The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2015

  • The road to 2015

    The road to 2015

    Two years to the next general elections, opposition figures are sharpening their arrows. But the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is preparing for the 2015 challenge. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE writes on the issues and personalities that would shape the contest.

    Apart from ensuring that the normal democratic institutions continue to be relevant, analysts say the roles of some personalities in the polity are crucial to the sustenance of democracy in the country. These individuals include President Goodluck Jonathan; former Head of State and three times presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega.

     Goodluck Jonathan

     President Goodluck Jonathan has a major challenge. This is ensuring that a level playing field is provided for all and sundry by the democratic institutions in the country. He is the man on whose table the buck ends. Apart from being the President, with a very high probability of seeking a second term, he is in charge of almost everything that has to do with the sustenance and deepening of the nation’s democracy. Balancing his personal ambition with national interest could be very tasking, especially, in the face of his party’s determination to continue to rule.

    In 2011, when he was campaigning for the Presidency on the platform of the PDP, he declared that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. He also declared that nobody should rig election for him. Whether those declarations will be repeated, if he chooses to run in 2015, is yet to be known. Already, his party national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has said that the 2015 electoral contest is ‘a big war’. Besides, analysts are beginning to express reservation over the readiness of the President to repeat his stance of 2011. Two instances readily come to mind. The emergence of Tukur as the chairman of the PDP and the emergence of the chairman of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party, Chief Tony Annenih are often used as the yardstick of measuring how unyielding the President could be whenever he wants anything.

     Muhammadu Buhari

    The former Head of State leads the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The Daura, Katsina State-born retired Army General has demonstrated his strongly held views about the need to ‘salvage’ the country for good by contesting the position of Nigeria President for three consecutive times. Described by many as an unrepentant apostle of anti-corruption, Buhari enjoys the largest followership in Northern Nigeria. He has carved a niche for himself as a highly disciplined person. His anti-corruption stance is glaring to everybody to see in a society that is reeling under the yoke of corrupt practices. For a man that has held many ‘juicy’ appointments, as they say here, it is gratifying to see him parade a clean and stainless score-card while in office.

    In year 2003, Buhari contested the Presidential election under the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and lost to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a result he challenged in Court but also lost. Not deterred, he re-contested the 2007 Presidential election also under the platform of same Party but against his kinsman, the late Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua. Buhari lost again and challenged the result in the Court, as the case was still been heard, the leadership of his party went into accord with the ruling party, PDP, to form a Government of National Unity, he opted out of this marriage of convenience and pursued his case, but also lost again.In another attempt to rule through the ballots, Buhari went into the race for the third time but under the platform of another newly formed party, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), but also lost.

    He is at present one of the arrow heads of a merger of three major opposition parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). The planned APC, when it is registered, will also have groups or factions from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).

    With Buhari as one of the leaders of the planned APC, analysts believe that the electoral contest in 2015 will be keenly contested and that the pendulum could swing either way between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the burgeoning APC.

    Bola Tinubu

    Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has established himself as a deft and rare political strategist. In the last two and a half decades, he has built a political bloc that is by far more cohesive, progressive and popular and forward looking than any contemporary Nigerian politician. Tinubu has established himself as a political colossus in the Southwest. He enjoys a large army of followership. Tinubu has re-drawn the political map of the Southwest region in a manner that for the first time, the dominant party in the region now has its tentacles all over the country.

    His journey into politics started when he joined others to found the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 1992. He was elected senator of to represent Lagos West Senatorial District. At the National Assembly, he distinguished himself as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriation and Currency.

    When the June 12, 1993 presidential election was annulled, and a new round of military rule stared the country in the face, Tinubu and others founded the famous pro-democracy group called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). The group spearheaded the struggle for the restoration of democracy. He fled the country for safety reasons and teamed up with the group abroad. In 1998, Tinubu returned to Nigeria and in 1999 was elected governor of Lagos State. He won re-election in 2003. It is on record that he was the only governor in the region who survived the massive incursion of the ruling PDP to the Southwest in 2003. He is credited with the restoration of his party’s rebound in the region today.

    To his credit, he is the only visible governor in Nigeria since 1999 who was able to produce a successor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), whose performance and style remain a reference point.

    As one of the arrow heads of the merger of the three leading opposition parties there is no doubting the fact that Tinubu will be one of the politicians who will play a significant role in the political developments in the country in the coming years.

    Attahiru Jega

    All eyes are on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and that is saying the least. Nigerians are yet to forget the electoral heist of 2007, in which funny and non-existent character in Nigeria, allegedly voted using the names of famous foreigners like the late Michael Jackson and legendary boxer, Mike Tyson. The new battle cry in electoral circle is one man, one vote.

    The former university don promised in March that the INEC would conduct freer, fairer and more credible elections come 2015. To the average Nigerian, whose subconscious is totally taken over by cynicism when it comes to conducting free and fair election, this may just be sweet, political talk or mere grandstanding.

    Jega gave the assurance in Abuja during the first quarterly meeting of the commission with representatives of registered political parties. The INEC chairman also added that the regular meeting would also make both the commission and the representatives of the political parties “to share information, exchange ideas, discuss mutual concerns and evolve partnership, as well as strengthen the good relationship which exists, in addressing challenges in the electoral process.”

    Jega is seen as an ideologically focused intellectual who leans towards the left. To many, he comes across as a radical. When on April 19, 2010, he was guest lecturer for the NLC May Day 2010 celebration, he harpoed extensively on electoral reforms. According to him, “no doubt, the popular aspirations for credible, free, fair and popularly acceptable elections, which are a fundamental requirement for sustainable democratic development, would remain elusive unless and until we pay serious attention to electoral reforms”.

    Yet, the electoral body under him, would not be able to play the unbiased umpire. In fact, not long ago, Buhari called for his sack and other top officials of the commission, saying the electoral body, as presently constituted, cannot be trusted to deliver on credible elections. He spoke in London at the 4th British-African Diaspora conference held at the British House of Parliament on the theme “Stable Democracy and Nigeria’s Economy,”. To Buhari, sacking Jega would be a good starting point for fixing Nigeria’s broken electoral system.

