Fani-Kayode Hails Opposition Parties on Merger

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode

A former aviation minister and presidential aide of the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has congratulated the ACN, CPC and ANPP on their various conventions as well as their final resolutions to merge into the new party called the APC.

The merger, he said in a statement, “provides hope for Nigeria and it represents the only vehicle and platform that can deliver our nation from the hands of the PDP and the Jonathan administration. I salute those that have found the courage to stand up against the tyranny, blackmail, pettiness and incompetence of the Jonathan administration and I, together with millions of others, stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their quest to restore and resurrect the fortunes of our country.”

According to Fani-Kayode, the various resolutions to merge into one new party is a first step in the right direction. 

ThisDay

Votes Must Count in 2015, Says General Buhari

L-R: National Chairman, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Chief Tony Momoh; CPC’s presidential Candidate in the  2011 election, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, and National Chairman Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, at the CPC Mid Term National Convention 2013 held Saturday  in Abuja.

  

• As expelled CPC member writes INEC

•Fashola counsels INEC on opposition merger

From Chuks Okocha, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and  Mohammed Aminu in Gusau

As the coast becomes clearer for the coalescing opposition parties under the banner of All Progressives Congress, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Congress for Progressive Change, General Muhammadu Buhari, has warned that the votes of Nigerians must count in the 2015 general elections. Buhari, who spoke yesterday in Abuja at the CPC national convention, also appealed to the National Assembly to intervene to halt what he called the country’s aimless drift.

The former military head of state’s assertions came amid fears that there may be hitches still lurking around the merger aspirations of CPC, one of the principal partners in the coalition. An allegedly expelled member of the party, Senator Rufai Hanga, declared in a letter to the Independent Nation al Electoral Commission that he was in possession of CPC’s original certificate of registration, countering the party’s earlier claims that the certificate was missing. He asked INEC not to observe yesterday’s national convention of the party, in a request meant to blight the convention’s credibility.    

But in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, All Nigeria Peoples Party also held its national convention, with party leaders claiming that with the merger of the major opposition parties, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would soon become a party in the opposition.

Besides CPC and ANPP, other parties in the merger are Action Congress of Nigeria and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance. The national conventions, held to approve the parties’ dissolution into APC, were in fulfilment of a statutory condition for the merger.

Buhari, while speaking at the national convention of CPC held at the Eagle Square, said the votes of Nigerians must not only be counted, but must count in the next general elections.

The former military Head of State said: “We have resolved that henceforth, our votes must all be counted and they must all go on to count. And we declare that this nation has now resolved, through its united opposition, that it will never again tolerate or allow to pass the mayhem the government deliberately creates in order to cover-up its guilt, obscure the issues and blame the opposition in order to deceive the gullible folks. And we will no longer be intimidated by anyone.”

Noting that in the 2011 presidential elections, CPC, as a single party, scored over 12 million votes, Buhari said in 2015, the sky would be the limit for the upcoming APC. He described the decision of the opposition parties to form APC as a call to “patriotism and sacrifice,” saying, “We must sacrifice everything. It is time for sacrifice - time, resources, ambition and ego - for the greater good. We should carry this process through to a successful conclusion, and leave our legacy and footprints in the history of Nigeria.”

Buhari, who was the presidential flag bearer of CPC in the 2011 election, also said that the PDP-led federal government had failed in almost everything. “It has proved unable to secure the nation’s internal environment. There is insecurity everywhere. There is spiralling lawlessness all over the country. There is widespread and rising poverty and unemployment across the length and breadth of the country. There is complete and total decline in the quality of social services and irremediable dilapidation in the nation’s socio-economic infrastructure across board,” he said.

Buhari, who was military Head of State between 1984 and 1985, also said: “Anarchy is knocking on the doors of many sections of this country and the federal government has not demonstrated that it has good sense to understand what is going on or the competence to check it. The nation is hopelessly adrift. But, if we are to survive, this vicious circle of violence that has engulfed this nation must be brought to an end, and we must implore the National Assembly to take the lead in this quest for peace.

“I am sure everybody in this gathering will join me in expressing solidarity with the good people of Borno, Yobe, Kano and now Nasarawa and Benue states on their suffering and travails.”

On the living condition of Nigerians, Buhari said, “There is an unprecedented fall in the nation’s standard of living and an astronomical rise in the standard of dying. In short, there is nothing going right and we have become a nation in which nothing works as it should, that is, if it works at all. When they said they have what they call a Transformation Agenda, we didn’t understand, but now we know better; because, within a space of three years, they have transformed the country into a veritable wilderness, where everything that should work, doesn’t, where everything that can get broken has.”

Referring to PDP’s professed plan to rule for 60 years, the former military leader said, “All these evil thrives and draw inspiration from a government that is itself immersed to its neck in a cesspool of corruption and it is best characterised by its own favourite catch-phrase of, whether it is, a do-or-die or we will rule forever, or no vacancy.”

