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The three horse race presidential poll for 2019 Nigeria general elections seems to have begun with the fusion of Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) created by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in February this year with a political party – African Democratic Party (ADC) on Thursday, May 10.
Although, 68 registered political parties may be in the electoral race for the 2019 Nigeria general elections, the reality on ground may limit serious political parties that will field presidential candidates in the next year elections to three political parties, namely, ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and new entrant – African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The emergence of African Democratic Party (ADC) which drew ‘Democratic’ from PDP and ‘Congress’ from APC, may be a game changer in the 2019 general elections going by increasing population of Nigerians trooping into CNM and ADC as well as the political influence of the founder – former President Obasanjo, who still insists that he will not join, but he is canvassing Nigerians to join CNM and ADC.
It will also be recalled that some political parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its leaders, mainly the Nigerian politicians who had defected from People’s Democratic Party, led by Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation had earlier come to Obasanjo for possible coalition with his Movement. However, he has ignored their request and decided to adopt ADC whose sponsors, apart from Obasanjo, are still unknown.
Speaking at a Press Conference which he entitled “My Treatise for Future of Democracy and Development in Nigeria”, former President Obasanjo said, “Let me start by welcoming and commending the emergence of a renewed and reinvigorated African Democratic Congress (ADC), as a political party.
“Since, the inception of Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), many of the 68 registered political parties had contacted and consulted with the Movement on coming together and working together. The leadership of the Movement after detailed examination, wide consultation and bearing in mind the orientation, policies and direction of the Movement, have agreed to adopt ADC as its platform to work with others for bringing about desirable change in the Nigeria polity and governance”.
“In recommending the CNM to join the ADC, let me give you some points that are of interest. From the beginning, CNM is not a political party but a popular grassroots movement to stimulate the interest and participation of youth and women in particular, in bringing about change in democratic dispensation, governance and development in Nigeria in such a way that power addicts will be forced to yield places for new entrants and participants in the power equation in the country.
“They will sanitize the system. With the ADC, embracing the policy of 30 percent for youths under 40 and 30 percent for women in all organs of the party, a significant paradigm shift has been brought about in the power equation. The ADC is a reformed and reinvigorated party, it will embrace all the features and policies, which make CNM attractive and a source of hope and inspiration to millions at home and abroad.”
While canvassing for Nigerians’ support and votes for the African Democratic Congress in the 2019 general elections, Obasanjo asked Nigerians to forgive but not forget atrocities committed by PDP and current pauperization of Nigerians under APC, saying “clean fingers in either of them can and must be grafted to the clean hands of new entrants and participants to move up and move on.”
Obasanjo added, “Nigerians may forgive, but Nigerians should never forget, otherwise they will be suffering from amnesia and the same ugliness may raise its head again. APC as a political party, is still gloating and revelling in its unrepentant bad governance of Nigeria and taking Nigerians for fools. There is neither remorse nor appreciation of what they are doing wrong. “It is arrogance and insult upon injury for Nigerians.”
“Whatever the leadership may personally claim, most Nigerians know that they, Nigerians, are poorer today than when APC came in and Nigeria is more impoverished with foreign loan jumping from $3.6 billion to over $18 billion to be paid by the present and future generations of Nigerians. The country is more divided than ever before because the leadership is playing the ethnic and religious game which is very unfortunate and the country is more insecure and unsafe for everybody. It is a political party with two classes of membership.
“Before I leave this point, it is pertinent to make the point that PDP and APC are not actually made of men and women who are totally evil. There are sprinkles of good men and women out there and among them. But, as political parties and the government, they led and they are leading in the last 11 years, they have failed and failure should neither be hoisted for embracement nor reinforced.”
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
