By ‘Dotun Akintomide
To steer Nigeria’s ship out of the murky waters of socio-economic hardship that has ran the country aground, the Tunji Braithwaite Foundation (TBF) has called on citizens to mobilize a new social and political force that would take power at the center as 2019 beckons.
According to TBF “only a politically and economically restructured polity brought about by a revolutionary process can unleash the social and economic forces that can ensure the total transformation of the country and propel her to true greatness.”
Members of the foundation and political activists who gathered Wednesday in Lagos, to celebrate the late legal luminary and activist-politician, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, two years after his passage, said if he were still alive, the country would not have been able to contain him with the unprecedented level of atrocities going on.
Director of External Communication, TBF, Comrade Achike Chude, while delivering the foundation’s state of the nation address entitled: ‘Reversing the tide of national instability in Nigeria,’ said “there is confusion about the present nature and character of our country as she moves from one calamity to the other. Fear and uncertainty have become the lots of our citizens as people try to adjust to the reality of a state that is on the brink of internal implosion and disintegration.”
He said with unemployment rate in the last quarter of 2017 rising to 18.8% and youth unemployment at an astronomical 33.10%, in the 3rd quarter (NBS), “it has created a serious case of social dislocation for the vast majority of our people.”
Bemoaning the country`s rising debt profile as an indication of fiscal irresponsibility, Chude lamented that “after the contentious payment of an astronomical one tranche $12 billion debt repayment in 2006 under the Obasanjo administration in 2006, 12 years later, the country is once more under the merciless yoke of debt burden. Currently, Nigeria has a foreign debt profile of $15 billion and a whopping $45 billion in domestic debt.
Quoting Thomas Hobbs, he said life in Nigeria “has become nasty, brutish, and short,” stating that “Nigerians have never had it so bad. Indeed, while Nigerians diminish socially and economically, the privileged political class continues to flourish in obscene splendor as they pillage and ravage the resources of our country at will.
“Corruption, a major mantra of the ruling APC government has become an embodiment of the government in power as scandal upon scandal has completely laid bare the anti-corruption stance of the government. Those who were initially deceived by the government’s alleged fight against corruption have come to the conclusion that nothing has changed. Transparency International`s listing of Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries in the world clearly puts a lie on the so called anti-corruption activities of the administration.”
Chude who is also the Chairman of Joint Action Front (JAF) further observed that the greatest and immediate danger to the survival of the Nigerian state today is the unwarranted, senseless, premeditated, well organized and orchestrated killings across the country.
“From, Benue to the Plateau, Taraba to Zamfara, Enugu to Eboyin, Kogi to Edo, Ekiti to Ondo, Nigerians are cut down at will , babies ripped from their mothers’ wombs, houses destroyed and burnt down.
“A country that cannot protect its citizens is not one to be proud of. An army that cannot protect the territorial integrity of the nation is not one that inspires confidence. A president and Commander-In-Chief that cannot protect his citizens is not worthy of his office.
“It becomes even more important when the country`s armed forces is accused of the treasonable act of working with the herdsmen to kill, maim, and loot farming communities all over the country. The Nigerian military and security forces must redeem their image by keeping the people safe and arresting perpetrators.
While condemning the plan by the federal government to grant amnesty to some repentant Boko Haram members, Chude averred that it is high time the government designates the killer herdsmen as terrorists.
“On the president`s intention to grant amnesty to so-called repentant Boko Haram terrorists, we vehemently state our opposition to this line of thinking not only because it would be a great disservice to the spirit of the dead as well as their living survivors and the society at large but an encouragement and motivation to any group that decides to take up arms against the people. Besides, it is unfathomable and meaningless for the government to enter into any amnesty arrangement with a Boko Haram that has been ‘technically defeated.”
“We seize the opportunity of this press conference to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Leah Sharibu, the remaining prisoner from the Dapchi kidnap. The president should leave no stone unturned to ensure she is returned home safe and unhurt to her families.”
On his own part, the new Chairman of Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Lagos State chapter, Barrister Dotun Hassan, while challenging civil societies to brace up to their responsibilities by questioning government on some ill-motivated actions, noted that “the lack of planned agenda has been the bane of many civil societies. However, the Tunji Braithwaite foundation has been able to build some of its activities around key issues of public interest.”
“As a party based on sound ideology, i believe if the Nigeria Advance Party (pioneered by Dr. Braithwaite in 1978) is given room to run the affairs of this nation, the country’s woes will be a thing of the past,” says NAP Chairman on ethics and leadership, Apostle Emmanuel.
Comrade Jo Warilayefa Amaoru warned that Nigerians should be wary of falling for another term by President Muhammadu Buhari or an Atiku presidency, saying “the country’s political landscape needs new people with fresh ideas and it’s good that young people have been showing interest.”
Amaoru also took out time to decry the 2-day visit to Lagos by President Buhari and the work-free day declared for Thursday by the state government.
According to him, “it will grind activities in Lagos as well as affect travelling plans in and out of the state for the Easter’s celebrations. It’s unfortunate that they will bring untold hardship on the majority of Lagosians just because of one man.”