In a solidarity message at the convention, the National Chairman of ACN, Chief Akande Bisi, told CPC supporters at the Eagle Square that the main aim of forming a common opposition platform was to rescue the country from collapse.

“We have embarked on the historic journey, the first of its kind in the country, because we want to be recorded positively on the side of history. We intend to rescue the country from threat of collapse. We have embarked on an irreversible path to wrest power.

“For the PDP years of locust, we are offering Nigerians a new regime of fiscal discipline, total reformation and a period of security. We want our people to realise that good leadership is possible,” Akande said.

Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, who led the ANPP delegation to the CPC convention, said Buhari was the only person with the capacity to bring an end to the insecurity and economic woes facing the country.

Yerima said Nigeria was looking forward to a leader who would provide solution to the current challenge of insecurity and leadership facing the countr

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Raji Fashola, said the pessimism which had earlier greeted the proposal for merger of opposition parties was gradually giving way to optimism, adding that the Independent National Electoral Commission had an opportunity to make history by associating with the change that was on the way.

“Although I said INEC must act above board; that alone will not be enough. INEC must also be seen to have acted above board.

“If it is true that our worried opponents have any plans or any hand in scuttling the merger, they must re-think and desist. If they believe that the merger offers no ideology, it is not for them to decide that.  That is the decision the people of Nigeria, who own Nigeria’s sovereignty, have to make and live with.

“More importantly, every personnel of INEC, from the chairman to the most junior officer, must see the consummation of this merger as a historic milestone in the political history of Nigeria,” Fashola said.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State equally pleaded with INEC to allow the opposition merger to work, saying the parties have passed the political rubicon.

On his part, the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, said he was not entering the merger under any political platform but as a detribalised citizen who was seeking a means to improve the lives of Nigerians.

The only CPC governor, Tanko Al Makura of Nasarawa State, who was represented by his deputy, lamented the recent killing of policemen in the state and vowed that the state government would not rest until the perpetrators of the murder were arrested and brought to justice.

In his remarks, CPC National Chairman Tony Momoh said the amalgamation of the three major parties into one platform would mark a watershed in the evolution of party politics in Nigeria. He noted that the merger was a product of patriotism, sacrifice and nationalism, saying without the serious steps being taken by the promoters of APC, Nigeria would continue to wallow in poverty and underdevelopment.

Pastor Tunde Bakare moved the motion for CPC to dissolve and merge with three other opposition parties under APC, while the party’s National Legal Adviser, Abubakar Malami, seconded the motion. Alhaji Yahaya Sule Haman moved a motion urging the convention to adopt a resolution to approve the merger agreements.

At the ANPP national convention in Gusau, the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said APC was coming at the right time to rescue the country from imminent collapse and unremitting insecurity.

Onu said politics was essentially a game of numbers, stressing that the decision to merge with ACN and CPC was borne out of the desire to form a formidable platform that ordinary Nigerians could trust to wrest power from the PDP.

He said Nigeria was reaping the bad fruit of 14 years of political monopoly by one party that stifled competition and increased decay.

According to Onu, “Problems of the nation can only be solved efficiently if there is competition in the political arena. Imposing one party rule on the people brought disaster in many African countries. The Arab spring revolt in the Arab world is because of lack of strong opposition. We cannot afford such consequences in our country.

“It is true that those who play opposition politics are seen by those in power as political enemies instead of competitors. Everything is done to weaken opposition and in the process people suffer and the country is worse for it.”

Onu said, “As I look around, the signs are worrisome, the signs are troubling and ominous. For 14 years, Nigeria has not known peace and yet we are not at war. Bombs explode at will day and night killing innocent children and harmless women.

Fathers leave home in search of daily bread not sure of returning home while people go to churches and mosques unsure of returning home safe.

“Poverty has ravished our people as most Nigerians have no food to eat while children sleep at night on empty stomach. Jobs are not available as our youths have lost faith in their abilities to realise their potentials.

“Impunity rules the land and justice has become a scarce commodity available to only few Nigerians while the masses are in tears, wondering whether Nigeria is the country of their birth.”

He said APC would bring the change that Nigeria is badly in need of.

In his remarks, the Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, said the convention was an indication and a clear message that nobody could scuttle the merger, stressing that it is the desire of Nigerians.

Also speaking, the chairman of the ANPP Board of Trustees, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, said APC had come to stay, adding that it is needed to rescue the country from the current challenge of insecurity.

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said Nigerians were fed up with the current regime of poverty, insecurity and bad governance. He stressed that the living conditions of the people had worsened in the last 14 years, saying the days of PDP are numbered.

In his own contribution, the ACN presidential candidate in 2011, Nuhu Ribadu, decried the level of corruption, poverty and insecurity in the country, saying the unity of the country is being threatened by violence. He blamed PDP for the problems afflicting the nation, saying APC came at the right time to rescue the country from bad governance.

Those who attended the ANPP convention included Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbeshola, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Kabiru Gaya, and other top ANPP members.