    In his words: “All the present indications are that INEC, as it is presently constituted, will not be able to deliver any meaningful elections in 2015”.

  • 2015: Fresh fears in Jonathan’s camp over govs

    2015: Fresh fears in Jonathan’s camp over govs

    • Amaechi’s men in search for alternative party

    Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have reiterated their calls for the convening of National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party barely a week after Governor Rotimi Amaechi defied opposition from the presidency to get re-elected as the Nigeria Governor’s forum (NGF) chairman. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports the effect of the development on President Goodluck Jonathan’s camp.

     

     

    The ongoing insistence by some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the immediate convening of a meeting of the National Executive Committee of the party and last week’s re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) in spite of glaring opposition to his choice by the presidency has sparked fresh fears among the various pro-Goodluck Jonathan groups across the country over the 2015 presidential election.

    While the presidency says it is not bothered by the developments, inside sources say the governors’ call for a NEC meeting barely a week after the victory of the Rivers State helmsman, who has been at logger-head with the President in recent months, is making the President’s men uncomfortable.

    The Nation also gathered that most of the support groups, stakeholders and other politicians rooting for President Jonathan ahead of the 2015 presidential election were highly disturbed by the re-election of Amaechi as NGF chairman for another two-year term.

    “Following the announcement of Amaechi’s suspension from the party by the National Working Committee (NWC) some governors have reiterated the need to convene a NEC meeting immediately.

    “The fear in Jonathan’s camp is that the governors plan to use the NEC meeting to upturn the NWC’s decision on Amaechi and take some other far-reaching decisions that will not be in the interest of the President.

    “And given the numerical strength of the governors and their supporters within the NEC, it will not be difficult for them to achieve this. What happened at the Governors’ Forum election has showned that majority of the governors are not to be relied upon totally,” a source said.

    A governor from the northern part of the country, who spoke in confidence to some journalists during the week, said it would be wrong for the leadership of the party to claim ignorance of the law as stipulated in the PDP constitution concerning the party’s NEC.

    According to the governor, Amaechi’s problem with the party started after he presided over the PDP governors’ meetings, where the state chief executives demanded the convening of the NEC meeting.

    “All of us PDP governors, including those mobilising against Amaechi now, ON January 9 this year, at that meeting held at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge at Asokoro, Abuja called for the immediate convening of a NEC meeting in our party.

    “The constitution of the party says NEC meeting must be held at least every quarter. The last meeting held more than ten months ago. We must stop this breach of the party’s constitution,” he said.

    The renewed determination of the governors to force the hands of the party’s leadership to convene a NEC meeting immediately and the seriousness with which they are going about achieving their aim is said to be making the President’s handlers jittery.

    Also, a presidency source, who said aides of the President monitored the NGF election closely, told our correspondent on condition of anonymity, that the President who was away in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend the 21st ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), was greatly upset by the news of Amaechi’s victory.

    According to him, “the President, like every other stakeholder in the matter, never hid his interest in the outcome of the NGF election. In line with this, specific instructions and assignments were given to certain people to ensure that things went according to plan.

    “For us here, we monitored the election and the processes leading to it closely. We were optimistic that things were in order until after the voting proper. The President, though out of the country, is aware of the development and he is not pleased with it.”

    He further explained that aides of the President are miffed by the inability of some people saddled with certain responsibility to deliver on their briefs. “Some people who were expected to get some governors to toe the expected line failed. This is why we are in this situation,” he added.

    A senior party official of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who spoke to The Nation also confirmed the disquiet within the President’s camp saying the re-election of Amaechi by the NGF is perceived as a bad signal by handlers of the President ahead of the 2015 general election.

    The former federal lawmaker said the party is also worried that the development will further polarise the PDP, especially in Rivers State where two factions of the ruling party are already battling it out.

    “The development, though strictly an NGF affair, is creating tension within the PDP. For example, supporters of the President see it as a bad omen ahead of the 2015 elections. They see PDP governors unable to speak with one voice and they are worried this will affect the fortune of the party at the next election.

    We at the secretariat have also given it a thought. Though we are not bothered about the victory of Governor Amaechi or the defeat of Governor Jang, we are not pleased that our governors are still divided, in spite of the many efforts to unite them,” he said.

    Asked why he thinks the PDP governors failed to agree on the same candidate at the NGF election, the party chieftain said it was as a result of the failure of some people to make them resolve certain differences before the election.

    “I am aware that the leadership of the party assigned some people to see to this matter. The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party was already on the matter before the election. It is also true that the Vice President and some other leaders were to meet with northern governors on this issue. The PDP Governors’ Forum also had some work to do. I’m aware of all these.

    “If all these people and organs got their assignment done correctly, maybe we will not be talking about PDP governors going into the NGF election divided. The victory or defeat of one candidate or the other is not our concern. Our worry is that we failed to resolve the differences amongst our governors,” he added.

    Leader of the Goodluck Support Group (GSG) in Ogun State and national publicity secretary of the group, Chief Layi Soluade, while reacting to the development yesterday, said the re-election of Amaechi by the NGF which has PDP governors in clear majority is worrisome.

    The PDP chieftain wondered why the party was unable to rein in the governors to support the President’s choice. He, however expresse happiness that the incident has helped supporters of the President to know the magnitude of work ahead of them.

    “It is sad. It is worrisome that PDP governors who are in a clear majority could not ensure the election of the party’s choice as chairman of the NGF. It is a bad omen as we approach 2015. Except we want to deceive ourselves, we all know Amaechi is not the party’s choice.

    “But be that as it may, though we are worried, it is also good that this is happening now. It has revealed the magnitude of work we have ahead of us if we must deliver on the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan,” Soluade said.

    Another pro-Jonathan Group, Friends of Democracy for Goodluck (FDG), said the re-election of Amaechi by the NGF should gear up all supporters of the President rather than weigh them down.

