Opposition critics - Anti-system rather than anti-Head of State

Opposition critics of the new president, Goodluck Jonathan, have yet to single out a line of attack. They are more critical of the closed nature of the actual system of governance which, they say, is open to police violence and corruption, than of the President himself. However, they also cast doubt over the new President’s ability to combat such scourges.

General Muhammadu Buhari, placed 2nd in the presidential elections of April 2011 with 32.4% of the vote compared with Jonathan’s 58.89%, is the most ascerbic opponent. Leader of the CPC, (Congress for Progressive Change), a party based in the North, he has demanded the annulment of the elections and filed a complaint against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the institution that ran the election process.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) whose leader, Nuhu Ribadu, came 3rd in the presidential race, but whose party is the main opposition party in the House, has a reputation as a moderate. However, his ‘elder’, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, does not mince his words: "The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government has shown its failure to  provide basic infrastructure to the people. Electricity is the most essential service, a propeller of every nation, yet we cannot enjoy it. Isn’t this enough to send them packing?"

The CPC, ACN and the ANPP (All Nigeria People Party) of Ibrahim Shekar, all highlight President Jonathan’s indecisiveness. They say that he has failed to submit on time the names of prospective ministers to Parliament so that by the beginning of July, a full two months after his inauguration, only eight of about 36 ministers had already taken office. The opposition raises questions about his ability to tackle the challenges ahead, such as reining in the police force in order to respect better basic human rights, or to getting to grips with tackling corruption. On the latter point, the political parties share their cause with a section of civil society, except that civil society prefers that the President, rather than his opponents, lead the fight.

Hegel Goutier