With yesterday’s conventions in Abuja and Gusau, CPC and ANPP have moved a step closer to actualising the APC merger by endorsing the draft constitution, manifesto, logo, flag and slogan of the proposed party.

But the coast seems unclear yet for CPC’s involvement in the merger. The party had last week declared its registration certificate missing and gone ahead to swear to an affidavit which it deposited at the Utako Police Station, in Abuja.

But in a letter to INEC dated May 9, 2013, the holder of the certificate and an allegedly expelled member of the party, Hanga and two others, through their lawyers from Aliyu, Marama and Co Chambers, said the electoral body should discountenance CPC’s claims about the loss of the certificate.

They said it had come to their knowledge that the CPC national secretary, Mr. Buba Galadima, had falsely written to the Nigeria Police to claim that the party’s certificate was missing and had as a result sworn to an affidavit which he intended to submit to INEC to seek a certified true copy of the CPC registration certificate.

Referring to a case in court, the letter urged INEC not to honour the party’s invitation to its national convention. It said, “INEC should remain informed that the original certificate of CPC has always been and is still in possession of Senator Rufai Hanga, therefore, there is no need for the issuance of certified true copy of the said certificate.”

ThisDay

Fashola, Amosun warn FG, INEC over APC registration

Both ACN governors say it is dangerous not to register the fledgling political association.

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, have warned the Federal Government and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of the danger in denying All Progressives Congress, APC, registration.

APC is the product of the merger talks among four opposition political parties – Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

Delivering goodwill messages at the mid-term convention of the Congress for Progressive change, CPC, in Abuja on Saturday, Messrs Fashola and Amosun, both of the ACN, said it is in the best interest of the government and the commission to register the association, which is yet to apply for registration.

Mr. Fashola, recounted that in the history of Nigeria, there were many unconsummated merger of parties, but that APC is the one that has run the longest and therefore its quest for registration should not be scuttled.

The governor argued that a situation where only the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would be in future electoral contest, would not help Nigerians.

“Some people called me to talk about INEC and the registration of APC. But I say it clearly not only must INEC act above board, it must be seen by all Nigerians to have done so.

“Let me say by way of advice – if our opponents want to scuttle this (APC) arrangement, it is not in their best interest to scatter this plan. For me the choice between the PDP and the PDP is not a choice for Nigerians.

“All of us who are here may not realize it that in the history of this country there have been many unconsummated mergers. This is the one that has run the longest as far as I know.

“So, for every member of INEC, from the Chairman to the most junior officer, this is a moment of history also for you. You (INEC officials) have a chance to write your name in history and say that during your tenure, the first political merger in the history of this country was consummated. History will reserve a golden place for you if you do so.

“I am aware that unfortunately some of the tragic ironies of our nation is that when people of authority control history they turn them back. Most of us who are here today are consulting history by our presence. We are showing that we will not turn our back.

“After we have delivered this merger it will be left for the people of Nigeria to choose which party, which ideology, which programme best express the vehicle for the realization of the aspiration. Whatever they choose then our job would have been done.”

Mr. Fashola criticised the PDP-led Federal Government over the national budget, saying “today we do not know whether we are operating the 2012 Budget or the 2013 Budget and therefore the goal post for power has started to change; the goal post for security is changing.

“The reason is simple: every serious public officer knows that the budget is the article of faith; without a budget nothing will happen. Therefore, Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate you for your role in history,” he said.

He congratulated the CPC for rising up to be a critical arm of this platform for change.

On his part, Mr. Amosun asked the government and INEC not to prevent the registration of APC, noting that allowing competition determines the quality of a leadership.

“I want to tell the Federal Government or INEC not to prevent this merger from happening,” the Ogun Governor said. “It is the quality of leadership that will allow opposition and others to come and gather together and showcase what they have.

“At the appropriate time PDP will show what they have, APC will show their manifesto, they will show their programme. Let the good people of Nigeria determine the fate of all parties.

“We do not want backdoor interference. INEC should not listen to any interference from any quarter.”

Mr. Amosun congratulated the members of CPC “for making history today,” adding “This is another step towards the merger of all the parties into APC. With our determination, we are leaving nobody in doubt as to our genuine intention to make things work in Nigeria.”

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Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda has destroyed Nigeria- Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari

The former Head of State vows that opposition will no longer tolerate rigging by PDP.

A former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, declared on Saturday that the Federal Government lacks the competence to address the security challenges confronting the nation, noting that it (country) is hopelessly adrift.

Mr. Buhari also warned that Nigerians would no longer tolerate malpractices and general impunity on the part of the country’s leadership during future elections.

He spoke at the mid-term national convention of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, at Eagles Square, Abuja, where the party formally dissolved into theAll Progressives Congress, APC.

Party members had resolved unanimously at the convention through voting (raising of hands) to fuse into APC following a motion by Yahaya Ahman, a member of the Board of Trustees from Kano State and Oscar Udoji from Anambra State.