    Spokesperson of the group, Emma Okoduwa, said the development is a confirmation of the existence of some fifth columnists within the PDP. He, however, expressed optimism that nothing will stop the re-election of President Jonathan in 2015.

    “We are worried that the PDP governors could not deliver on their promises to party leaders. We are bothered that we cannot trust our party men to protect party interest. The re-election of Amaechi is a pointer to the serious division within PDP.

    “But we are sure of securing victory for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. All these anti-party activities by some PDP leaders cannot stop him,” he said.

    Meanwhile, findings by The Nation revealed that prior to last Friday’s re-election of their principal as NGF, chairman, allies and political associates of Governor Amaechi were frantically searching for an alternative platform to the PDP.

    Sources within the governor’s camp revealed that Amaechi’s associates, who have been mounting pressure on him in recent weeks to pull out of the PDP, were only waiting for the outcome of the NGF election before presenting reports of their searches for an alternative party.

    “Associates of the governor made up their minds weeks back that the PDP can no longer contain both the President and Governor Amaechi and they told him so on many occasion.

    “Several efforts to make him see reasons why he should avoid the mistake made by former Governor Timipre Silva of Bayelsa State failed to convince Amaechi to yield to their request.

    “Finally, following the grounding of his aircraft and the removal of his men as party executives, Amaechi’s men formed a committee saddled with the responsibility of sourcing another political platform for the governor’s political family to move to.

    “The committee has its reports ready but leaders of Amaechi’s camp decided to wait till after the NGF election before raising the issue with the governor again. Somehow, they didn’t think he would win,” our source said.

    Asked what h e thinks would happen now that the Rivers State Governor has won re-election to lead the NGF for another two years, our source said he cannot really say for now.

    “I cannot say what will happen. In fact let me say I don’t know. But what I know is that the governor’s associates are not willing to be caught napping,” he said.

  • ‘There is need for power shift in 2015’

    ‘There is need for power shift in 2015’

    Second Republic Secretary to Lagos State Government Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun spoke with WALE AJETUNMOBI on the politcal situation in the country.

     

    Do you think the All Progressives Congress (APC), when finally registered,would be a threat to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

    It certainly will pose a threat to the PDP because the party being conceived by the leaders, will come to the Southwest as a mass movement and sweep away those who are anti-people.

    In what ways do you think the APC will be different from the PDP?

    APC’s primary objective to bring Nigerians together and run a government that will have the greatest interest of Nigerians at heart. A manifesto has not been launched. So, nobody can say these are the details. But, if there is anything in the mind of those who are promoting the APC, it is to take charge of the country and the government in Nigeria; to run a government that will be in the interest of the majority of Nigerians. There is an urgent need for power to shift in 2015.

    Considering the United States report on corruption in Nigeria, is there any hope for the country?

    Well, I don’t know the details of the US report. Did they mention those who are corrupt? According to you, the report says there is monumental corruption being perpetrated in high places in Nigeria. The high places here means the Federal Government being administered by the PDP. The ACN is not there. By the way, the President’s statement against the civil servants, who he said are corrupt on Workers’ Day, is unfortunate. I expect the civil servants to organise themselves and reply him. I don’t know why he accused the civil servants, except they are all corrupt together. Take the case of the oil subsidy, we know the people who benefited from the fraud. None of them is a civil servant. Unless the President is telling us that it was the civil servants who misadvised them to give money to those who are not going to import oil and they embezzled all the money. It is corruption in itself for the President to promise us that, when he removed the subsidy, Nigerians would see what he would do with the money. But we are now seeing what he is doing with SURE-P programme headed by Dr Christoper Kolade. The programme has now been politicised. SURE is not sure for all Nigerians. The President is using the scheme to look after the members of his party across the states. Is that how to alleviate our suffering? SURE is sure for only those who can sing the praises of the President.

    The House of Representatives recently concluded a process to review the constitution…

    I have wondered, if the review is different from the amendment. Whatever they claimed they did was a sham. Members of the House of Representatives are trying to fool Nigerians by coming out to say Nigerians have spoken; that some constituencies have met and voted and agreed that there should be no state police. I say they are talking rubbish. This is a country where we have more than 160 million people and less than 9,000 policemen. If I take the average, out of about 250 people that attended the one in Ikorodu in November, half of them were market women with aso ebi (uniform). I attended and I took permission to speak first. I told them to set up different committees in all constituencies in Ikorodu axis, so that more people would be heard. They didn’t want to consider it. Later, I asked them: how can we be saying yes or no on these vexed issues? I told them that, if that is what you want, tell the House this is not going to solve our problems. There are questions we have to ask. But you have given us the template for 43 questions to go and fill and returned. I filled my own, but I added a rejoinder. I appealed to them to note that what they are doing is just a preamble to the real work. I advised them to get more Nigerians involved.

    It is necessary to invite organisations such as Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Women Council of Nigeria, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the important civil society bodies. Let them constitute a body to look at the 43 subjects and debate them. We did not vote in my constituency. How could we have voted; what would those uneducated women have voted for? Do they know what is called state police? I did not end there because I know the implication. I know we cannot get a perfect constitution, but let us get something that is closer to it. So, I was surprised when I read in the newspaper that 324 constituencies voted that Houses of Assembly should be granted financial autonomy. That is not important because many of the states already have it. Lagos State has it. Why should they be voting for that one?

    What is your view on the local government autonomy?

