‘Soludo’s template will move Nigeria from crude politics’

Former Director of Foreign Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jonathan Sunday Akuns, has commended Anambra State Governor-elect, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s template for fixing Nigeria’s politics.

Soludo

Speaking on the theme: The Purpose And Price Of Disruptive Change, Soludo argued that Africa needed a new liberation movement, adding that the first struggle was liberation from the colonial masters, while the second would be liberation from rent politics and politicians.

Reacting to Soludo’s recommendation, Akuns declared that his advocacy for a new Nigeria was a clarion call to fix politics in Nigeria, and Africa away from the contemporary stance of being a “dining table mentality” towards a “development ideology” for peace and prosperity of mankind.

“This is a rousing call for a second liberation movement akin to that of ousting colonialism, fixing politics in Nigeria requires eliminating the existing short electoral cycles that survive on unsustainable “borrowed times,” he said.

However, Akuns noted that the question avoided include the best model of politics for Nigeria and Africa, adding: “Is it about the system of governance and society organising, as well as the character of the operators.

“How did the pre-colonial ethnic states in Africa prosper to such heights of heritage in spiritual and cultural stature that were dismantled by colonialism as an ideology? He asked.

He stressed that Soludo’s recommendations would serve as an opening for further conversations on addressing the shortcomings of Nigeria and Africa’s socio-economic and political evolution.

Akuns, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), added: “The 1910 quote of the American leader, Theodore Roosevelt, is apt and instructive enough but, on a warped basis, vitiates the proverbial thesis of going to equity with clean hands.

“The two public commentaries by the author are arguably a presage to his inauguration, as the next governor of Anambra State and more for the testing of the waters towards the 2023 general elections. May the call of history be beckoning indeed!

“Such outcomes will be a sturdy first step towards tilting the political system in Nigeria, Africa, away from being a “dining table” to the path of the endurable Swiss model, rather than an effusive advocacy for the disruption of the existing “short electoral cycles.”