Earlier, CPC Vice Presidential candidate in the 2011 election, Tunde Bakare, a clergyman, had moved a motion dissolving the four-year-old party. The motion was seconded by Malami Abubakar, the party’s national legal adviser.

With the resolutions, CPC formally joined two other parties, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, led by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, to form APC.

Mr. Buhari, Chairman of the CPC Board of Trustees, in a four-page address, warned that anarchy is knocking at the door of many sections of the country, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan administration has demonstrated that it has no capacity to check it.

“I would like all of us here and across the country to reflect on the seriousness of the security situation in the country today. Some areas of the nation are virtual war zones in a country supposedly at peace,” Mr. Buhari said.

“Whole local governments in some states in the North East are no-go areas to representatives of constituted authority. Marauders of every description armed to the teeth with all manner of sophisticated armaments roam the national landscape with total and murderous impunity.

“The patience of this nation and the various communities within it has been severely tried and stretched to its limit. And there is no end in sight.

“Anarchy is knocking on the door of many sections of this country and the Federal Government has not demonstrated that it has good sense to understand what is going on, or the competence to check it,” Mr. Buhari said.

“The nation is hopelessly adrift. But, if we are to survive, this vicious circle of violence that has engulfed this nation must be brought to an end, and we implore the National Assembly to take the lead in this quest for peace.”

The former Nigerian leader asked everybody in the gathering to “join me in expressing sympathy for, and in solidarity with, the good people of Borno, Yobe, Kano, and now Nasarawa and Benue states on their suffering.”

Mr. Buhari noted that there is an unprecedented fall in the nation’s standard of living and an astronomical rise in the “standard of dying”, pointing out that “in short, today, there is nothing going right; and we have become a nation in which nothing works as it should, that is, if it works at all.”

He added, “When they said they have what they called Transformation Agenda, we didn’t understand, but now we know better because, within the space of three years, they have transformed the country into a veritable wilderness, where everything that should work, doesn’t; where everything that can get broken, has.”

Mr. Buhari said that in forming of APC, the merger parties played by the rules and even accepted to play alongside those who did not because they (parties) believed that their participation will give hope to millions of Nigerians that positive change has come.

He stressed, “Now change has finally come; and they cannot stop it. And we are putting the current leadership of this nation on notice that our people will no longer tolerate its corruption or rigging, vote thievery and general impunity that have become the norm and standard practice during elections in this country.

“We have resolved that henceforth our votes must all be counted – and they must go on to count.

“And we declare that this nation has now resolved, through its united opposition, that it will never again tolerate or allow to pass the mayhem the government deliberately creates in order to cover up its guilt, obscure the issues and then blame the opposition in order to deceive gullible folks. And we will no longer be intimidated.”

He thanked members of CPC for staying with the party, adding that by joining the other opposition parties to float APC they have commenced a journey to make Nigeria a better country.

Earlier, the National Chairman of CPC, Tony Momoh reeled out the positive achievements of the party and explained why it is joining other progressive parties to form APC.

The National Chairman of ACN, Bisi Akande; and former Governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima; who led a seven-member delegation from ANPP, as well as the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, his Lagos and Ogun States counterparts, Babatunde Fashola and Ibikunle Amosun, delivered goodwill messages at the convention.

Other dignitaries at the convention include Audu Ogbeh, Tom Ikimi, Chris Ngige and Segun Osoba, all of ACN; as well as Mohammed Marwa, Nasir el-Rufai and the deputy governor of Nasarawa State.

Mr. Akande said, “We have heard the Macedonian call of our people and we have set sail on an irreversible course to contest and assume power at the centre.

“Our undying quest to refocus and, possibly, to re-fix this massively endowed but hugely debased country has made us to set aside our individual interests for a larger national one.

“For every PDP’s years of the locust, we are offering, in exchange, a new regime of prosperity, fiscal discipline, security and a more emancipated society.”

PremiumTimes

The Birth Of APC: New Leaf In Nigerian Politics? Attention Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu & Gen. Muhammadu Buhari

By Salihu Moh. Lukman

Today, Saturday, May 11, 2013, both the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) are scheduled to hold their conventions aimed at securing the approval of members of the two parties to join the merger process for the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Already, on Thursday, April 18, 2013, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has successfully held its merger convention and obtained the approval of its members to merge with other opposition parties including the ANPP and CPC to form the APC.

All indications points to the fact that the conventions of ANPP and CPC will be successful and Nigerians can expect with every certainty that the APC will finally be born and, at least, ACN, ANPP and CPC will dissolve into our new APC. Last Tuesday, May 7, in Owerri, at a rally attended by the 9 progressive governors, the Okorocha-led APGA has announced its decision to join APC.

There is no debate about the fact that this is a new development in Nigerian politics. Since independence in 1960, this is the first time political parties are able to contract agreement among themselves and accomplish all the statutory requirements for merger. Past attempts crashed at the preliminary stages and never gets to the point of obtaining membership approvals. The main reason being inability of the leaders of the merging parties to accept the principle of sacrificing current positions in order for merger negotiations to have any life.