    I am concerned about that. The preponderant view is that local government should be subjected to the state so that they can use Section 7, sub-section 1, of the current constitution, which has not been amended, to create local governments. So, when it comes to funding, use the indices to allocate money to that state. The present constitution does not even ask the Federal Government to give local government funds directly to the states. Then, in Section 162, the money is there for the state for sharing among the local governments in accordance with a law made by the state House of Assembly. And then, they talk of states’ Independent Electoral Commission being prevented from holding elections. What type of federalism are we running? If we want to conduct a local government election, an almighty Jega will come and conduct it. It means that INEC will not rest all its life, if it has to conduct local government elections in the 36 states, which are not held at the same period. They say INEC should conduct all the elections at the same time and they are saying yes. What does the market woman understand about scrapping states’ electoral commissions and leaving the national electoral commission to hold all elections? Even, some elite said the state governors would misuse power. Is the federal government not misusing power? Anenih, last month, said, we know how to win in 2015. The statement is pregnant with a lot of meaning. So, the House of Reps just left serious matters and went into issues such as immunity clause. It does not make much sense to me because the conference we held in 2005 had decided that the criminal aspect be removed. Nobody should be in this country and commit crime because he or she is in a position of authority and get away with it. No.

    Should a six-year single tenure be allowed?

    I heard the President’s spokesman saying that Jonathan has said he would not contest in the 2015, provided that we have a six-year single term. My view is that many of these people do not understand. It is a pity Obasanjo jettisoned the last constitutional conference. Each time I look through the list of the participants; we had Anyaoku, we had Olusola Saraki, Ango Abdullahi and Muritala Nyako. I was there and Prof Adebayo Adedeji, the Olowo of Owo, who was my teacher in the Law School, was there. I don’t know how we will succeed to arrange such people, unless each constituency brings out its best people to work out a new constitution. So, we need a collection to discuss on these 43 items and they should not make the material their final decision. They should still subject it to argument such as what are the implications of state police? Argument that the state government will abuse it, or use to harass its opponent is trite. What is the President doing with the security lever he controls? Presently, he is using it, as he wants. When he did not want the opponents of Dickson to be governor in Bayelsa State, they used security against them. When Ladoja was to be impeached, the process was done in a hotel guarded by security agencies. The same thing with Dariye. So, who cannot misuse the security apparatus? We only need to strengthen the law to caution whoever is going to be in charge.

    Don’t you think the country is jinxed when it comes to making a new constitution?

    I don’t believe in such a notion. But what I think is that those who are there now feel that making a new constitution or amendment would take the power away from them. That is why I said they should be part of the process. If people want another constitution, I don’t think this present government can do that. It is not only lazy, it is a sleeping government. They are just spending our money on unproductive retreats. They will take allowance and all sorts of money. But having spent such money, nothing else happens. We still have two years to go into another election. Let us do this review properly and get something. In 2015, when we get a better government, we will overhaul everything. This is not the kind of government that can give us a good constitution. Whenever they hear that people are calling for constitutional review, they will think that we want to send them packing. They want to entrench themselves, which is what the decision they have taken in the just-concluded review process.

     

  • Thorny road to 2015

    Thorny road to 2015

    Two years to the next general elections, opposition figures are sharpening their arrows. But the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is preparing for the 2015 challenge. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE writes on the issues and personalities that would shape the contest.

     

    Apart from ensuring that the normal democratic institutions continue to be relevant, analysts say the roles of some personalities in the polity are crucial to the sustenance of democracy in the country. These individuals include President Goodluck Jonathan; former Head of State and three times presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega.

     

    President Goodluck Jonathan

     

    President Goodluck Jonathan has a major challenge. This is ensuring that a level playing field is provided for all and sundry by the democratic institutions in the country. He is the man on whose table the buck ends. Apart from being the President, with a very high probability of seeking a second term, he is in charge of almost everything that has to do with the sustenance and deepening of the nation’s democracy. Balancing his personal ambition with national interest could be very tasking, especially, in the face of his party’s determination to continue to rule.

    In 2011, when he was campaigning for the Presidency on the platform of the PDP, he declared that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. He also declared that nobody should rig election for him. Whether those declarations will be repeated, if he chooses to run in 2015, is yet to be known. Already, his party national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has said that the 2015 electoral contest is ‘a big war’. Besides, analysts are beginning to express reservation over the readiness of the President to repeat his stance of 2011. Two instances readily come to mind. The emergence of Tukur as the chairman of the PDP and the emergence of the chairman of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party, Chief Tony Annenih are often used as the yardstick of measuring how unyielding the President could be whenever he wants anything.

     

    Muhhamadu Buhari

     

    The former Head of State leads the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The Daura, Katsina State-born retired Army General has demonstrated his strongly held views about the need to ‘salvage’ the country for good by contesting the position of Nigeria President for three consecutive times. Described by many as an unrepentant apostle of anti-corruption, Buhari enjoys the largest followership in Northern Nigeria. He has carved a niche for himself as a highly disciplined person. His anti-corruption stance is glaring to everybody to see in a society that is reeling under the yoke of corrupt practices. For a man that has held many ‘juicy’ appointments, as they say here, it is gratifying to see him parade a clean and stainless score-card while in office.

    In year 2003, Buhari contested the Presidential election under the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and lost to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a result he challenged in Court but also lost. Not deterred, he re-contested the 2007 Presidential election also under the platform of same Party but against his kinsman, the late Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’adua. Buhari lost again and challenged the result in the Court, as the case was still been heard, the leadership of his party went into accord with the ruling party, PDP, to form a Government of National Unity, he opted out of this marriage of convenience and pursued his case, but also lost again.In another attempt to rule through the ballots, Buhari went into the race for the third time but under the platform of another newly formed party, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), but also lost.

    He is at present one of the arrow heads of a merger of three major opposition parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). The planned APC, when it is registered, will also have groups or factions from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).

    With Buhari as one of the leaders of the planned APC, analysts believe that the electoral contest in 2015 will be keenly contested and that the pendulum could swing either way between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the burgeoning APC.

     

    Bola Tinubu

     

    Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has established himself as a deft and rare political strategist. In the last two and a half decades, he has built a political bloc that is by far more cohesive, progressive and popular and forward looking than any contemporary Nigerian politician. Tinubu has established himself as a political colossus in the Southwest. He enjoys a large army of followership. Tinubu has re-drawn the political map of the Southwest region in a manner that for the first time, the dominant party in the region now has its tentacles all over the country.

