PM NEWS LAGOS
Former
Governor of Lagos and one of the national leaders of the All
Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu told Al-Jazeera Wednesday
night that Nigeria’s political landscape has changed and for good.
Tinubu’s party yesterday merged with a splinter group from the
dominant Peoples Democratic Party, swelling the number of governors in
the group to 16 and by some calculations, making the group, the majority
in the lower House of Representatives.
“The scale and balance of power is tilting and changing to the
opposition. We are moving from imperialism to proper democracy”, Tinubu
told his interviewer.
“This development will start reshaping the landscape of politics in
this country forever. Not for us only but for generation unborn and the
future of this country to take its position as a leader in Africa. And
not just a well populated country that is big and directionless.
He recalled Nigeria’s attempt in the past to achieve stable democracy.
” Like other African countries, we have had our share of military
rule and a bit of democratic rule. But we are blessed with human and
material resources which have not been harnessed for the welfare of the
mass of the people in this country. The sophistication, the honesty,
trust, transparency necessary in electoral process have been absent in
this country.”
He said his party will focus on the welfare of the Nigerian citizens and fight corruption and waste in governance.
” There are many areas that this new APC alliance and effort will
unveil. We will ensure that we have credibility in the voting system,
the character, commitment of our people – the value that you want to
pass the torch to the coming generation on democracy. It is very
important that we are able to do that. Otherwise, it will turn out that
election after election, confidence in the electoral process will drop
and we don’t want that to happen. For us, it’s a new beginning. It’s a
new hope. It’s a new commitment.
“The perception alone of having so many governors working together in
one party and platform will encourage people to share ideas, share
values and encourage them to put their confidence in the electoral
system to change the process and make sure one man, one woman , one vote
should be the order of the day. I think the equilibrium that is
shifting will rekindle the expectation of the observing world that
opposition is not only existing on paper but that it is physically
present in Nigeria and that they are working hard to gain power in an
honest and peaceful manner. It will strengthen the confidence of other
democratic observers around the world.
“Nigerians in responding to this development must realise that help
is here. Hope is here. That we will represent them effectively to
engender true democracy in the country. That their vote will count. That
the nation will be represented by the leadership that can be trusted.
And if we trust our leaders and encourage them for not breaking
promises, then we will develop faster, and when we have honesty and
transparency in governance, we will eliminate mediocrity. We will be
able to focus on developing our country. This is a blessed nation with
human and material resources and we should be able to harness these
resources for the greatest interest and number of our people.”
“They belief in one power mandate of a particular political party has
systematically encouraged corruption, lack of care, lack of focus on
the primary things that will develop this country. Nigeria is a talented
country. Nigeria is a well educated nation, well endowed country- but
we keep missing the bull’s eye in the critical path to a democratic
success. Unless you have that, you cannot have meaningful development
and be competitive around the world. Help is here. It is now. The change
we desire will occur.”
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