The emergence of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC), a product of merger arrangement between some of the major opposition parties in the country, has brought fresh dynamism into the political activities in Osun State. Less than twenty hours after the announcement of the registration of the new party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the merging political parties held a joint rally in Osogbo, Osun State capital, to launch the new political party in the state. The leadership and members of the merging political parties, including the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) attended the joint rally held at Freedom Square, Railway Station, Osogbo. The joint rally, however, brought new approach to political activities in the state as it was not attended only by the leaders and members of the APC alone, but also members of civil society groups and other parties not in the merger arrangement which, however, have sympathy for the progressive slant in the new party. The parties under the aegis of Association of Collaborative Political Parties (ACPP) include Justice Party (JP), National Conscience Party (NCP), Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), United Progressives Party (UPP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC). Besides, members of civil society group such as Justice Now Foundation (JNF), Peoples Welfare League (PWL), De’ Rauf, among others, were not left out in the dynamism that trails the emergence of APC in the state. There were excitement on the faces of several hundreds of politicians that thronged the venue of the rally as they displayed the banner and logo of the new party, congratulating one another on the feat. They also used the opportunity to exchange pleasantries and familiarization. All those that spoke at the rally, including Alhaji Sule Alao, the National Auditor of the defunct All Nigerian Political Party (ANPP), expressed their willingness, readiness avow commitment to work together as a team to ensure the victory of the new party at all levels of political elections in the country. Alhaji Sule Alao, while addressing the mammoth crowd, described the new political party (APC) as a veritable platform for unity of the country. A pro-democracy activist and chieftain of the party, Comrade Rotimi Obadofin, noted in his speech that the registration of APC was the beginning of liberation of Nigeria, adding that the end has come to one party system in the country. “This new-born child, the APC, will restore the glory of the Nigerian nation and our integrity in the comity of nations will again be acclaimed. The dream we had for ourselves at independence to fashion a great country, as well as the hope Africa had reposed on us to provide leadership will also be restored,” he added. He said the registration of the party was a triumph of good over evil, adding that the APC is the platform of unity to fight and end the atrocities of the PDP against the poor and helpless. Another chieftain of the party, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, while speaking stated that the 14 year rule of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) at the national level has brought shame and destruction to the nation. According to him, “the birth of the APC will be the rise and fall of many. Those who have been destroying our democracy will fall from their high places of evil, while those who stand for truth, justice and democracy will rise to effect the agenda of change from evil to good, from unemployment to job creation, from corruption and systemic collapse to accountability, and from insecurity to stability.” Adebiyi said the newly formed political party was the only platform from which Nigerians can chase the monster away from Abuja’s seat of federal power. His words: “It is the platform that Nigerians can use to change their fortunes from poverty to wealth, from shame and disgrace as a useless country to glory and fame of a nation that works, and whose people are properly cared for by its government. Those who have used their stranglehold on power at the centre in the last 14 years to destroy this country and to bring shame on all of us in Nigeria thought they could intimidate us to give up on this formidable union. But they failed badly to prevent our coming to life.” Senator Babajide Omoworare, member of the National Assembly described APC as a pathway to the nation’s development and political breakthrough, adding that it is an act of God which must be allowed to prove itself in the nation’s political landscape.” According to him, “for the past 14 years, we have unfortunately been subjected to various degrees and regime of promises, from one developmental agenda to another. It has all been motions without movement and revolving around same vicious circle. Unfortunately for whatever interest, the PDP has desperately despised, leaving no stone unturned to prevent the success of this political breakthrough, APC which is its waterloo. Change is not easy to appreciate, but there cannot be any meaningful development without corresponding changes, especially political. “At this juncture, we cannot continue to do things same way, expecting a different result, it is time to give the new political block a chance to prove itself with the APC, if we really intend to break the vicious circle of underdevelopment that has bedevilled Nigeria overtime. We have had enough of this political rape and rip-off, with poverty gap widening daily unabated and the youths thrown into the unemployment market, with insecurity, corruption and lack-lustre leadership without any fundamental creativity to address these critical problems, confronting us as a people. Hence, APC has come to rescue and deliver this nation from the fang of misrule and corruption.” He added: “I sincerely congratulate the electoral umpire, INEC for standing resolute and shoving aside the intimidations and desperate manipulation from high places to conclude this noble and much awaited exercise, by the people. This is a job well done but not yet Uhuru. The acknowledgement is incomplete without appreciating the leadership and members of the merging political parties who consummated the idea and went all the way without ethnic, religious or political chauvinism to make it a reality. We shall emerge victorious and our aim of qualitative leadership and service to the people will not die a pipe dream.” While noting that the APC is an act of God and has come to stay, Omoworare maintained that the problem of Nigeria is not resources but a judicious use of the national wealth. Hear him: “We have both human and natural resources to give Nigerians a better life as seen in advanced States of the world. The time for visionary and passionate leadership in Nigeria is now, we can no longer continue under the yoke of leadership redundancy and complacency with insecurity, poverty and other negative development indexes residing with us. We deserve good and visionary leadership which the APC is here to offer.” Also, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the defunct ACN, noted that the emergence of APC is a significant step forward in the titanic struggle to dislodge the PDP from its vice grip of Nigerian, which has pushed the country to the brink of collapse. He opined that the new party has given Nigerians a golden opportunity to harness their superior energy for progress saying “If nothing is done, or we refuse to deploy all our God-given energies to fight to dislodge this monstrosity called the PDP from power at the centre in Abuja, the country will be confronted with veritable destruction in the near future. According to him, “already, Nigeria that used to be the brightest hope for Africa’s renaissance has not only been degraded and diminished by PDP’s institutionalised corruption in the last 14 years, the country has virtually become Africa’s laughing stock in the comity of nations.” He maintained that with the birth of APC, Nigeria’s hope to change for the better is now much brighter than it has ever been, called on every Nigerian progressive to put the past behind them and work as one determined family to uproot evil from the polity and save the country from imminent collapse. Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Sunday Akere, remarked that leaders of the merging political parties have demonstrated high sense of commitment to the Nigerian project by burying their differences to liberate the masses from the present conundrum the ruling party subjected the country into. Akere who emphasized that APC is a victory for democracy and Nigerian masses who have long sought an alternative to the PDP, said that “the development has shown that if Nigerians demand changes, nothing can stop them from achieving it. But the former Aviation Minister and chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ebenezer Babatope, lashed out at the leadership of the new political party, describing them as a body of strange bed fellows that would soon go on their different ways. According to him, “there is no excitement about the registration of APC by INEC. It is better to say that the APC is lucky to have been registered because there is no successful merger in the political history of Nigeria that worked. “APC is a political party of strange bed fellows that will soon go on their different ways when the contradictions inherent in their build-up manifest and break them into pieces.” He continued: “I am optimistic that APC will never be match for the PDP in the political game of the country. I have no doubt in my mind that PDP will never underrate APC and we will increase the tempo of our political activities to ensure total victory in future elections. PDP is a political party that respect Nigerian people and will never do anything to put aside the supreme interest of Nigerian people. APC is going to lose at the end.” Political watchers in the state however observed that until programs and policies of the new political are harmonized and proper integration is done among leaders and members, serious political activism and dynamism might be slowed down ahead of 2014 governorship election in the state.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:51:25 +0000
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