Convener of the League of Northern Democrats, Umar Ardo, has stated that despite visible disagreements among members of the emerging political coalition, he remains confident that the movement will eventually coalesce and succeed in challenging the status quo.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Ardo spoke on the current state of Nigeria’s emerging political coalition.
Addressing the recent National Political Consultative Forum, where delegates from Jigawa State reportedly clashed over representation, Ardo admitted, “The coalition has not even yet crystallised. They are already fighting among themselves over who should speak, over which political party they should form.”
Despite these early divisions, he remains optimistic about the coalition’s future. “I think the coalition will stand. At the formative stage, usually you have these hiccups. But over time, they will shape up. Basically, the coalition is in place, but it’s just divided on the basis of ideology. Well, when I say ideology, I mean approach—how to approach the politics.”
Ardo explained that the main divide concerns whether to merge with an existing party or establish a new one. “Predominant members and even leaders of the coalition are in support of fusing into an existing political party. Another group, which I belong to, are in support of registering a whole new political party. This is actually where things stand. And I don’t know what the ultimate decision will be by the leaders and key stakeholders and movers of the coalition.”
Firmly advocating for a fresh political platform, he stated, “We insist from our side that our approach of establishing a new political party by the coalition, the entire coalition, is the best way to approach this transitional politics. And it is, for me, almost certain of victory.”
Ardo cited voter engagement statistics to underline the need for a new party. “If we look at the statistics, you will see that nearly less than 38 percent, they say, I think, voted the president who is in power.
“And less than 38 percent of Nigerian registered voters actually went to the polls itself. So it means that the vast majority of those that are interested in shaping their political life by going to register don’t go and register.
“Registration in Nigeria to vote is not compulsory. So when you have over 90 million people voluntarily go and do the registration, it tells you that they want to participate in the political process.”
He went on: “But when it comes to election—in which they should express this political participation—you will see that less than 38 percent go to the polls. Why? It means that the political platforms on the ground are not sufficient enough to give these large number of Nigerians the base to express themselves. And that is what informed some of our views that we need to register a new political party.”
However, Ardo acknowledged the challenges involved in creating a new party. “Because political party running—the establishment of structures and this and that—they cost enormous amount of money. Many of those that are interested do not have the means to do that. So they will have to now. Why? If you ask me, I cannot go and say I mobilise people and a political party because there are too many.”
He emphasised the importance of unity within the coalition to overcome these financial hurdles: “But if the entire coalition, the opposition comes together in a coalition and say this is what we want to do—we want to register a new political party.
“And besides, the coalition had by itself set up two committees: one to fuse into another political party and one to register another political party. And both committees submitted their reports.”
Concluding on this point, Ardo argued, “So the argument of those who are saying let us fuse into another political party is not very strong at all. So this and so many other reasons why I believe if we are able to give it the right approach and take the right decision, we will be able to stop a strong opposition that will defeat incumbency anytime.”
When asked how the coalition intends to avoid repeating past failures, Ardo drew on his background as a historian. “I am glad I’m a historian. So to stop history from repeating itself is to learn from its lessons. History gives us lessons. And if we learn from this lesson and adjust, we will not repeat it.”
He identified the key problem in the previous coalition efforts: “The basic problem of what happened—the coalition, the coming together and the formation of the APC, and the poor result that came out—was because probably the intent and the actual delivery of what was intended by the formulators of the coalition had not been materialised. It’s because those who took over did not even understand and they went ahead and did what they wanted to do.”
Reflecting on the original formation of the APC and President Buhari’s campaign, Ardo said, “Some of us came to conceive the formation of the APC and President Buhari’s fourth contest, which made it possible to succeed. And after his success, they ran away with the whole thing. And many of those who played a critical role in bringing this success into fruition were not even talked to.”
He concluded by saying “So you find yourself with this view—why we want things to happen, but we cannot make it happen all by ourselves. So we need to bring so many others to make things happen. And then we’ll bring so many others and things happen. And those who formulated it are not even considered. So this is the basic problem—why we failed where we failed.”
In response to allegations that this coalition is merely a regrouping of disgruntled politicians, Ardo strongly refuted the claim. “In the first place, I have never been a member of the APC. Never. Not for a single day. And in the second place, I have always criticised the government of APC from its inception.”
He acknowledged that criticism can be personal but insisted his motivation is principled: “It could be personal, for that selfish interest that you are talking about. And two, for the fact on the ground, which is—things are going bad. So it is because things are going bad, that we say, ‘Let us fix them.’ And we, in one aspect, we succeeded in getting incumbency removed so that we could put a regime that could fix the problem.”
Ardo identified insecurity, corruption, and economic decline as the key challenges. “What was the problem in 2015 or from 2011? Insecurity, corruption, and the economy going down. So if you say insecurity, basically it was Boko Haram issue. And Boko Haram is in the Northeast.
“And we have on the ground a former governor in the Northeast, who knows the politics of Boko Haram or religious politics in that constituency, a former head of state who has been persistently contesting and has large supporters.”
He argued that learning from past failures is critical: “If you don’t come and say, after three failures, ‘Look, if we can build on this, your three failures and put this for the fourth contest and you win, you can fix these things.’”
Finally, Ardo referenced respected leaders who inspired political reform, he said, “And besides, who has not spoken well of him? We have seen President Obasanjo, read my lips, Obasanjo put so much in General T.Y. Danjuma’s book, so much incumbency, so many things. We were in the university, we saw war against indiscipline and anti-corruption. So these are the impetuses that came together and said, ‘Let us fix this thing.’”
Boluwatife Enome
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