    His journey into politics started when he joined others to found the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 1992, he was elected as Senator of the Federal Republic Nigeria to represent Lagos West Senatorial District. At the National Assembly, he distinguished himself as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriation and Currency.

    When the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election was annulled, and a new round of military rule stared the country in the face, Tinubu and others founded the famous pro-democracy group called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). The group spearheaded the bitter struggle for the restoration of democracy. He fled the country for safety reasons and teamed up with the group abroad. In 1998, Tinubu returned to Nigeria and in 1999 was elected governor of Lagos State. He won re-election in 2003. It is on record that he was the only governor in the region who survived the massive incursion of the ruling PDP to the Southwest in 2003. He is credited with the restoration of his party’s rebound in the region today.

    To his credit, he is the only visible governor in Nigeria since 1999 who was able to produce a successor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), whose performance and style remain a reference point.

    As one of the arrow heads of the merger of the three leading opposition parties in the country, there is no doubting the fact that he would be one of the politicians who will play a significant role in the political developments in the country in the coming years.

     

    Attahiru Jega

     

    All eyes are on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and that is saying the least. Nigerians are yet to forget the electoral heist of 2007, in which funny and non-existent character in Nigeria, allegedly voted using the names of famous foreigners like the late Michael Jackson and legendary boxer, Mike Tyson. The new battle cry in electoral circle is one man, one vote.

    The former university don promised in March that the INEC would conduct freer, fairer and more credible elections come 2015. To the average Nigerian, whose subconscious is totally taken over by cynicism when it comes to conducting free and fair election, this may just be sweet, political talk or mere grandstanding.

    Jega gave the assurance in Abuja during the first quarterly meeting of the commission with representatives of registered political parties. The INEC chairman also added that the regular meeting would also make both the commission and the representatives of the political parties “to share information, exchange ideas, discuss mutual concerns and evolve partnership, as well as strengthen the good relationship which exists, in addressing challenges in the electoral process.”

    Jega is seen as an ideologically focused intellectual who leans towards the left. To many, he comes across as a radical. When on April 19, 2010, he was guest lecturer for the NLC May Day 2010 celebration, he harpoed extensively on electoral reforms. According to him, “no doubt, the popular aspirations for credible, free, fair and popularly acceptable elections, which are a fundamental requirement for sustainable democratic development, would remain elusive unless and until we pay serious attention to electoral reforms”.

    Yet, it is held that the electoral body under him, would not be able to play the unbiased umpire. In fact, not long ago, Buhari called for his sack and other top officials of the commission, saying the electoral body, as presently constituted, cannot be trusted to deliver on credible elections. He spoke in London at the 4th British-African Diaspora conference held at the British House of Parliament on the theme “Stable Democracy and Nigeria’s Economy,”. To Buhari, sacking Jega would be a good starting point for fixing Nigeria’s broken electoral system.

    In his words: “All the present indications are that INEC, as it is presently constituted, will not be able to deliver any meaningful elections in 2015”.

  • GEJ, his military chiefs, Asari-Dokubo and 2015

    GEJ, his military chiefs, Asari-Dokubo and 2015

    In the second part of my two-part piece on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s offer of amnesty for the Boko Haram insurgents published on these pages on April 17, I was cautiously optimistic that the President will hold out firmly against the wishes of the more gung-ho of his military and security chiefs who apparently believe counter-violence was the main, if not the only, solution to the sect’s insurgency. With the President’s recent declaration of a qualified state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, it is now obvious that my optimism was misplaced.

    In retrospect, it seems even in my caution I was not cautious enough. First, in his initial rejection of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar’s, earlier call for amnesty for members of the sect, the President had repeated an article of faith of his administration that it couldn’t and wouldn’t dialogue with a group whose leadership was faceless, even though it is not true that the sect’s leadership is faceless. If indeed its leaders were faceless, how did the security forces get the identities of those on its wanted list of the sect’s top leaders?

    Second, when the President inaugurated the somewhat unwieldy – in itself perhaps a statement about the strength of his faith in amnesty as a solution to the problem – committee he set up under his Minister for Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, to identify the grounds and possible strategies for amnesty, he said he expected it to perform a “miracle.” That was not the language of someone who sincerely believed dialogue had much of a chance in the resolution of the Boko Haram problem.

    Having, however, set up the Turaki panel, I, for one, expected the President to give it even the ghost of a chance to succeed. He didn’t. Instead, he found an excuse – albeit a good excuse – in the horrible massacre of nearly a hundred policemen by a hitherto little-heard-of vicious ethnic militia in Nasarawa State, and the earlier but even more devastating destruction of lives and property in Baga, a fishing town on the shores of Lake Chad in Borno State, to declare his state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

    It all reminds one of a similar situation about forty seven years ago when the country’s first military head of state, Major-General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, constituted a panel under Chief F.R.A (Timi-the-Law) Williams to draft a new constitution for the country as part of his yet indeterminate programme for return to civilian rule. Before the panel could begin sitting, the general enacted his ill-advised Unification Decree which was to trigger the tragic events that eventually led to our three-year civil war which ended in 1970.

    The general’s anticipation of the outcome of Chief William’s panel was clearly at the behest of the more hawkish civilian advisers he had surrounded himself with whose triumphalism in their new status as the country’s new kids on the block seemed to know no bounds. Obviously this power hungry lot did not give a damn about the predictable consequence of, in effect, imposing a unitary constitution on a country as varied and as plural as Nigeria.

    Of course, 2013 is not 1966. Neither is President Jonathan’s state of emergency the same as General Aguiyi-Ironsi’s unification decree in its gravity for the integrity of our political-economy. However, unless the president, as commander-in-chief, can put a tight leash on his armed forces as they battle Boko Haram, his amnesty may inexorably lead to the fulfilment of the American prophesy of several years ago that Nigeria could become a failed state in a couple of years. Unfortunately, if the record of his control over his military and security chiefs is anything to go by, the omens do not look too good.

