Why Nigeria must get it right in 2023, by NNPP chairman, Alkali
Rufai Alkali
National Chairman of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rufa’i Alkali, has stated that Nigerians must make the right choice in the forthcoming 2023 general election to save the country from collapse.
Speaking in Lagos, Alkali said electing the right leader in 2023 would help shape the future of the country and its citizens.
Alkali, former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the NNPP, as an alternative platform, would spring surprises nationwide in the general elections.
According to him, the kind of leadership the NNPP will be bringing is going to be totally different from what the other parties have offered and are offering.
He said: “Let’s ask ourselves, are we happy with what is happening in Nigeria today? Are we happy with what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has done to the country or what the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is doing, especially in terms of the management of the economy and security?
“Look at education, infrastructure and health care sectors, are we happy? If we are happy, then we don’t need an alternative. If we are not happy, then it means we need an alternative; the alternative will not just come, it has to come through the efforts of patriotic Nigerians, who are ready to say enough is enough.”
Speaking on the capacity of the NNPP to defeat the APC and PDP in the forthcoming election, Alkali, a former presidential adviser on political affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, said the determination of Nigerians is a factor that would give any political party the winning chance.
“If you look at how the APC emerged, it came up suddenly from nowhere less than one year before the elections. Even the PDP, 1998, was the most difficult period for transition, but by 1999 there was election and PDP emerged at that time. Sometimes, there’s this tendency that while people are looking for a liberator or saviour, when the saviour eventually comes, they are not even sure he is the saviour.
“It is Nigerians that make a party; it is human beings that make parties not parties that make the people.” He stated that the NNPP is a party driven by ideas and genuine concern about the future of the country and it cannot be too late or too early to win elections.
“There are about several levels of consensus that Nigerians have built among themselves consciously or unconsciously.
“There are consensuses among Nigerians and part of it is that they want democracy. They love freedom. They want good governance. They want a government that is accountable. They want a government that is inclusive. They want the country to be run by credible leaders, leaders with integrity. Leaders, who before they take a pen and write a policy or whatever, will consider the consequences of that policy on the overall interest of Nigerians.”
According to him, the security and economy of the nation are under pressure due to the cumulative effects of policies imposed on Nigeria in the past 40 years.
He said that some of these policies had dismantled everything that could provide and protect jobs. Alkali said there was a need to address challenges facing the nation and strengthen the unity of the nation, which made some elite in the North to put themselves together in the NNPP to build a greater Nigeria.
“Nigerians are desirous of a better future. Nigeria wants respect for themselves when they travel out. Nigerians are very proud people. They don’t want to be relegated. We have the resources, we have the personnel, but everything has started to degenerate,” he said.
He noted, “Nigerians are disappointed with what has been offered to them over the years. Nigerians don’t compare themselves with those below their level, below the average. We compare ourselves with advanced countries of the world, that’s why whenever Nigerians are talking; they talk about the development in the US, UK, Japan and other places. We don’t compare ourselves with other African countries or whatever they have achieved.
“This is because we believe that we are supposed to lead and others should follow, with all sense of responsibility but Nigerians are disappointed. It’s a sad situation that Nigerians are losing hope in their country. Nigerians are also losing hope in democracy itself and even in themselves. That is how bad things are presently.”
He lamented that the mess caused by the ruling class was the reason why the people were agitating for secession.
“When the idea of setting up a national movement was initiated, the country was not only divided, but it was drifting. People were determined to create Republics. Everybody knows that when you want to have a republic you must be ready for war. They were creating flags for themselves, People were taking arms and ready to fight. Is this the kind of country we want?
“We (NNPP) anticipated that there is going to be trouble in the country because the political party that we have is no longer the party that we know, they have lost direction. They have lost vision and missions. All they are about is power and more power. This is why the citizens have lost hope and that’s why we started this journey. If it is not because God has blessed it, there is no possibility how we could have done it in this short period of time. Even when they say it’s not possible, we have proven that it is possible.”
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