A Professor of Strategy and Development, Anthony Kila, has lamented the crisis that has brought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to its knees, suggesting that it has ultimately weakened opposition politics in the country.
Kila, who was a guest on The Morning Brief on Channels Television on Monday, described the PDP as the only “truly national party” in Nigeria for a long time.
According to him, other political parties were merely “regional parties”.
“Deep down and intellectually we knew that for a long time that was the only truly national party in Nigeria, the rest were regional parties, and for it to just be destroyed this way.
“No matter how much you don’t like the PDP, if you like truth, conscience and institution, you know something bad has happened to Nigeria,” Professor Kila said.
The PDP, a former ruling party that became the main opposition when it lost power to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, has been grappling with internal crises since the 2023 elections. The crisis has led to the defection of several members, including serving governors, to the ruling party.
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The lingering crisis has also seen the balkanisation of the party into factions battling one another in several court cases for the soul of the party.
Professor Kila attributed the PDP’s current debacle to its failure to safeguard the instrument of opposition while it was in power.
“They did not build an institution that will benefit whoever comes, whether inside or outside power, and that is why it is easy today for individuals, the court and politics to just destroy the party. Regardless, some of us were very harsh critics of the PDP, it must be said, but regardless of what some of us said about them,” Kila said on the breakfast show.
With the PDP experience, Professor Kila advised the APC to learn that it is only the custodian of power today and could lose it tomorrow.
“I think the APC of today will need to learn that whoever is in power has to learn that power is a custodial element. We have to learn this discipline of custodian leadership where you hold power in custody for tomorrow knowing very well that you might lose power.
“Things might change, technology might intervene, anything can happen tomorrow so you have to set power in a way that would not be totally against the ones you are leaving,” he said.
The public affairs analyst likened the PDP today to a child of a rich parent who failed to take advantage of their parents’ wealth while they were alive.
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