    Indeed the omens look even worse when you consider the hard-to-deny fact that the president’s men, if not the man himself, seem too obsessed with his remaining in power beyond 2015; a fact attested to by the “No President Jonathan in 2015, No Nigeria” mantra chanted by the likes of Mujahid Asari-Dokubo who apparently not only have the president’s ears but have behaved as his un-salaried attack dogs.

    Unfortunately for Asari-Dokubo and his ilk, but happily for Nigeria, they speak only for themselves and the charmed little circle of those who have profited immensely from the President’s amnesty for the ex-Niger Delta militants, clearly at the great expense of the ordinary people of that oil rich but pauperised region.

    The fact is that there are others from the same region who do not share the same enthusiasm for a Jonathan presidency beyond 2015, precisely because they believe the man, as the first president from the region, has made little or no difference to its terrible lot. The Guardian of March 3 carried interviews with four such South-Southerners, none of whom can be regarded as anti-Jonathan just for the hell of it.

    All four, Ms Ann Kio Briggs, an Ijaw activist and indeed an unapologetic Jonathan supporter; Chief Frank Kokori, who needs no introduction as a veteran trade unionist; Mr. Okpobari, national coordinator of Ogoni Solidarity Front; and Aniyakwee Nsirimovu, former chairman of the disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation sub-committee of the Technical Committee on Niger Delta, were agreed that their region has been the worse off for all the president has done – or more accurately, not done – to end its pauperisation.

    Yes, they all agreed, the man has poured tonnes of money into the region but then there has been little or nothing to show for all his efforts. The most obvious symbol of this failure, they said, has been the terrible state of the notorious East-West highway linking the region with much of the rest of the country. In spite of the huge sums voted for the construction of the road year in year out since the presidency of General Olusegun Obasanjo, Ms Briggs said in her own interview, the road “is now worse.” Anyone familiar with media reports of the state of the highway would consider her lamentation a gross understatement.

    Amnesty for Niger Delta, they all said, was not just about giving money to those who carried guns. Rather it was more, much more, about removing the region’s infrastructural deficit and ending its people’s abject poverty-in-oil-wealth. In these objectives, they all agreed, the Jonathan presidency has been a signal failure.

    However, of the four none seem to have captured the frustration of Nigerians with the Jonathan presidency, especially in the face of the expectations it raised among Nigerians with his “Transformation Agenda,” than Nsirimovu. In what was as much a parody of President Jonathan’s now famous 2011 presidential campaign sound bite about growing up without shoes as it was a repudiation of the threat from the likes of Asari-Dokubo that their principal must remain president beyond 2015 regardless of his performance and whether Nigerians like it or not, Nsirimovu said, “For somebody who had no shoes… he has done poorly to relieve others who have no shoes. He has gotten shoes and does not want others to have shoes.”

    Nsirimovu’s words may seem terribly unkind but it is the bitter truth. However, it is a truth that the President can still do something about if, as he has often said, he does not wish to go down in History as the last president of Nigeria.

    It may be too late for the man to fulfil all his campaign promises, much of which was unrealistic, anyway. But if he can improve the terrible state of insecurity in the land by prevailing on his military chiefs to stop their terrible abuse of the human rights of civilians in their war against Boko Haram insurgency, and if he can also give Nigerians more electricity than he had given them so far and, not least of all, if he can begin to show by example more than by mere words that 2015 is for him not a do-or-die affair, he would have justified his undeclared but obvious wish to seek re-election in 2015, without, of course, prejudice to the constitutionality of his wish which is being tested in the courts.

     

     

     

     

     

  • 2015: When change becomes inevitable

    SIR: In 2008, the same year America’s first black president got elected into office, Global Language Monitor proclaimed change the number one word around the globe. It certainly was no co-incidence as Barack Obama went on to win the US presidential election, riding on his gospel of change. The world and not just America had seen him as a refreshing departure from the norm. An epitome of what change stood for, when considering that a black man had never directed the affairs of the world’s most powerful nation.

    The concept of change is timeless. Simple as it comes across, the idea of change continues to drive the exploits of visionaries in the fields of politics, economy, science and business. By preaching change, and themselves being changed, the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Isaac Newton, Richard Branson, and Steve Jobs have led successful revolutions and birthed life-transforming inventions.

    Yet change as a theme remains exploited for all the wrong reasons in an environment like ours. Since military rule made way for democracy, the music of change has taken a different rhythm. Today, change is only a promise – most of the time a half-fulfilled promise. It is what the politician and his allies promise the electorate until they get to power. Under the current dispensation, change has gone from being a sincere claim to being a glossy, flowery expression. Many had been swept off their feet by promises of transformation, breath of fresh air, and more business-like ones like the 7 – point agenda. Essentially, change has become the politician’s manifesto, though it does not always translate into promise delivered when he gets into office.

    That is why for many neutrals, the coming of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is good news. And Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was right in some sense to describe the coalition as a positive storm. But this development only represents a portion of the change we all want to see.

    A more competitive political climate is sure to put our leaders on their toes. Nigeria has been rated closely behind emerging economic powers like China, Russia, India and South Africa only for our potentials; what the world knows we can become. We need purposeful leadership to live up to this potential.

    As the wrangling and political realignments gradually lead up to 2015, we must realise that the power to make the change they seek lies in their hands. Contrary to popular belief that a mega opposition party is all that is needed; this change, if we must find it, will require a proactive, well-informed, dedicated army of patriots consistently fighting in unison the cause of transparency and good governance. There is so much idle talk in the traditional and fast rising new media. These discussions involving the young, private citizens and former occupants of government positions have so far yielded no positive results.

    There is a need for all that energy we expend on idle rants to be channelled into positive action. There should be a coming together of those who love this country genuinely. Not those who seek to pursue selfish desires. We need to develop non-partisan forums where young people can hold leaders to their word, and do that constructively too. We should be engaging in meaningful brainstorms on how to chart a new course for the country. We need beacons, youthful, vivacious people who are passionate about change to lead the way.