It can therefore be logically argued that the APC merger negotiations has come this far and today ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA have delivered a new political party, APC, to Nigerians. It is purely a mark of the capacity of leaders of these parties to make sacrifices.

Where past Nigerian political leaders have failed, our today ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA leaders have succeeded. What does this success mean?  Is it going to end as simply a formal union of leaders of ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA under a new APC? Will it result in a new dispensation coming with a new political practice (culture) producing higher commitment to issues of national development and citizens’ welfare? Is our new APC going to just narrow itself to developing strategies for 2015 elections and to that extent focus more on the challenge of producing candidates? Or is our APC going to focus more on the task of organising a strong and competent political organisation and therefore seek to mobilise patriotic Nigerians to join the party?

There are a lot of public suspicions basically suggesting that APC is nothing but rebranding project for the political union of ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA which will not produce anything new in Nigerian politics. There is almost a national consensus that it is simply a strategy for 2015 that may not go beyond being a common platform for candidates’ selection involving ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA. The task of organising a strong and competent political organisation coming with mass mobilisation of Nigerians will not be the priorities of APC. With Gen. Muhammadu Buhari intermittently, sometimes without any clear prompting, at least not from the merger negotiation table, re-asserting his availability to serve as a presidential candidate for APC in 2015, the public suspicion of APC being a rebranding strategy continues to gain some credence.

Should that be the case, the birth of APC will not result in anything new in Nigerian politics. It will end up as the continuation of the politics of ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA. What is the politics of ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA? What is even the prospect that APC can produce a successfully united strategy for ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA?

Looking at these four merging political groups, it can be argued that their politics is centrally about contesting elections hardly associated with clear policy commitment. The closest may be ACN whose governments in the five states of the South West are making some claims to free education based on leanings to Awoist philosophy. ANPP can hardly be associated with any policy commitment except perhaps Shari’a given that it originated from ANPP controlled states. With no policy to be associated to CPC, its emergence out of ANPP may be an unfair description of its policy thrust as is currently being speculated. Okorocha-led APGA can hardly be associated with any clear policy commitment too, not even in relation to the experience of the 7 years of APGA in Anambra.

What is very clear is that all the merging political groups are regional in orientation and therefore their politics being regionally focused. There lie the major limitations of the politics of these parties even in terms of the narrow issue of candidates’ selection. Outside the regions of strength, parties have not been able to acquire the necessary electoral strengths. Often, they have to recruit aspiring politicians from other parties to be able to field candidates for elections. As a result, the politics of all our merging parties is centrally driven by some few regionally-based popular personalities; notably Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu – South West, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff/Sen. Bukar Abba Ibrahim/Alh. Ibrahim Shekarau/Sen. Sani Yerima – North East/North West, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari – North West and Chief Rochas Okorocha – South East.

Partly because of the weight of these personalities, party organisations as represented by our merging parties have been subordinated and weak on account of which tasks such as party management and membership mobilisation were driven by issues of loyalty. A major outcome that is manifest in all the four parties is weak secretariat organisation, if not incompetent, which has resulted in situations where statutory party organs and implementation of their decisions are driven more from outside party structures. This is the case virtually for all our four merging groups.

The fact of statutory party organs and implementation of their decisions being driven more from outside party structures has resulted in situations where even the task of choice of candidates at all levels is more handled outside party structures. This is what has given legitimacy to the complaint for lack of internal democracy in our parties, thereby creating internal crisis, anti-party activities by members and factions. Our political leaders are at the centre of all these. This is the story of Asiwaju Tinubu in ACN, Gen. Buhari in CPC and depending on the state in focus; it is the story of Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, Sen. Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Alh. Ibrahim Shekarau and Sen. Sani Yerima in ANPP and of course it will be the story of Okorocha-led APGA in Imo and parts of the South East.

So far, the APC merger negotiations have successfully addressed technical issues bordering on developing the draft constitution and manifesto. There is some focus on issues of leadership sharing formula. All these hardly touch on the substantive issue of practice and experiences. This limitation may result in reproducing a situation where basically the APC is designed based on acknowledged areas of influence for current leaders. In which case therefore it could be expected that formal structures of the party will be weak, the secretariat may even be incompetent and statutory party organs and implementation of their decisions will continue to be driven more from outside party structures.

Should that happen, our new APC would confirm public speculation and all that we should expect out of it will be the emergence of our leading political personalities as candidates for 2015 elections. This could translate into for instance Gen. Buhari, on account of ‘pressure’ from supporters present himself as aspiring candidate for 2015. Once that happens, the Okupe’s one year prediction may come to pass and he (Okupe) can claim to earn his name.

