken existing structure to the point where we can successfully force a constitutional amendment that will herald, at the least, the birth of a unicameral Parliamentary System. That is our best shot at being able to produce a leader of the kind we are pushing for.”
And this is where I differ- ‘infiltration’, Uncle Simbo has rightly mentioned that we should focus on infiltrating and debilitating these dysfunctional structures but I ask, how will that be possible without the instrument of this ‘new order’ ?. As it is, the political class has totally shut brilliant ideas out of the system. And It is apparent that the best that can be done by these stubborn hegemonic forces is to play myopic politics with painstakingly researched recommendations over the years.
I stand to be corrected if I’m misinterpreting the logic here, a quick glance at history: NYM (National Youth Movement) est. 1933, was the platform that gave Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe and other comrades who had just return from their study abroad- the national fame and prominence needed for them to get into the National politics and thereby to implement their brilliant initiatives in those days.
Abubakar Gambo wrote in 2013:
When opposition parties merged to form APC, I said that true progressives should massively join the party and hijack it the way PDP was hijacked by rogues. Our progressives didn't. Instead they kept complaining about how corrupt some APC elements were and how the whole merger will fall apart. Now PDP people are moving to APC and many people are saying that APC is no different from PDP. The truth is that the politicians don't sit back and make noise, they make the changes they want to see. Whether good or bad, they are acting on what they believe in. In that, they are better than most of us.
Fueling the intrigues of political mercenaries
From some other quarters, I have observed this unprecedented sharp pessimism and divisive tendencies – coming from respected uncles and aunties. The implication of your inability to douse this fire of division brewing between two ‘generals’ will fuel the intrigues of political mercenaries whose mission is to distort brilliant opinions and frustrate honest and patriotic efforts in a sea of media deceit.
Almost needless to say, The paramount thing here is that both Uncle Simbo and Uncle Tope Fasua(TF) are resourceful, and taken as such. Let the spirit of conviviality reign here. Amen.
Finally, I hold it that the spirit of comradeship and oneness as demonstrated now is our chance to support this ‘new order’ coming in the modus of peaceful and strategic revolution that we have all desired over the years. Shouldn’t we seize this chance to rally round the courageous ones who have braved out to flag off this idea? Shouldn’t we hijack the ‘new order’ before rogues hijack it again like they hijacked APC ?