    According to Martin Luther King Jr., “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. We must straighten our backs and work for our freedom for a man cannot ride you unless your back is bent.”

    We can set a positive revolution in motion. But 2015 will only mark the beginning of the change we seek if we begin the struggle now.

     

    • Oshagbemi Oluwatosin

    Lagos, Nigeria

  • Presidency: Jonathan yet to decide on 2015

    Presidency: Jonathan yet to decide on 2015

    • No PDP member endorsed to run as governor

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has not spoken of his political future after serving out his term in 2015, his spokesman Dr Reuben Abati said yesterday.

    Abati said the claim that his boss has constituted a re-election committee lacked merit as the President has not made up his mind on whether to seek re-election or not.

    The spokesman also told those dropping Mr President’s name as anointed candidates that nobody has been endorsed for the governorship of any state in 2015.

    Abati, in a statement said that no Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member has his boss’ blessing for the race.

    Stressing that the president’s focus was not on 2015 elections, Abati said his boss’ primary concern was how to implement the transformation agenda of his administration.

    The statement reads: “In spite of clear and unambiguous pronouncements by President Goodluck Jonathan that he remains fully focused on the implementation of his administration’s agenda for national transformation and not the politics of future elections, the Presidency has noted with concern that some individuals, groups, organisations and sections of the media have continued to foster the myth of a President and administration solely concerned with jostling and self-positioning for the 2015 elections.”

    Abati was reacting to a report at the weekend that 21-member committee has been raised with a mandate to smoothen the way for President Jonathan’s second term bid.

    “The president’s aides and associates have set up a 21-member committee to advise (President) Jonathan on the viability of his entry into the presidential contest in 2015,” the report was quoted in the report.

    The report reads: “The impression is further created that a group known as ‘We, the people’ has its roots in the Presidency and that the 2015 campaign has now become the main preoccupation of the Presidency. This is totally untrue and without any basis in reality.

    “As he has truthfully declared on several occasions, President Jonathan has not yet taken a decision on whether or not he will seek re-election in 2015 and has therefore not mandated any individual, committee or organisation to start working on his behalf for the 2015 elections.

    “He (President) therefore wished to be left alone to focus on delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation without unnecessary distractions.

    “Political jobbers and their collaborators in the media should stop heating up the polity with baseless speculations and falsehoods revolving around imaginary plans and schemes by the Presidency for the 2015 elections.”

    The Presidency also reacted to the emerging trend by those eyeing political offices in future elections to drop the President’s name to promote themselves and their vaulting ambitions.

    It said: “It was clearly in this regard that some unscrupulous persons began to print 2015 campaign posters with President Jonathan’s photograph whereas the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to announce the commencement of campaigns and political parties are yet to conduct any primaries for the selection of candidates.

    “Perhaps, the most audacious illustration of this trend and resort to mischief and opportunism is represented by an advertorial which appeared at page 14 of the Saturday Vanguard of April 13, 2013 signed by one OBITEX Industrial and Investment Company Limited.

    “The colour advert shows President Jonathan purportedly raising the hand of Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with the unmistakable suggestion that the President has endorsed Nze Nwankpo as the PDP Gubernatorial candidate for Anambra State.”

    The statement quoted the advertiser as saying: “As Mr. President, His Excellency Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan has symbolically raise (sic) up your hands, so you have been chosen by the God Almighty to be the Governor of Anambra State come 2014.”

    The statement said it was instructive that the so-called raising of hand was represented through an artist’s sketch, and not a photograph with verifiable, empirical value.

    It said: “For the benefit of the unwary, the Presidency emphatically states that President Jonathan has not endorsed any candidate for any position whatsoever ahead of the 2015 general elections neither has he commissioned persons to start campaigns for his own candidature,” he added

    “As a leader who respects the rule of law, President Jonathan respects the fact that there are laid down procedures, defined by INEC and the political parties, for the selection of candidates for any election.

    “As a law abiding citizen, President Jonathan will not engage in any act, symbolic or direct, that runs counter to laid-down procedures.

    “As a loyal party man, he will equally not do anything that will amount to the usurpation of the party’s structures and powers to conduct primaries and choose candidates for elections.

    “We, therefore , disown the claims and allegations of Presidential endorsements or the commencement of 2015 campaigns. The general public and affected stakeholders are advised to be wary of the kind of opportunism, misrepresentation and mischief that usually arise ahead of elections in general.”

    “The Presidency seizes this opportunity to warn all 2015 political office seekers, and their sponsors, friends or collaborators, to desist from unconscionable exploitation of President Jonathan’s name in the service of jaded antics of self-aggrandisement, promotion and positioning.”

     

  • Jonathan orders PDP to capture 32 states in 2015

    Jonathan orders PDP to capture 32 states in 2015

    ACN: they’re day-dreaming

     

    The President has given his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an order to win at least 32 states in the 2015 elections, Chairman Bamanga Tukur said yesterday.

    Tukur did not say when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan gave the directive, but he told the party members to start preparing for the 2015 elections, saying “it’s going to be a serious battle”.

    The chairman spoke when a group of party members in the Southwest visited him in his Abuja residence.

    According to him, the presidential mandate is to win more than the 23 states the party controls.

    Stressing the need for immediate preparations for the elections, Tukur said 2015 is closer than many imagine.

    He told the group that the PDP would uphold President Jonathan’s resolve to conduct free, fair and transparent elections.

    The chairman rated elections conducted under the Jonathan administration as some of the freest so far.

    He urged party members in the Southwest to close ranks and deliver the zone to the PDP “to prove to the world that the party has the widest spread in the country”.

    Tukur said: “We need to work hard now because we have a presidential mandate to move beyond 23 states in our control and win at least 32. We have to show electoral strength this time. In doing it, we will work hard and work well. We will move with the speed of jet and we will deliver without any foul antics.