The reason being, first the old ANPP problem that resulted in Gen. Buhari and his supporters breaking away from the party will be reincarnated, perhaps on a lower scale since Sen. Sani Yerima and Sen. Bukar Abba Ibrahim may just limit their political aspirations to the Senate. Sen. Modu Sheriff may also just negotiate his political protection by attempting to go back to the Senate. But Alh. Shekarau may, having played a very critical commendable role in the merger process, want to aspire for the presidency. Of course, in the case of ACN, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu may not be difficult to demobilise and depending on his capacity to strengthen his grip on local Adamawa politics, get settled with either party’s gubernatorial or senatorial ticket.

Assuming that normal democratic process is employed to resolve the matter in favour of Gen. Buhari, the second challenge will be the issue of selecting a running mate. This is because there are so many interests that could potentially emerge. Given the context of the merger, with Gen. Buhari coming from CPC, the focus will either be ACN, ANPP or Okorocha-led APGA. Within ACN, based on the need to produce a candidate from the Southern part, Asiwaju Tinubu, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Sen. Chris Ngige are names that could be speculated. While no name is currently being speculated with respect to ANPP, the new reality may throw up Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu on account of the need for ANPP to assert its influence in APC. Of course, Chief Rochas Okorocha is already being speculated as a vice presidential hopeful. These are all very formidable interests and recourse to democratic methods may hardly produce acceptable results.

It is possible that in some ways, based on the focus to concentrate on producing candidates, challenges are resolved and APC roll itself successfully through to 2015. The point is that once the focus is about producing candidates, APC will not emerge as a strong party. A basic indicator of whether APC is going to emerge as a strong party or not will be the composition of its leadership. Will its leadership include Gen. Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu, Chief Onu, etc.? Or is it going to exclude these strong personalities? Once they are excluded, it should simply be taken that they are being reserved for electoral contest. And in order to guarantee that happens, they will move to influence the emergence of loyalists who will in fact block any party action that can prevent their emergence.

By all account this will amount to cheating and far below standards of politics in the first and second republics. Both in the first and second republic, political leaders were able to combine their aspirations to contest for election with the need to build strong party structures. Why is our contemporary political leadership unable to do that? In particular, why can’t Asiwaju Tinubu and Gen. Buhari formalise their responsibility within the party and based on that build the party first? Why should they imagine that they can win an election without building the party? Let us even imagine they can win election without building the party. How can Nigerians then trust that when they become President and Vice President they can build a strong united nation? Should we assume that based on the records of Gen. Buhari when he was military Head of State and Chairman PTF? And from the record of Tinubu as Governor of Lagos state between 1999 and 2007?

Somehow, our leaders need to be told the truth; any such permutation is self-centred, deceptive and injurious to our new born APC. Noted that Asiwaju Tinubu has expressed concern about too much focus on ‘alleged competing personal ambitions’ of General Buhari and himself. The fact of the domineering consideration for APC to focus centrally on producing candidates for 2015 elections with probable outcome of Gen. Buhari being the presidential candidate and perhaps Asiwaju Tinubu as the running mate makes it almost incumbent to continue to interrogate such a possibility however remote. It has nothing to do with respecting these personalities but critically about the outcome it portend for the nation and even our new party APC.

The truth is that once we are able to reconcile the aspirations of specifically Gen. Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu, actual or remote; we can then begin to have a clearer projection for APC. Our inability to reconcile the aspirations of our political leaders is resulting in situations whereby although we are all conscious about its existence, we are wary in engaging it. This wariness is resulting in a situation where lower political structures will get completely sacrificed based on which anyone with claims of loyalty mostly artificial can secure tickets to emerge as gubernatorial, senatorial, House of Representatives and house of assembly candidates.

Asiwaju Tinubu and Gen. Buhari, at 61 and 70 respectively, owe it to this nation to do what is right and provide selfless leadership. Nigerians are hungry for national heroes of the stature of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Abraham Lincoln of United States, Fidel Castro of Cuba and most recently Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Our two leaders have been blessed in so many respects, including wisdom, courage and most importantly healthy long lives. As part of their blessed lives, they are today parenting a new political baby, APC.

The task of parenting requires close attention, which modern times necessarily involve maternity and paternity leave. In our case, the maternity and paternity leave should mean suspension of all political aspirations other than those directly dealing with building the structures of our new born party, APC. In the context of maternity and paternity leave therefore both Asiwaju Tinubu, Gen. Buhari and all leaders of our merging parties should declare a minimum of one year during which their main activities would be to building the party through membership recruitment, mobilising needed financial resources to open party offices, setting up rules and enforcing them towards managing members, negotiating policies and popularising them among members.

Anything short of this will send our new born party, APC, to abandoned political babies home that is today under the control of PDP. That cannot be the objective of our political leaders of today’s ACN, ANPP, CPC and Okorocha-led APGA. The onus of responsibility squarely rests with Asiwaju Tinubu, Gen. Buhari, Dr. Onu, Sen. Sheriff, Alh. Shekarau, Sen. Yerima, Sen. Ibrahim, Chief Okorocha, among others.

Nigerians are watching anxiously, history is beckoning and the time to act is NOW!

