With the 2019 general elections just a year away, the party is likely to end up as a laughing stock yet again.
Despite how far-yet-so-near the 2019 general elections appear to be, there's a pooling body of proof that one of Nigeria's lesser-known parties, KOWA Party (KP), is not remotely ready to make any sort of mark with it.
Nearly nine years after it was registered as a political party that carried with it renewed hope for the Nigerian people and promising a new wave of competent political representation, the party has not won a single electoral victory.
When it recently came closest to what might be its brightest shot at a success story, it crashed quite unceremoniously, in public shame.
Osun election debacle
In the lead up to January's Local Government election in Osun State, the party had leaned very heavily on its National Youth Caucus Leader, Jude Feranmi, to seize the councillorship seat in Ward 10, Ilesha East LGA.
The social media campaign push to get Feranmi in everyone's faces was a fairly successful drive that had everyone talking about him into the late days of the January 27 election.
On January 23, news emerged that Feranmi would not be contesting anymore as his name would not appear on the ballot, leaving the candidate under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the election, unopposed.
While there have been conflicting stories about what really led to that unfortunate result, Feranmi's official explanation is that he was "systemically excluded".
The party's flag bearer for the 2015 presidential election, Professor Remi Sonaiya, also apologised for the episode by blaming it on the party's "lack of experience" caused by its quest for youthful leadership.
It goes without saying that, based on how many Nigerians perceive the party, a lot of people agree with her.
An accidental invitation
Two weeks ago, after I tweeted a harmless joke about the party on my personal Twitter account, a couple of people tagged it and brought it to the attention of the party's Twitter account as well as Feranmi's.
In what was an unexpected response, Feranmi, sort of, invited me to the party's Lagos State Congress to "have a taste" of what the party is about.
Out of my curiosity to personally assess the party in close quarters, I decided to not waste the invitation and was the first person in the hall of Congress at Light Chapel Event Centre, Ilupeju, Lagos, on Saturday, February 3, 2018.
I saw...things.
Large shadow, small stature
For a state congress of the stature of Lagos State, what happened on Saturday was a subdued statement of intent from KOWA party.
The first shock that greeted me was the fact that the venue for the Congress was a comfy 150-seater hall, which never really filled up for the entirety of the 6-hour Congress.
To its credit, the party conducted the election of new members into the State Executive Committee (SEC) with an electronic voting system that it was particularly proud of, for obvious reasons.
However, the day was not a day of many positives. For an observer like myself, anyway.
The election itself was a damning indictment of the level of participation the party has garnered over the course of its existence.
For the positions in the SEC, only one, Deputy Chairman, was up for contest, with all the other candidates running unopposed.
More alarmingly, there were a few positions that were left completely vacant, like the positions of women leader, treasurer and legal adviser, because there was nobody willing to fill them.
The party's National Secretary, Mark Adebayo, also pointed out the absence of any female candidates, a violation of the party's constitution on committees such as this.
Yes, this was only a state congress and could be argued to be an unfair yardstick to measure the party's overall preparedness, but this is not just any state.
For a party derided as a "social media party" (they really don't like this tag), Lagos should easily be a hub of engaging followership for KOWA, but it's not; and if this is the reality of its following in other states, then there's not much argument to be had about how serious an opposition the party will be next year.
When asked by a party member if KOWA was ready to be the much sought-after Third Force that'll deliver Nigerians from its two-party hegemony, National Secretary, Adebayo, said, without mincing words, that they aim to be number one and not three.
It was a truly comical moment that somehow answered the question perfectly.
The answer was a loud, convincing NO.
What does KOWA's status mean for Nigerians?
There's no doubt about the fact that there are Nigerians that believe in KOWA Party as a force that should be reckoned with.
At the Lagos Congress, I observed Nigerians, young and old, express a desire to see the party rise above its limitations and deliver on its promise of being an untainted alternative to the status quo that's driven the country to the edge of ruin.
From party members to state executives, to the national executives, the ambition is well-intentioned.
Professor Sonaiya was also at the Congress on Saturday, and remained as resolute as she was in 2015 that the party can engineer real change for the country.
It is distasteful that despite the fact that she has been one of the most consistent voices of opposition since 2015, she remains largely unknown in the country's political arena, and her stock has remained largely unchanged from when she won a measly 13,076 votes three years ago.
Her educated voice, under the misadventures of KOWA, has unfortunately been suppressed into barely a whimper which won't afford her any chance of being a formidable candidate next year.
There's no doubt that Nigerians yearn for a departure from the very familiar political class that has haunted the country's political halls for decades, but that Third Force remains elusive.
Over the past three years, KOWA has found a way to be mentioned in the conversation Nigerians have been having about alternative options that are credible enough, but the party has not done more to be any more relevant than that.
The stiff lesson to learn from KOWA's Lagos Congress is that, despite the party's best efforts, it is still a gathering of well-meaning amateurs running around like a headless chicken in a field of blood-thirsty giants.
The party may continue to build at its own pace, but it does not appear to be ready to make the leap onto the podium and transform into a worthy competition by 2019.
The KOWA movement is a commendable job being done by a group of Nigerians determined to engineer their own destinies with their own hands.
But, like Feranmi himself said, changing Nigeria is a marathon; it won't be achieved by wishful thinking or professions of good intentions.
At the rate KOWA Party is heading into the 2019 general elections, it simply is not ready to be what it needs to be.
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