LP Top to Bottom: A Progress or a Drawback

The Labour Party has witnessed recent resurgence in the past few months especially with the defection of Peter Obi from the PDP into the party. As the Presidential elections drew nearer, it was stressed by most supporters and sympathisers that the Peoples’ Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress have done so much damage to the country that they no longer deserve a political levels. They urged electorates to vote for the Labour Party from top to bottom. It worked in the presidential elections as there were series of surprising victories for Labour Party candidates most notably Thaddeaus Attah who defeated favourite Bankole Wellignton aka Banky W to the Eti Osa Federal House of Representatives and Ireti Kinegbe defeating long term senator, Mr Philip Aduda to emerge winner of the FCT senate seat and ending Aduda’s 12 year stay in the Senate.

On this episode of either end, Oluwapelumi King and Ayodele Aduwo are on different sides of the divide on the top to bottom voting pattern.

Of course it is a progress

Both the All-Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) have dominated political positions in Nigeria, from local government chairman to state and federal representatives, senators, state and federal governments. The only other party holding notable positions is the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), with some level of control in the East. Currently, Nigeria has 21 APC governors, 14 PDP governors, and one APGA governor. The APC also has the majority in the Senate, with 66 members, and in the House of Representatives.

However, despite these numbers, there is a pressing question: what has changed in Nigeria since these two parties took charge, particularly at the federal level? Before the APC took power in 2015, the PDP had ruled for 16 years. The APC promised significant changes if elected, but they have failed to fulfil most of their promises. With eight years in power, by the time Buhari’s tenure elapses, Nigeria would have had 24 years of not reaching its potential.

Corruption, bribery, intimidation, and ineffectiveness appear to be the norm in these parties’ governments, with only a few states and constituencies showing any significant progress. For instance, under the PDP government in Abia, workers are owed several months of salary, and the roads are in a deplorable state. The same is true for many other states under PDP and APC rule. Some Honourables and Senators do not even visit their constituencies and fail to undertake notable projects until the election period approaches.

The Labour Party presents a significant opportunity for political revolution in the country. It puts the Nigerian people at the center of things, considering that they brought it into power. For instance, in Kaduna, an Okada man, Donatus Matthew, won the Kaura Federal House of Representatives seat under the Labour Party due to his grassroots campaign and the party’s mantra of revolution from top to bottom.

While there is no certainty that these candidates will perform well when they begin their official duties, the people have made a statement that they are ready to launch Nigeria in a new direction with the Labour Party. The candidates must not disappoint the people who put them there and perform better than expected. If they do, they will set the people they represent on a new path away from the stagnant state created by the APC and PDP. The much-needed political revolution has come in the form of the Labour Party and will undoubtedly bear fruits and lead to progress in Nigeria if voted from top to bottom, and if the elected candidates perform better than those from the APC and PDP, the two parties that have been the major causes of Nigeria’s lack of progress in certain areas, then what is there to worry about.

Nope. It is most certainly a drawback

The Labour Party has several drawbacks that cannot be ignored. In politics, a third force is usually characterized not only by a great manifesto but also by a genuine past that resonates with its intentions. While the Labour Party has achieved some things and has enthusiasm, especially among youths, and significant support, its historical setbacks as a political movement cannot be overstated. It is said that for a nation to progress, it must have an honest dialogue with itself. This dialogue may be unappealing, but it is necessary.

The Nigeria Labour Congress conceptualized the Labour Party as an alternative political movement for workers. The party was designed to be a radical departure from the status quo, with a focus on social democracy. The party was intended to be a mainstream political platform for the working class and other oppressed groups in society. As such, the party’s approach to politics is expected to be humane, rational, legal, and exhaustive.

However, the leadership of the Labour Party has not consistently demonstrated its aspirations, beginning with the Party for Social Democracy’s (PSD) challenge against the highly bureaucratic Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) parties’ registration exercise in 2001/2002. Despite the INEC’s clear unreadiness to allow for more political parties, the PSD leadership played along with the dubious and bogus requirements demanded by INEC for formal party registration. This hesitant weakness was surprising, given that the party had fought against military rulership in Nigeria. Leadership spinelessness has become one of the party’s enduring weaknesses.

The Labour Party updated its mere interests embodied by its leadership before the 2003 elections, despite being called a mass-based alternative political party. This was demonstrated as several labour bureaucrats openly declared support for the different political parties of the ruling class contending in the 2003 elections. Even the President of the then Nigeria Labour Congress, Adams Oshiomole, declared his support for the reflection bid of General Olusegun Obasanjo, despite his anti-worker policies. Besides that, the party has hardly organized its members and affiliated trade unions to promote the party or its ideas as a political solution to the miseries of the Nigerian public.

Today, the Labour Party is not peopled by those who envisioned it at the time of its conception, and the party’s leadership is not ready to mobilize its members or make an appreciable departure from what is easily obtainable in mainstream politics. Corruption, tokenism, and other challenges continue to plague the party. The Labour Party relies on the arrival of the disgruntled ruling class to generate relevance, as it did in 2003, without concern for their contemptible policies.

The fact that the Labour Party is not peopled by workers and is not acknowledged by affiliated trade unions is a worrying concern. The structureless victory of the Labour Party indicates that Nigerians are indeed looking for an alternative, but without a pragmatic backing from the NLC, the party is far from achieving its goal of toppling the ruling class’s series of neoliberal attacks. It was not until the last minute that the newly sworn-in leadership of the NLC voiced its support for the party’s candidate through a press conference.

Until a national party of workers or labour unions is owned by the working class (workers and prospective workers, such as students), the party will remain far from achieving its goals.