Pastor Bakare Calls On Men Of Goodwill To Unite For Progress Over Enemies

Pastor Tunde Bakare

By SaharaReporters, New York

Pastor Tunde Bakare has called on all Nigerians of goodwill to unite, work together and pull their resources together to advance the course of justice, peace and progress in the country.
“This moment in our collective history calls for sober reflection and eternal vigilance of an awakened, sensitized and engaged citizenry,” he told the national convention of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Abuja today.  “The enemies of our national progress will not fold their hands and those who have benefited and are benefiting from the present chaos will not wish us well.”
If corruption must be halted and the tide of violence and mass murder of citizens all across the nation stemmed, he told the convention, it was essential for men of goodwill to collaborate.
“Twenty (20) years after Hope ’93, it appears another Hope is in the horizon,” the CPC BOT member, and Vice Presidential Candidate for the 2011 Election, said.  “The Merger Talks, Processes & Possibilities have for some time now dominated the polity and the consciousness of Nigerians home and abroad. The question at the back of our people’s mind is simply whether or not 2013 will present us a Better & Brighter Hope than 1993.”
He described as “pathetic” the fact that 53 years after independence, Nigeria is a nation in fear.
Regretting that the youth have no jobs and many of them are learning to employ themselves as robbers, kidnappers, thugs and militants, the pastor said,
“In place of hope and inspiration there is panic and cynicism everywhere. We cannot fold our hands and allow kleptocracy to ruin our hard earned democracy that is still in its infancy after 14 years of uninterrupted civil rule.  If it is true and I believe that it is; “that the power of the people is much greater than the people in power”, let the agents of change use the power of credibility to influence the ongoing process and with trustful give and take, prioritize our people above personal interest and deliver Nigeria from the stranglehold of corruption, violence, lawlessness, deep seated poverty and total annihilation.

SPEECH BY GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI, GCFR, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CONGRESS FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE, CPC, AT THE PARTY’S NATIONAL CONVENTION IN ABUJA, MAY 11, 2013

Protocols

With your permission, Mr Chairman, I would like to begin by welcoming all the CPC delegates to this historic occasion. And our special welcome goes out to our friends and colleagues from sister-parties, notably Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Musa Gwadabe, Dr. Yakubu Lame, Governors Raji Fashola and Ibikunle Amosun, former Governors Achike Udenwa, Segun Osoba and Chris Ngige, Alhaji Lai Mohammed of the ACN, Senator Ahmed Sani, Yariman Bakura, of the ANPP, and Owelle Rochas Okorocha of APGA.

2. But before I deliver my speech, I would like all of us here and across the country to reflect on the seriousness of the security situation in the country today. Some areas of the nation are virtual war zones in a country supposedly at peace. Whole local governments in some states in the North East are no-go areas to representatives of constituted authority. Marauders of every description armed to the teeth with all manner of sophisticated armaments roam the national landscape with total and murderous impunity. The patience of this nation and the various communities within it has been severely tried and stretched to its limits. And there is no end in sight.

3. Anarchy is knocking on the door of many sections of this country and the Federal government has not demonstrated that it has the good sense to understand what is going on, or the competence to check it. The nation is hopelessly adrift. But, if we are to survive, this vicious circle of violence that has engulfed this nation must be brought to an end; and we implore the National Assembly to take the lead in this quest for peace. I am sure everybody in this gathering will join me in expressing sympathy for, and solidarity with, the good people of Borno, Yobe, Kano, and now, Nasarawa and Benue states on their suffering and travails.

4. Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests and fellow delegates, we must explore every opportunity to save our country. This is a historic moment when several different political parties have resolved to come together to change Nigeria for the better and stop the mindless drift that has been going on for the last fourteen years. We must understand and accept that we are here gathered to make history or forever stand accused and condemned by it. We must seize this moment that calls for patriotism and sacrifice—it is time to sacrifice everything—time, resources, ambition and ego—for the greater good. We should carry this process through to a successful conclusion, and leave our legacy and foot-prints on the history of Nigeria.

5. Many political analysts have long stated that the only way to stabilize the country is for opposition parties to merge and oust the ruling PDP. In 2010, during the run-up to the elections of 2011, ACN and CPC inaugurated committees to explore ways and means of merging into a single political party.

6. We have gone to the extent of developing a flag, a logo, a name and have even proceeded to discuss with the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, about the modalities of consummating our plans; but time proved too short, and we were not about to give too many hostages to fortune.

7. So the present move is really a continuation of the efforts begun in 2010; and this time we have started early, following the rules step by step. On its part, the CPC has, within the last two months, established the following committees with appropriate terms of reference:
1. Merger Committee;
2. Convention Committee;
3. Membership and Registration Committee;
4. Contact and Mobilization Committee; and
5. Publicity Committee;

8. The objective of these committees is to prepare CPC for the proposed merger; and these committees have satisfactorily concluded their assignments and their proposals have been submitted to NEC and to the Board of Trustees, and these are now being presented to you, the National Convention, the highest policy making body of our party. Other parties have fast-tracked their processes and some have even held their conventions. So far, so good.

