APC Broom, PDP Umbrella, and the Meaninglessness of Political Party Logos in Nigeria -By Ibrahim Jabir Isah

Nigeria has been jinxed with bad governance, unfulfilled political campaign promises, corruption, nepotism, and unemployment, religious bigotry, ethnic jingoism, to mention but a few. These problems have been in existence since independence. However, they become more glaring, worrisome and pathetic since our return to democratic rule in 1999.
From the year 1999-2015, PDP was the ruling party in Nigeria; and from 2015 to date we have APC led government as the ruling party. Apart from political parties’ motto and manifestoes, I used to attribute different meanings to their symbols. For instance, I interpreted the PDP’s umbrella as a protective cover or a shield from all forms of economic woes and hardship just the way umbrella shields people from rainfalls and ultraviolet rays of the sun. However, my interpretation was wrong. PDP’s umbrella is a symbol of poverty, corruption, unemployment, and general retrogression.

The ANPP had maize as its symbol. This, I thought, signifies agriculture and abundance of food. If such political party assumes the mantle of leadership (in my naive thinking), there would be focus on agriculture which would lead to food security, job creation, diversification of the economy, and ample opportunities for the teeming population (especially the youth). I also strongly believe that diversification of the economy by focusing on agriculture will create a conducive environment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Though ANPP did not win the presidential election, the story of its symbolic maize wouldn’t have been different from that of PDP which umbrella connotes nothing but malevolence.

PDP

Political parties in Nigeria are ideologically bankrupt and their logos are meaningless. And if they have meanings at all, they mean calamity, abject poverty, crisis, and unemployment, insecurity to mention but a few.
The PDP’s tattered umbrella that cannot shield Nigerians from the storm of poverty and the rain of unemployment paved way for the thunderstorm of insecurity and embezzlement of public funds until the year 2015. In the year 2014 a conglomeration of three political parties (ANPP, CPC, & ACN) metamorphosed into one political party known as APC whose symbol is broom. The new political party did not allow me to think and attribute meaning to their logo due to the duo factors; their actions and campaign have said it all and my level of political exposure and awareness was not the same with that of my early childhood days.

Broom as we all know even before the emergence of APC has been a double edged sword. It can be used for sweeping our environment and also for witchcraft and ceremonial magic especially in African societies. In the year 2015, we were made to believe that umbrella (PDP) was the major problem of our country and broom (APC) will be the Moses that will save the Israelites from their Pharaoh (insecurity, corruption, unemployment, poverty among others). However, APC failed to use its broom to sweep away corruption, poverty, and insecurity; it rather swept them unprecedentedly.

Political Party logo

The broom that Nigerians voted for is not the broom they are using on us today. The broom that ought to be used to sanitize the country is in turn used to whip the citizens as if they are witches. Insecurity has become the order of the day and the lives of animals are more valuable and secured than those of humans in my dear country governed by the broomites.

What baffles me most is the way and manner in which our president turns deaf and blind to the situation on ground and the way he has the effrontery to play the blame game by correlating his failure to the past administration. He always blames the umbrella for allowing rain to penetrate through it which litters the environment and wet the broom thereby affecting its efficiency and effectiveness in cleansing the Nigerian state. What a blame!

The campaign promises made by the broom led administration is a sham and a mere lip service. Worst still, freedom of speech which is one of the tenets of democracy has been swept under the carpet. What a dictatorship in disguise! If you think you have freedom of speech, think of your freedom after speech.

The action and inaction of the APC led administration has aid in fanning the ember of all the problems bedeviling the country today. On the issue of insecurity, the insurgents (Boko Haram) are being over pampered and treated with kid gloves. And if after killing dozens of innocent citizens and they decide to fake repentance they will be granted amnesty by the government.

President Muhammadu Buhari

According to some security analysts, those fake repented terrorist if care is not taken will in turn serve as informants to the active terrorist thereby sabotaging the efforts of the armed forces in the fight against terrorism. And the fight against corruption in this administration just like the previous administration is selective and bias and also it is an avenue for witch hunting political opponents. No matter the amount of money embezzled by a politician in PDP, once he cross carpet to APC all charges against him will be dropped. APC has now become a haven for political criminals against EFCC politically motivated hunt.

When the president said in his 2015 swearing in speech “I am for nobody and I am for everybody” we all thought he is for real until when his actions depicts the true color and real meaning of his words. By saying he is for no body, he is directly referring to the masses. That is why the security of our lives and properties are no longer his priority as they deceitfully appear to be before the 2015 general election. And the president being for everybody simply means everybody in his cabinet and political party that is why there is gross mismanagement of public funds in this administration and the president cannot mince a word.

Mr. President, Nigerians especially we the masses are in a state of quagmire. Please wake up from your slumber and take action. Your Excellency sir, when will your broom start sweeping? Let us know whether we can keep hope alive and look forward to when you will fulfill your symbolic political promises. Or is your broom still in the farm hanging on the palm trees? Please do not waste our eight years blaming umbrella for preventing you from gripping your broom.

We need action not stories and blame game. I pray the charlatan attitude of the APC led administration would not make the electorates lethargic in 2023. Democracy has been defeated in our country and Nigerians are robbed of all hopes of enjoying any dividends of democracy. All we need now is the primary purpose of government which is security of our lives and properties.

Mr. President, please make hay while the sun shine. Do not allow our nation to fail and collapse completely before 2023.

Ibrahim Jabir Isah
Ibrahimjabir62@gmail.com