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Says ADC is not for sale… Nigerians need new set of leaders
From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
As the crisis deepens, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has stated that the coalition is a sponsored move to return power to the north.
Kachikwu, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja, stressed that there is no difference between President Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar in governance.
He lamented that Nigeria cannot continue to have the same set of leaders, adding that it is time for fresh politicians to be given space to run the affairs of the nation.
“All men are political beings, but Nigeria can no longer afford to have this same group of people continue to mind the affairs of Nigeria. We have gotten it wrong for far too long. As a people, our youths have had their minds messed up. They no longer believe in themselves.
“The youth believe that nobody cares for them. If you look at the rates of suicide in Nigeria, the rates of drug use in Nigeria, social misadventure, the social ills in Nigeria are high because of misplaced priorities from failed leadership, and these people believe that the same leadership should continue to rule our affairs in this country.
“They continue to believe that our youth should be their tools and fools for them. We cannot continue like this in this country. We’ve done this for too long, and we cannot continue this any more.”
Speaking on the coalition, he insisted that the party is not against a coalition but that the politicians need to start from the grassroots, and chasing the party’s elected officials out of the party for their personal gain is very wrong.
When asked if he was informed before the unveiling of the coalition, he said he was invited to a meeting late last year and early this year for the development but backed out when he realised the motive was to return power to the north.
“Late last year, they approached me concerning this coalition. Eventually, early this year, I agreed to have a meeting with them. A close friend of mine persuaded me to go for a meeting and hear these people out. I went for the meeting that had former ministers, former highly placed persons in the last government, and they presented their case to me for the need for a coalition.
“But I had one question. And my question was this: seeing that we just finished eight years of President Buhari, and that President Tinubu is in his first term, and that you people here, you old politicians, practise a politics of North and South, of religions, do you agree and accept that if there is a coalition, the South is in their first term, and that the South will produce the flag bearer of this coalition? And the response, not considered an immediate response, was, we are taking our power back.”
He added that the coalition is a sponsored move against ordinary Nigerians, adding that he cannot be bullied out of the party by those who want to force their way into the party.
“There are people who genuinely believe that a coalition is needed and that Nigeria has to get it right. There are also those who believe that by way of force, people can come in and take over the party. I am not one who is easily cowed.”
