Though there are many political parties in Nigeria, the towering stature of the ruling peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seems  very intimidating to the extent that other parties appear to be silent apart from one or two.  This led our  correspondent  Calista Ezeaku and photographer, Dele Obinna to ask Nigerians their views on the performance of  the opposition political parties.Excerpts

Hon Enyi Princewill

– State Chairman, New Nigeria Peoples Party:

We are playing our role as opposition political parties. If you watch in the western world, opposition parties form  part of the government of the  day. We have also told the government that the  winner takes all syndrome should not be adopted  here in this part of our country.

A situation where someone who wins does not bring other political parties on board. No ruling party is an encyclopedia of political wisdom and knowledge.They should  also bring us together. They should also begin to see our impact.

We play our roles very well. We’re watch dogs, we are watching the government. We’ve also been shouting where we have smelled foul play. We applaud them when we see that they have done well. Both at the national and state levels, NNPP has been playing the role of opposition party properly, using the media, mainly the print media. But unfortunately, some media organisations don’t publicize the opposition parties. They publicize only people they think can gave them money. It shouldn’t be so. As watch dog of the society the media  should be very very open and impartial.

Opposition parties  can also help in development of the state or  nation through their  ideas. Our own is to give ideas. to the government  but it  is another thing if the government will take the ideas. We have written letters of audience to the government of Rivers State  seeking to meet with them one on one. We have also told them  through the media, let us be part of the governance, we  are partners in governance. They should bring some of us to the main stream of governance like some government of some states  have done.

So the people in government should stop the idea of winner takes all syndrome. They should incorporate the opposition parties, take them along. We are all Rivers indigenes. It is not necessary  that all should be taken by the ruling party. They should bring the opposition parties, in so that we can sell the ideas  we have to them. Our parties have  ideologies, we have manifestos. We can incorporate  them so that the state will go forward developmentally. They’ve refused to bring us in ad we can’t force ourselves in.

Mr. Emmanuel –      Estate surveyor.

The opposition parties are actually not playing the roles they ought to play because they  have  not taken charge of the grass root. They have to go down to the root and take charge because the grass root has  always  been the bed rock which the ruling party uses to retain themselves in power. The opposition parties or the “brake -outs”  have not been able to handle the grass root and that is a very endemic problem  in our society. The grass root lacks  a lot of knowledge. They do not understand what we are talking about. So I think they should go down to the grass-root and start their home work there. They have to sow some real seeds of change, not just a change  that is on paper. Corruption is a problem that is destroying this country. They have  to fight corruption and  promise the youth in the grassroot that they will have  blue print  developmental programmes on ground.

They should embark on sensitization. We need a lot of sensitization in our system because  the system  is very bad.

They should try and make more impact not just playing watch dog roles on newspapers,  radio stations and all that. They should translate that to realistic movements. They should go to rural areas form corperatives,  NGOs, let this people  see a change.

Infact, if the youth are well groomed to understand the system, they will fight the system just as the case of  French  revolution. So if they  want  to  fight the government, if they want to effect  a change in the  system, they should start from the grassroot. If they take the youth and all the people  in the grass root along, I’m sure they will be able to do something meaningful.

Mr. Ben- Civil Servant

I think if the opposition parties can form a formidable body as they are trying to do on the national level now to challenge the PDP, it will be a welcome development  because  although we have a lot of political  parties,  they are  not so strong to match force  with PDP being the ruling party.

But I don’t think opposition political parties are playing their roles properly. They are easily bought over by the ruling party. I expect opposition  political  parties to come together  and form a stronger force. They should be doing something that the ruling party should  emulate. You   can see  what  governors of some states controlled by opposition parties like Lagos, Edo, Imo are doing. Such good performances will attract more people to opposition parties.

Hon Richmond Nwangwe – Politician/Businessman

Well there is always  room for opposition whether  in politics, in

Churches, even in our homes. No society can grow  without opposition. Opposition  parties  are supposed to  be a check. They  are supposed to be a watch dog to the ruling party or to the  ruling government  either  in the church,  council or whatever, in every administration, there is always  opposition.

But if we are looking at it on the side of politics and power separation, if you check the opposition parties, you will discover that the members are people who were  also in the majority  before, either for the  reason that they couldn’t  perform, they were thrown out of the popular party and they went to the other side to start  causing confusion, trying to use some people to get power to see how they can bounce back into relevance. There is no opposition party that  you can see in the whole nation that you will not find one or two persons  that have  been in an office that they did not  perform.

So the kind of opposition parties we have  today are selfish  opposition. They are not representing the  true picture of what opposition  should be. They are practicing the negative side of what opposition should be.

What I’m  saying is that there should be  opposition but the opposition  should be constructive. It shouldn’t  be opposition that is  centred on selfish   motive. It should be opposition  that has the charisma to present a  sound society not a personal  or  self  centred opposition like the one we have now.

Mr. Chikwele Wechie

Businessman  opposition parties are not playing  their roles very well. They are  always looking for what to benefit. They don’t have constructive criticisms. They only  criticize the government when they  had not get what they expect to get from the government especially material  things.   May be somebody who has been disadvantaged  in one area or the other, goes to another party and says he is an opposition. He does  that  for his own selfish  interest or for his organisations selfish  interest. They should look at other oppositions  parties outside  this  country, worldwide, and see what they can do. In other countries, you’ll  see what opposition parties are doing in terms of  developing the country and making sure that everybody    has a better ideology. It is not the ideology of what do  I benefit from the government.

Mrs. Julie  Ogbuagu –teacher

I don’t  think opposition parties are doing their jobs as they should. We  always hear of politicians jumping  from one party to another  if the other party is not  favouring them. They are not carrying out the function of  opposition political parties which  is to check-mate the party in power  and ensure that the right things are done. Rather, they are in opposition to serve their own personal  interest.

Opposition political parties should  be able to find out the faults  of the ruling party and find ways to correct  them so  that  there  will be  development in the country.  If the ruling political  parties  know that there are viable  opposition parties  watching them, they will  sit  up and  will  not do things aribitrarily.