Balance of power shifts to opposition – Tinubu on Al Jazeera #PMNEWS LAGOS Former Governor of Lagos and one of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu told Al-Jazeera Wednesday night that Nigeria’s political landscape has changed and for good. Tinubu’s party yesterday merged with a splinter group from the dominant Peoples Democratic Party, swelling the number of governors in the group to 16 and by some calculations, making the group, the majority in the lower House of Representatives. “The scale and balance of power is tilting and changing to the opposition. We are moving from imperialism to proper democracy”, Tinubu told his interviewer. “This development will start reshaping the landscape of politics in this country forever. Not for us only but for generation unborn and the future of this country to take its position as a leader in Africa. And not just a well populated country that is big and directionless. He recalled Nigeria’s attempt in the past to achieve stable democracy. ” Like other African countries, we have had our share of military rule and a bit of democratic rule. But we are blessed with human and material resources which have not been harnessed for the welfare of the mass of the people in this country. The sophistication, the honesty, trust, transparency necessary in electoral process have been absent in this country.” He said his party will focus on the welfare of the Nigerian citizens and fight corruption and waste in governance. ” There are many areas that this new APC alliance and effort will unveil. We will ensure that we have credibility in the voting system, the character, commitment of our people – the value that you want to pass the torch to the coming generation on democracy. It is very important that we are able to do that. Otherwise, it will turn out that election after election, confidence in the electoral process will drop and we don’t want that to happen. For us, it’s a new beginning. It’s a new hope. It’s a new commitment. “The perception alone of having so many governors working together in one party and platform will encourage people to share ideas, share values and encourage them to put their confidence in the electoral system to change the process and make sure one man, one woman , one vote should be the order of the day. I think the equilibrium that is shifting will rekindle the expectation of the observing world that opposition is not only existing on paper but that it is physically present in Nigeria and that they are working hard to gain power in an honest and peaceful manner. It will strengthen the confidence of other democratic observers around the world. “Nigerians in responding to this development must realise that help is here. Hope is here. That we will represent them effectively to engender true democracy in the country. That their vote will count. That the nation will be represented by the leadership that can be trusted. And if we trust our leaders and encourage them for not breaking promises, then we will develop faster, and when we have honesty and transparency in governance, we will eliminate mediocrity. We will be able to focus on developing our country. This is a blessed nation with human and material resources and we should be able to harness these resources for the greatest interest and number of our people.” “They belief in one power mandate of a particular political party has systematically encouraged corruption, lack of care, lack of focus on the primary things that will develop this country. Nigeria is a talented country. Nigeria is a well educated nation, well endowed country- but we keep missing the bull’s eye in the critical path to a democratic success. Unless you have that, you cannot have meaningful development and be competitive around the world. Help is here. It is now. The change we desire will occur.”
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 06:44:27 +0000
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