No doubt, all the parties joining to form APC are coming in as equals; but, realistically, we all know that some are more equal than others. Nevertheless, every joining party will bring its peculiar strengths to this union and together we will, in every sense of the word, be too strong for the ruling party to resist. With this, we believe the time for real change has finally come to Nigeria—and it must change now before it become too late.

The government has failed in almost everything; it has proved unable to secure the nation’s internal environment: there is insecurity everywhere. There is spiraling lawlessness all over the country. There is widespread and rising poverty and unemployment across the length and breadth of the country. There is a complete and total decline in the quality of social services and an irremediable dilapidation in the nation’s socio-economic infrastructure across board.

9. There is an unprecedented fall in the nation’s standard of living and an astronomical rise in the standard of dying. In short, today, there is nothing going right; and we have become a nation in which nothing works as it should, that is, if it works at all. When they said they have what they call a Transformation Agenda, we didn’t understand, but we now know better; because, within the space of three years, they have transformed the country into a veritable wilderness, where everything that should work, doesn’t; where everything that can get broken, has.

10. They promised to give the nation credible elections; they couldn’t deliver. They promised to fight corruption, they couldn’t deliver. They promised to stop the insurgency, and they couldn’t deliver. This nation is witness to the fact that whenever we promised, we delivered. And today, I promise you most solemnly that we shall confront and eliminate corruption in the electoral process. We shall confront and eliminate corruption in the judicial process; and we shall most assuredly confront and eliminate it in the conduct of government business.

11. All these evils derive and draw inspiration from a government that is itself immersed to its neck in a cesspool of corruption; and is best characterized by its own favourite catchphrases: whether it is ‘Do or die,’ or ‘We will rule forever,’ or ‘No vacancy in Aso Rock,’ or they want to ‘fight to finish,’ it is the same thing—something that could never be uttered by true democrats. Their behaviour, language and body language are in complete and total disregard for democratic norms and the ordinary decencies of civilized conduct.

12. We intend to provide a government of different quality and tone to the people of Nigeria, one that will tackle the problem of insecurity, solve the perennial issue of incessant power failure, arrest the shameful deterioration in the standard of education, confront the decline in agricultural production head-on, and stop the collapse of commerce and industry.

13. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow CPC members on behalf of the Board of Trustees of our party, I commend the proposals shortly to be put before you. The best way to eliminate this government that has not brought anything to Nigerians except thievery of resources and violence is to accept to merge our parties. And we only elect to do this because that is what we believe to be in the best interest of the majority of the people of this country.

14. And I would like to end by once again thanking our steadfast supporters—you, the ordinary folks—who have been the unbreakable backbone of this struggle, from the time we started this journey in APP to ANPP and then to CPC. You did not do it for material gain; otherwise, you will have turned your backs on us. No doubt, you decided to stay the course as a mark of respect for our stand, and possibly knowing that we would never let you down. You relied on our judgment to forge ahead through the thicket of the country’s corruption-laden politics. This we have tried to do to the best of our ability, and will continue to do so until the masses of this country secure a fair deal from those who lead them. What we desire is democracy and freedom for all our people. And in this struggle, we think we have done our bit.

15. At its formation, the CPC became the greatest crowd-pulling party in the nation’s political history; and within six months of its registration, and in spite of all the rigging of the poll and the snatching of its votes, it was still able to get more than 12 million votes in the 2011 presidential election. After the merger, the sky will be the limit.

16. While thanking you again, I implore you not to relent as we embark on yet another move in the search for a better tomorrow for our country, Nigeria. We are now in the final stages of the move that will culminate in the merger of our party—the CPC—with three other parties. We join this effort compromising none of our principles but yielding to the belief that our diverse efforts, applied in unison, will help arrest the rot that has become our lot.

17. We go into this new arrangement still loyal to you and committed to what you stand for. We go into this arrangement conscious of our responsibilities to you and grateful for all the sacrifices you have been making since the beginning of our journey. We count on you, as we have always done, to guide, support and defend our position. We will strive to work hard to expand and level the democratic playing field in accordance with the dictates of the rule of law. We declare that we are in this together—and together we shall remain to the end.

18. We played by the rules and we accepted to play alongside those who didn’t; because we believed our participation was giving millions hope that positive change will come along the way. Now change has finally come; and they cannot stop it. And we are putting the current leadership of this nation on notice that our people will no longer tolerate its corruption or the rigging, vote thievery and general impunity that have become the norm and standard practice during elections in this country.

19. We have resolved that henceforth our votes must all be counted—and they must all go on to count. And we declare that this nation has now resolved, through its united opposition, that it will never again tolerate or allow to pass the mayhem the government deliberately creates in order to cover up its guilt, obscure the issues and then blame the opposition in order to deceive gullible folks. And we will no longer be intimidated by anyone.

Thank you very much for your patience and attention. May God bless us.

General Muhammdu Buhari, GCFR