    “I use this opportunity to appeal to our members to bury the hatchet and cast away whatever forlorn hope they nurse about the future. I appeal to our members to begin to invest in the future right away and doing so involves hard work, diligence and dedication to the cause of PDP.”

    According to him, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party plans to begin a state-by-state tour to ginger up members while intensifying reconciliation, reformation and re-building of the party.

    A former Oyo State governorship candidate of the party, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, who led the delegation, lauded the PDP on its ongoing peace initiative.

    Adedoja praised Tukur for his efforts in rallying different groups within the party for reconciliation. He, however, said that there were still some unresolved issues in the Southwest zone of the PDP.

    Through its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) reacted to the ruling party’s plan to win more states in 2015.

    The ACN spokesman said the PDP would be disappointed at the next general elections as Nigerians are fed up with its leadership.

    But Mohammed said there would not be any state for the PDP to capture in 2015 as the people will defend their votes.

    He told The Nation: “The PDP has forgotten that we are in a democratic dispensation and that the ruling party is not an army of occupation. Nigerians are not only going to vote for the party of their choice but ensure that their votes count.

    “Jonathan and Tukur are going to wake up one day and discover that they have been living in fools’ paradise. They will discover that the people deserted them a long time ago.”

    The AC N is merging with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and others form the All Progressive Congress (APC), which its promoters believed will kick the PDP out of power.

  • Kalu: my fears for 2015

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu has expressed his fears for 2015.

    He urged the government to rise up to the challenge of good governance.

    The former governor said in 2015, Nigeria will need a decisive president, who can make effective decisions for the polity.

    Kalu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, spoke in Lagos on the state of the nation.

    He warned against taking Nigerians for a ride, stressing that they could revolt in a manner that would jolt the government.

    The former governor also criticised the immunity for the president and governors, saying they should not be insulated from prosecution.

    He said: “My fears are that Nigerians might march on the roads one day, if our leaders are not able to address the issues.

    “My fear is that we are gradually coming to a point where anybody can do anything he likes.

    “Law and order have broken down, which is not what things are supposed to be.

    “We must have a strong army and police. Any country that wants to survive should not joke or play politics with the Armed Forces.

    “It is the pride of any nation. Any nation that does not give its Armed Forces a place of honour is not a serious nation.

    “So, we should stop using the Army for little things. They should be on stand by.

    “We should have a quality police force and enforce rule of law to ensure the growth of our society.”

    Kalu blamed politicians for disappointing the polity, lamenting that they have not done enough for the people in the last 14 years.

    The former governor applauded the birth of the All Progressives Congress (APC), remarking that a two-party system was being restored to the country.

    He said: “It is a good thing we are having an alternative party. It is good for the country.

    “That also shows that Ibrahim Babangida was a visionary leader.

    “ I have always said that we need two parties, not three.

    “The PDP must look for the people; people don’t look for parties. But I am sure that, with the tour of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to all the zones, the PDP will be better.”

     

  • 2015 will be war for PDP, says Tukur

    2015 will be war for PDP, says Tukur

    •Says ruling party won’t allow ‘new group’ to ‘sweep mat off our feet’

     

    National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday warned his party members that the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is for real and poses a formidable threat in the 2015 elections.

    “There is a group that just came up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet,” Tukur said in a veiled reference to the APC at a meeting of the Northwest zone of the PDP in Kaduna.

    Three of the six PDP governors in the zone -Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto) -were absent at the meeting.

    It was, however, attended by Governors Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, Usman Dakingari (Kebbi) and the host, Mukthar Ramalan Yero.

    Continuing, the PDP Chairman said: “PDP is all about patronage. We are going to dole out our patronage to all our members who remain in the party.

    “I am here to tell all our supporters about the virtue of patience. Patience is such a priceless thing, that the Hausa people say, ‘a patient man can cook a stone and drink its sauce’. I want to plead with our members in this zone to imbibe this teaching.

    “This is because without patience, we will all be in disarray. And we cannot afford to be. There is a heavy war ahead in 2015. A group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet. We cannot allow that to happen. The PDP is the only party that is not religious, not sectional or tribal. We are one big party, and we intend, and we must remain so.

    “What I am saying here is what I told our supporters in the South West. They are not happy, because of the problem they face in the party in that zone, a minority has taken over power there.

    “Let me inform you. We are going to give patronage to all our members who have contested elections and lost. There is enough in the party to go round everyone. There is no need to leave the party.”

    Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo who was at the meeting asked members to unite for the rebuilding of the party.

    “This tour undertaken as part of the celebration of the first anniversary of the national working committee is also in line with the reconciliation, reformation and Rebuilding agenda of the party chairman,” he said, adding, “As a party that is fully organised and vibrant, well noted for its adoption of rule of law and natural justice in the discharge of its activities, the decision to embark on this tour in order to properly position the party to face future challenges is indeed paramount.

    “The assembly of the crème of our party faithful at this meeting only signals and lends credence to our desire to ensure that we develop new ideas, initiatives and innovations that will further solidify the party and move it forward.

    “I therefore call on us to approach today’s meeting with a clear mind and conscience and to develop more pragmatic ways that will consolidate the strength of our party by embarking on people-oriented projects and programmes in each tier of government that will not only improve the lives of our people but will create wealth amongst our citizens.

    “We must shun all overtures by those who are bent on destroying the party through anti-party activities and be unified in our quest to strengthen a party that has made its mark and improved the lives and well-being of our citizens. We must be unified and steadfast for the growth and strength of our great party and in the interest of our dear citizens.

    “Our actions speak for us. Our laudable programmes at all the three tiers of government coupled with our respect for rule of law, good governance and democratic tenets serve as our trademark. It is in this regard that it becomes pertinent among members of this great party to carry this trademark wherever we go as a good product sells itself.

    “Our greatest asset is our unity of purpose and acceptability as the only national party that has as its centre piece the popular slogan ‘Power to the People’. Once we are fully reconciled, rebuilt and reformed, we shall continue with our capability of tackling any opposition from any quarters of this country.”