Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Bola Tinubu, has again called for the sack of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2015, saying he has failed to deliver on his promises to the electorate.
The former governor of Lagos State said this at the Westminster Hall, House Of Parliament in London at a conference convened by the British African Diaspora Conference.
In a paper titled, ‘Leadership, National Development and The People’, Tinubu who gave an insight into what may be his coalition’s manifesto, decried the style of leadership being witnessed in the country.
“Everyone claims to be democratic but not everyone is faithful to his or her word. We have governments that are democracies on paper, but not in function. They are democracies in form but not in substance. We have governments that only know democracy primarily through breaching it.” he said.
According to him, “Nigeria is a dysfunctional democracy. Our system stands in a dark, uncertain corridor, idling halfway between democracy and its opposite. The way things are going, many people believe our best chance for genuine democracy has already escaped from us like dust blown from the hollow of our hand.”
Tinubu said he believes democracy shall prevail in Nigeria in the long run, adding that his optimism is not based on the present reality on the ground.
To him, the success or performance of any leadership is often measured by the extent of national cohesion achieved and the level of national development experienced.
“In the case of Nigeria, the fundamental question to ask as one of our most prominent journalists said in a recent piece is: To what extent has public policy improved the human condition? “What has become of poverty? What has happened to unemployment? What is the state of socio-economic inequality? he asked.”
He stated that the current Federal government has thoroughly failed in that enterprise and this explains the focus of the new opposition, the APC.
Making a case for the yet-to-be registered party, he said “As our new coalition, All Progressive Congress, we are convinced and determined about the direction we want to take our nation and our people. As leaders of the new party and government in waiting, we intend to pursue dynamic, time-tested and bold policies that will liberate our people by making sure our wealth works for us.”
“The Central focus of our efforts in the coming years must be the implementation of the most extensive and aggressive plan to lift as many Nigerians out of poverty as possible. Our desire is to be able to move at least 20% of our people out of poverty (defined as earning less than a dollar a day) in the first 4 years of our administration.”
On the issue of energy supply, he said, the APC would encourage Independent Power Plants, IPP, in designated industrial zones to reduce the horrendous power component of the cost of local manufacturing.
He said the construction of Trans- State highways, such as the speed train that will connect the North, South, East and West, investment in agriculture and agro-allied industry, National Social Security Programme, unemployment, education and healthcare would be critically addressed.
Speaking further, the APC chieftain also bore his mind on the controversy surrounding election of the Nigerian Governors Forum,NGF, chairman.
Lamenting on the outcome, he said “Thirty-five state governors assembled to vote for the chairmanship. They did this among themselves by secret ballot. One contestant earned 19 votes. The other attracted 16. In a place where honesty matters, the result would be clear and undisputed.
“But not in today’s Nigeria under the current leadership. The chap who earned fewer votes was declared the winner by those who backed him. In Nigeria, the tenets of basic arithmetic have little application concerning elections. Votes do not count, they are concocted.
“Elections are not necessarily won by the candidate with the highest votes. Elections are won by the candidate of the powerful and mighty. Consequently, a group comprising all the nations’ governors could not even conduct a simple 35-person election without a disputed outcome.”
In solving the nation’s problems, Tinubu suggested that the country must move from the place where the whims and narrow wishes of a self-centered reactionary elite dictate the fate of over 150 million people.
“Let Nigeria enter the place where the people take center stage and their elected leaders cease misbehaving like a modern-day aristocracy and get on with the task of national development in earnest.
“First, we need to sanitize the electoral system. Material reform is needed. Unless reform comes, the next election will be abysmal and the people’s will shall not prevail. And that would be dangerous. Let the next election be a fair and open contest between the PDP power and our progressive vision for change.
On the 2015 general polls, he said that a truly free and fair election is what the Progressives ask for. “One man. One vote. If we get this, we shall win because we seek to provide a new leadership that will lead Nigeria to a better place and future.
“A country where no responsible mother is forced to send her children to bed without food, where no son watches his mother pass away because he can’t afford basic medical care and where every child can taste of a quality education that allows them to dream of being doctors, scientists, farmers, business people, nation builders, and even dream of being the president of our land. A Nigeria where everyday brain drain is converted to brain gain. This is the Nigeria we seek. This is the Nigeria that shall come to pass.
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