
…vows to rescue Nigeria from lacklustre political elite
Agbakoba, Na’Abba, Utomi, Ezekwesili, Falana, 34 others coalesce
Some eminent Nigerians under the aegis of Pan Nigerian Consultative Political Front have formed an alliance to rescue the country from what they described as “exploitative grip of a lacklustre leadership.”
They include former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba; former president of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN); former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi; former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and a former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar.
Others are Lagos lawyer and rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN); Senator Shehu Sanni; ex-presidential candidate, Prof. (Mrs.) Remi Sonaiya; former Nigeria’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Amb. Nkoyo Toyo and president of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Shettima Yerima, among others.
The group, in a communiqué issued yesterday by its national secretariat to announce a seven-point resolution after a nationwide consultation and engagement, said it is worried by the continued slide of Nigeria into political anarchy and unabated bloodletting and deaths due to incompetence and failure of the present political leadership of the country.
The communique signed on behalf of other members by Prof. Anthony Kila and Prof. Jibo Ibrahim, said its nationwide consultations was essentially motivated by patriotic concerns, while the inaugural meeting of the body is proposed to hold before the end of the month.
Decrying the current state of the nation, the promoters of the new movement said the current factionalisation and imbroglio rocking dominant political parties in Nigeria, as well as heightening political tension in the country, have further given credence to its resolve and intervention to provide a credible alternative political class and leadership for Nigeria.
The communiqué reads in part: “Our political coalition wish to assert that the current factionalisation and imbroglio rocking dominant political parties in Nigeria as well as the heightening political tension in the country, especially within the Nigerian ruling class, have further given credence to our resolve and intervention to provide a credible alternative political class and leadership for Nigeria as most of those who pride themselves as leaders of our country in the last 21 years of civil rule have proved to be huge failures and burden to the well-being of our people.
“We decry, in categorical terms, the on,-going mindless massacre and kidnappings in the North-West, North-East, Southern Kaduna, the Middle Belt, Southern part of Nigeria and, in fact, the country at large, by bandits and insurgents, who invade our communities, especially at night, to inflict terror and murder on hapless residents and unsuspecting indigenes.
“We hereby call on those presently in charge of our Federal Government, military and security apparatus to immediately wake up and do everything to stop the on-going senseless pogrom against the masses of our people.”
The group also nominated an interim national steering team, which is to operate with no permanent leader, but a monthly rotational chairmanship on the basis of geopolitical zones, gender, political antecedent and reputation.
The group said they are pained by the continued slide of Nigeria into political anarchy and unabated bloodletting and deaths “owing to the incompetence and failure of the present political leadership of the country in dealing with the national democratic question of Nigeria as a diverse multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural entity.
“We, a select group of National Leaders of Conscience, Social Democrats and Revolutionary Ideologues, have been in consultations under the auspices of a new Pan Nigerian Consultative Political Front with other like-minded fresh breed political Ideologues and stakeholders, beginning from Wednesday, 27th May to Friday, 12 June, trying to agree on a new political intervention for rescuing our dear country from the exploitative grip of a lacklustre leadership and the manipulation of bickering, factionalised ruling political elites in Nigeria,” the communiqué reads.
Highlighting its seven resolutions, the coalition said it is mandating its secretariat to immediately facilitate an interim steering coordinating council to drive a new popular political intervention to urgently save Nigeria from the precipice of political anarchy and civil strife.
“A new ideological mass movement shall be initiated to embark on immediate mass mobilisation of the nooks and crannies of the country for popular mass action towards political constitution reforms that is citizens-driven and process-led in engendering a new Peoples’ Constitution for a new Nigeria that can work for all. The new movement shall also, without delay, mobilise for the economic well-being and prosperity of all Nigerians.
“That due to the critical deficiency identified in the governance of Nigeria, especially as regards the question of competence, discipline, cohesion and lack of democratic best practices among the present ruling class; a problem emanating from the dearth of principled, disciplined and ideologically motivated political class and the absence of democratically birthed and ideologically inspired political parties in the country; currently breeding factional and chaotic political emissions within the country’s ruling political parties.
“Consequently, the secretariat of the National Consultative Front has been mandated to review and tease out lessons from certain past initiatives and interventions, so as to enrich and strengthen the new initiative in such a way that mistakes are not repeated and risks can be easily mitigated in the growth and expansion of the new movement.
“Similarly, it was also resolved that the secretariat should create massive awareness and sensitization about the bankrupt political and the economic situation of the country vis a vis the historical mission of the new movement’s agenda to deliver the country from its present comatose state and stem its fast decline into a failed state.
“To this end, the secretariat shall engage in conscious mass mobilisation and careful recruitment of revolutionary and true change agents in the media, academia, grassroots, among the women, youths, artisans, vulnerable Nigerians for the purpose of organising to engender a new Nigeria that works for all,” the coalition said.
According to them, “the new mass movement shall deploy a dual approach in its national and public engagement by expounding a combination of ideological and pragmatic perspectives, especially in its communications in the mass/social media and its outreach to the grassroots and the everyday Nigerians. This is with the aim of clearly exposing everything wrong with Nigeria’s current governance system and its political architecture, while providing viable and workable alternatives and simplifying our new ideological mission and agenda for the country so as to make it easily understandable and interpretable for effective buy-in of every Nigerian.
“That the emerging mass movement shall constantly consult with credible fraternal political elders for their solidarity, while consistently slating policy issues for debate and engagements at the grassroots in developing the political consciousness and culture of the ordinary people on the street for them to realise and understand how to collectively change the demoralising and demobilising narrative and situation in Nigeria….”