The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) “change the change” mantra started with a desired conclusion that we need change in the 2019 elections in Nigeria. But by drawing upon logical fallacies, their argument on why Nigerians should vote for them in 2019 is leading them to progressive confusion. Without an internal logical consistency and clear distinction between the PDP and the APC, the PDP’s ‘change the change’ mantra is not only a logical fallacy but also a useless tautology.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) “change the change” mantra started with a desired conclusion that we need change in the 2019 elections in Nigeria. But by drawing upon logical fallacies, their argument on why Nigerians should vote for them in 2019 is leading them to progressive confusion. Without an internal logical consistency and clear distinction between the PDP and the APC, the PDP’s ‘change the change’ mantra is not only a logical fallacy but also a useless tautology.
The PDP has been smartly employing ad-hoc reasoning when it comes to corruption, a subtle fallacy which is often difficult to recognize. PDP’s claim that Buhari’s administration is corrupt is not a fallacy. However, their argument that President Buhari and APC are wrong in referring to PDP as a bunch of corrupt politicians because the APC is also corrupt is a logical fallacy. So, by PDP’s definition, ‘change the change’ literally means replacing corruption with corruption. Nigerians will not accept that logical fallacy in 2019.
Here is another ad-hoc reasoning from PDP: Dasuki, Metuh, Fani-Kayode and Co have not been convicted by a court, therefore, they are not corrupt. What the PDP won’t tell you is that; Dasuki has spent the last three years questioning the authority of the EFCC to charge him to court rather than proving his innocence; Olisa Metuh has been showing up in court and persistently seeking medical leave, rather than prove his innocence in court; Femi Fani-Kayode has been refusing to show up in court to defend the legitimacy of spending close to 1 Billion Naira of NSA money on the 2015 elections by claiming that his heart is failing. That is not how to “change the change.”
The corruption masters of the PDP are using indefinite extended delay tactics in order to be seen as victims of APC’s media trial. This is not the change that Nigerian need in 2019. What the PDP is trying to sell to Nigerians as “change the change” is simply replacing honor and dignity with victimhood. The “change the change” mantra is thus not logically valid, because there is no internal consistency in their argument.
The PDP has been making an ad hominem argument by attacking the corrupt men in the APC. But Reno’s “invention” of a list of APC looters is a caricature of the PDP’s position. Rather than addressing the argument that member of the PDP looted that national treasury for 16 years, they counter by stating that APC is as corrupt as they are. A clear, logical fallacy. Most importantly, replacing a corrupt APC administration with chronically corrupt PDP politicians is not change.
To “change the change”, PDP can only counter APC’s conclusions that they are corrupt by providing evidence on for example; how Patience Jonathan made millions of dollars and own properties running into billions of Naira; how Senator Ike Ekweremadu could afford 22 houses. That the ineffective EFCC and the corrupt judicial system in Nigeria has failed woefully to convict these corrupt men and women of PDP in not a proof that they are innocent.
Almost all PDP’s argument on why Nigerians should “change the change” in 2019 is an argument from ignorance. They want us to believe that the PDP would have kept the Nigerian economy strong, even as oil dependent economies collapsed or were shaken by lower oil prices in 2014 simply because we don’t know what would have happened had they not lost the election. They even want us to believe that they could have done this while looting the treasury, depleting the external reserve. Hallucination that defies economic logic is not change.
On security, the PDP is promising to give Nigerians “that peace” which the APC has failed to provide. But the security situation under PDP’s watch was not better than the present wanton destruction of lives in Benue, Taraba, Kaduna and Zamfara. Under PDP, we lived with sordid images of flying body parts from Boko Haram attacks; Nigerian soldiers fleeing to Cameron. So, the PDP’s promise to change the horrible security situation in Nigeria, do not appear to have evolved from precise logic. By “change the change”, is the PDP promising to return Nigeria to the era of carnage in our cities?
If change still means to “make or become different” then, the PDP cannot be the change we need in 2019. Clearly, the PDP’s “Change the change” mantra in a useless tautology when they subjected to valid logic. The PDP should stop using logical shortcuts, a thought processes that are not strictly valid in their logic, to sell the “change the change” mantra to Nigerians.
Here are facts that most Nigerians agree with: APC = PDP; Corruption under APC is almost equivalent to corruption under PDP; the institutionalized corruption in the judiciary, Nigerian police, National Assembly, Customs is as entrenched today as it was under PDP; the present bloodbath and level of insecurity in Nigeria is not different with what we experienced under PDP; present power supply is as terrible as it was under PDP; unemployment is as high as ever; The educational sector is still collapsing.
For 16 years, the PDP changed the course of the nation for worse. To paraphrase former US President, Barack Obama, the fortune on Nigerian democracy will not change in 2019 if the plan is for the PDP to replace the APC. The PDP’s “change the change” is a catchy phrase built on circular reasoning and will not reverse the rot they initiated. Nigerians will not let them take us back to Babylon using the illogical mantra of “change the change.” Iro!
Change can be painful. But what is more painful is Nigerians feeling that they are stuck with APC and PDP. That is frightening. We are not stuck with these two misfits. What we need in the 2019 elections is a change that will provide opportunities for us to rethink tired processes, and to improve governance in Nigeria. That change will not come from PDP.
To “change the change” in 2019, we should come together and join the authentic political rebels out there struggling to create a new political coalition. Without a struggle, there can be no progress. Without progress, there is no change. APC = PDP = failure and not progress. Replacing APC with PDP in 2019 is, therefore, not change. PDP’s “change the change” mantra is thus a logical fallacy and useless tautology that must be rejected by Nigerians.
Only a political rebel without respect to the status quo can change Nigeria. So, if you feel like you don't fit into the world of APC and PDP, it is because you were born to rebel against the APC-PDP status quo. Join other rebels out there in the struggle to save ourselves.
Together, we can.
You can email Churchill at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi
