OPEN LETTER TO: TINUBU, BUHARI, AKANDE, SHERIFF, ONU, SHEKARAU, TUMZA, IKPEAZO, MOMOH, MASARI, ADEBAYO, ROCHAS, IKIMI, AKAMUKALI AND ALL OPPOSITION GOVERNORS, MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL AND STATES ASSEMBLY, IN ADDITION TO ALL CONCERN CITIZENS RE:MERGER GROUPS AWARENESS AND FAMILIARIZATION MEETINGS With respect and high opinion, I wish to extend my propound outlook to the above quite, gentle and obedient Nigerians. Today party politics in Nigeria seems to be untenable and unutterable, is for all corners lacks distinctiveness and values mean nothing. Members do not need to have any special attribute. As a result, for instance, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is for everybody including the corrupt, fraudulent, ex-convicts, questionable Nigerians, tyrants, etc. just as it also has a good mix of some of the good and positive citizens. The party does not have respect, esteem to its members, and make it available to the Nigerian people. Democratic values mean nothing to the party. Elections scarcely take place and when they do, party leaders or Godfathers can overrule the results. It has gradually emerged as a party without democrats and permanently antagonistic and aggressive to Nigerian people. At the same time, it proudly bears the name Peoples Democratic Party. As a result therefore curious and surprisingly that ubiquity of poverty has totally enveloped the country despite the fact that the country has earned more money from the sale of crude oil since the inception of fourth republic in 1999. As you may recall, the struggle to get the military to withdraw from governance was a long, tortuous and arduous one. Moreover, it was very costly, indeed costing many precious lives of our compatriots. Those sacrifices were made because we believed that a democratic order, where citizens choose how they want to be governed and by whom is the best form of governance known to humanity and that it will accelerate our economic and social advancement as well as gain us respect in the international community. Nevertheless, I can say without iota of thought that the country has found itself in a nastiest and foulest State than in 1967 when the civil war was impending large. Today Nigeria has become a pariah, refugee and exile state. The institution of family has broken down; there is meaningless in philosophy, insecurity in the polity, corruption, dishonesty, evil and sleaze in economy. Some people already classified and agreed that Nigeria has become a failed state. Some people compare Nigeria to Somalia, which is a symbol for a country on the brink of disintegration. Today the biggest industries or diligence in the country are stealing of public funds; militancy, violence of any kind, insurgency and armed robbery, there is chronic and protracted unemployment. Young people cannot get jobs; they cannot leave their paternity and live on their own because they do not have jobs to take care of themselves. There is grind less, abject and scandalous poverty throughout the country. This has led to the desperation of young people to do anything to survive such as political tugging, prostitution, inter/intra net fraud or 419, child and women trafficking, militancy etc. Unemployment and lack of economic opportunities is remotely responsible for the high level of crime in the country today. It is also fueling the contemporary insecurity problems such as insurgencies, terrorism and political turmoil. There is no security and uncertainty in the entire country. There is gloom, pessimism, despondency, unhappiness and hopelessness within the masses, Terrorism has overtaken the country. There is Terrorism in the North and South. Terrorism in the South is in the form of Armed Robbery, high-handed act, Kidnapping, Prostitution and oil bunking in the Niger Delta. Terrorism in the North is in the form of the so-called Boko-Haram that has bombed the North into smithereens leaving in its tail massive damage of lives and destruction of property. There is negativity, suspicious, nihilism and condemnatory among and within the entire Nigerian ethnics and religious faiths; Christians accusing Muslims, North reproving South, Igbo blaming Hausa, Fulani fighting Biroms, GEJ withering Amaechi, Tukur impugning Nyako, Soyinka imputing Patience, Ezza killing Ezillo, Tiv/Fulani to mentioned but a few. In the face of this gigantic and massive destruction of national values, tenets and supreme bad of irresponsible governance, at the Federal, State and Local government tiers by the PDP. It therefore, became a national duty to some patriots, nationalist, progressive minded political leaders in the ACN, ANPP, CPC, APGA-APGA, DPP and other concurring leaders in the civil society to come together, set aside their political differences in pursuing to find a national political party that will be the vanguard in the fight to enthrone responsible and responsive government and arrest the prevailing national drift. In addition, to provide an alternative platform for Nigerians to decide whether the PDP should continue to control the pedals of political power in Nigeria with resultant gross consequences for the existence of the country. This is indeed what is behind the formation of the plain plat All Progressive Congress (APC) with slogan CHANGE. THE ISSUE In a democratic system, political parties are the organizing vehicles for the struggle for power and the articulation of principles and programmes for governance of the society. Parties are indeed composed of freely associating individuals who seek to capture political power and use that power to govern the country in accordance with their shared ideas, vision and programmes. Freely associating individuals ought to freely choose how their parties are organized, led and by whom. Moreover, they should canvass for support in the struggle for power in a free and fair manner, when this is actualized, the will of the people, which are the majority, prevails. That culture of freedom carries into the governance of the society. It will be near impossible for a non-democratic party to promote democracy in a country. One can only give what one has. As an opposition party, with very good viewpoint of winning future elections, in line with the sympathetic situations we found ourselves at present and preparation of do or die affairs so far observed by the incumbents, we need to look judgmentally into our own internal leadership conscription policies. Thereupon my unpretentious question here is “shall we uniquely allow our leadership conscription process to be determined by our party congresses and conventions or shall we determine the immediate leadership conscription by means of selecting tested and trusted patriotic and progressive Nigerians?” MY OBSERVATIONS AND OPINIONS My candid observation on the issue of party leadership at this initial stage is that; sincerely our leaders must work based on a strategy to produce a party leadership from within and among trusted and tested Nigerians, that will uphold the party stronger and more powerful than any government or elected official the party will produce based on the capacity to command moral authority. This came because of our experiences in the last 2011 general elections, as we have witnessed all together Bauchi, Katsina, kano State chapters, where battle upon battle and series of both drawn out inter-party and intra-party conflict between adversaries denied them victory despite overwhelming support by the electorates. These greed unlawful combatants are agents of enemies and were sponsored from outside the party at the past to whomp up interest or enthusiasm of opponents, which as a result could not allowed the presentation of acceptable and concessional candidates at the tip of 2011 general elections by the party in those states. Sir, the National Convention, the Zonal, State, Local Government Area, Ward and Unit Congresses shall meet to elect the officers of the Party at the various levels of the Party structure after the Party must have taken apposite sharp and engrained their structures to the grass root. Because I am very much afraid if, we can allow any other means by which internal leadership of the party, derive. Today our people are not committed in all aspect of human endeavor, lusts of egotism have now taken over our social, economic and political lives and we are left with angry, hungry and dishonest society. One of the recommendations to take care of this major problem and place the party on a democratic pedestal is to seek to start building the party from lower structures with tested and trusted Nigerians. This will mean rather than appoint interim executives based on some sharing formula for the new party at the state, local and ward and unit levels, can all members of current executives of the merging parties constitute themselves into the caucus of the party at all levels. In which case, basic guides about delegating responsibilities for Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. can be democratically resolved within the context of such a structure. This will then guarantee that all members of the current leadership of the merging parties are integrated as part of the leadership of our new party. With such a structure, internal disagreement can be manage, and since already the draft-harmonized constitution of APC has envisioned the existence of caucuses at all levels, they can then form the starting point of the organization of the new party. LONG LIVE OUR GREAT HEROES! LONG LIVE NIGERIA!! LONG LIVE APC!!! Signed Nasiru Mohammed Fanti (FreeNigeria Project) nasfanti@gmail, nasirufanti@yahoo
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 00:00:33 +0000
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