28th September, 2010
As the nation prepares for 2011 elections, I want to join the likes of Mr Sonala Olumhense, Mr Femi Falana and many other concerned Nigerians to call for concerted efforts to stop PDP leadership at the federal level in 2011. I say this because I know that throughout history the only thing that is permanent is change, and if there is any time in the nation’s history that we need that change, I think it is now. The change that we need is possible to reposition this country to let the world know that we are a serious people. For 50 years we have been promising our people a better life and for 50 years better life has eluded Nigerians. We asked for bread they gave us stones. We asked for fish they gave us serpent. We asked for joy they gave us tears and sorrow. We asked for water they gave us blood. We asked for clothes they gave us rags. We asked for houses they gave us huts. We asked for life they gave us death. Hope they said is no hope when we have to wait till the end of the world. No, no, we cannot just continue to wait idefinitely.
There are ten compelling reasons why Nigerians must stop PDP at the federal level in 2011. They are as follows:
•None performance. Putting into consideration the resources that have passed through the hands of the Federal Government controlled by PDP and what is on ground in terms of development in the past 12 years, I need nobody to convince me that PDP has failed woefully in delivering democracy dividends to Nigerians. We do not have power to power our economy, our education system is down, our economy still oil driven, our hospitals mere consulting clinics, our infrastructure has collapsed, no jobs for our teeming graduates, no security etc.
•Looting the treasury/corruption. A minister of finance once alerted the country that whenever Federal, States and Local Governments get their monthly allocations the dollar appreciates outrageously in the black markets. It has always been a big racket as officials buy hard currencies at any cost and stash it abroad. Houses were bought in the great cities of the world at the expense of 150 million Nigerians. You need to see former Governor Lucky Igbinedion’s five acres of land castle in South Africa.
•Need to sustain democracy. Nigeria operates a Multi-Party system and allowing a Party to be in power for 12 uninterrupted years is dangerous to the growth of democracy. Even if PDP has done well in the past 12 years there is need for change of leadership just to sustain democracy. For the sake of change in the United States, President Obama beat George Bush. Prime Minister David Cameron beat Gordon Brown in Britain.
•The need for generational shift. Having tried men in their sixties and seventies at the presidency I think time has come to get the young people in their 40s and 50s to be in the saddle. Young people are full of fresh ideas and new impulses. They are full of energy and drive to get results. We must give them a chance.
•We have to avoid One-Party State. African countries have been ravaged and devastated for years by the ruler-ship of one political party. A former head of state once recommended a one party state for Nigeria . One party state leads to corruption and dictatorship, which lead to crisis, wars, bloodshed, and disintegration.
•Free & fair elections. The only way Nigeria can have free and fair election from local governments to the federal level is to send PDP packing. This rigging machine, the nest of killers, this house of fraud, this shrine of corruption must be stopped by all means if we have to get things right. Rigging brings in mediocre and clueless touts in exalted positions in Nigeria and when this happens your guess is as good as mine.
•Need to rebuild our collapsed institutions. Having been in power for 12 years with little or nothing to show for it, if you give PDP another 12 years they may never get it right. You cannot give what you do not have. Destroyers can never be the builders. We need committed men and women of substance to rebuild our battered and decayed institutions.
•Need to stop the nest of killers. Rogue politicians in PDP are vicious, desperate and dangerous. They forcefully remove anything or anybody that stands in their way to power. They are reckless. They are bloody. Go back to history and see how many people that have died at peace time in Nigeria including the former Justice Minister Chief Bola Ige. Ah! Ah! This party must go.
•Change is possible. We need to have the power to change leadership in this country anytime we want to. Power must reside with the people. The rigging machine called PDP says they will rule Nigeria for 60 years whether we like it or not. This is arrogance, this is an insult, this is intimidation and we must use our collective will to stop them. No power on earth is bigger than the decency of the human spirit. Change is permanent, change is natural, and change is possible.
•Need to forestall ethnic politics. PDP thrives on ethnic politics and primordial sentiments. They divide the nation in order to continue to ‘win’ elections. Diversity which is supposed to be a plus for Nigeria has become a curse and an albatross because PDP must remain in power by all means. Now ethnic politics must take the back seat. Our plurality must be exploited to give the desired result as we have seen in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Switzerland, Britain, etc.
A school of thought says ‘it is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense’. PDP has no common sense to continue to rule Nigeria. We must stop the party.
•Joe Igbokwe, Publicity Secretary, ACN writes from Lagos