2015: Opposition lobbies Western govts

There are strong indications that opposition political parties in Nigeria are raising the stake in their bid to oust the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in 2015 as key opposition leaders are mounting diplomatic offensive across key Western capitals through visitations, strategic presentations and interactions with think tanks that shape Western policies towards Nigeria.

Checks by Sunday Tribune showed that in the last four months, key opposition leaders have visited Germany, Great Britain and the United States of America for consultations and lectures designed to further their political agenda.

A principal ideologue of the opposition, said to be a leading figure of one of the opposition parties, has been in and out of the country on visits insiders described as part of a larger agenda of the opposition to combat the ruling party at home and abroad.

The politician, who is a former minister, is said to have travelled to Europe on several occasions with diplomatic reports indicating that the visits were part of strategic plan of the opposition’s alliance and plan to present a picture of Nigeria different from what the ruling party has been marketing abroad.

Aside the former minister, findings also revealed that some elements of the immediate past administration in security and cabinet positions are also part of the external networking pushing for what a diplomatic source called “a recognition of the need for a change of baton in Abuja as a way of preserving democracy and preventing the nation from sliding into chaos in 2015.”

“There is a coordinated campaign abroad to erode whatever foreign support the ruling party has. Missions are bombarded with reports and briefs very negative to the administration,” the source said.

Sunday Tribune gathered that opposition leaders are making discreet presentations to foreign think tanks, such as the Chatham House in London, as a way of influencing United Kingdom’s position on the 2015 polls. It would be recalled that Chatham House is a premier think tank of the British government that has far reaching influence on foreign policy orientation across Western think tanks and governments.

Checks revealed that prior to the 2011 general elections, candidate of the Congress for Political Change (CPC) then, General Muhammadu Buhari, presented a lecture at the Chatham House with British experts painting a picture of change in Nigeria during and after the presentations.

Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Tinubu, followed suit after the election, delivering another lecture as leader of the biggest opposition party, following the outcome of the 2011 polls.

Findings showed that presentations by the two leaders in London appeared to have shaped Western scholars’ subsequent review of the political situation in Nigeria with top think tanks in the United States taking up the analysis further by accepting the narratives of the opposition on the state of affairs in Nigeria.

In recent weeks, opposition forces are also said to be building on the gains of recent past by a follow-up visitation to the United States by the leader of the opposition, Senator Tinubu, during which he met opinion moulders in Washington, apart from delivering lecture on the state of affairs in Nigeria.

But an opposition chieftain, Chief Osita Okechukwu, defended the opposition campaign abroad, describing it as “an extension of democratic frontiers and normal in all liberal democracies. Regime change is the spice of liberal democracy, and the canvass outside the shores of Nigeria is an exercise of democratic rights.”

Responding to the development, South-West chairman of the PDP, Chief Segun Oni, said such efforts by the opposition are “exercise in futility” as, according to him, “Western governments are aware of the depth of the transformation agenda of the present administration.

“The PDP is on ground across the country and I can tell you that no amount of propaganda can aid the opposition in future elections.”