Conference of Nigerian Political Parties {CNPP} wholeheartedly welcomes the return of Manifesto War in our national political discourse. Manifesto War is healthy in liberal democracy for it presents the electorate with alternative view points to choose from.
For in the last 13 years Nigerians were bombarded with the divisive factor of tribe or religion and issues were not canvassed. Thus the 2011 presidential election was dominated by hot contest of zoning or no zoning, not what candidates can offer. Hence the misgovernance of the 4th Republic could be easily traced to the inchohate policy of food is ready and share the money; which fuels insecurity and divides the country.
All we can say is let the music of Manifesto War play-on, play-on and play-on – for it clearly separates the wheat from the chaff and in no small measure will assist our people to make their choice as we approach the 2015 general elections.
On this score we salute the All Progressives Congress {APC} not only for presenting a manifesto that attracted the intense and rabid attention of the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}; but for making the War Against Corruption No 1 of its agenda.
A cursory glance on the manifestoes of the two political parties clearly shows that on the ideological spectrum, the PDP is center of the right, which bestows much more thrust on the private sector participation in the economy; while the APC is center of the left, which bestows much more thrust on public sector investment in the economy. This is in line with PDP’s mantra that government has no business in business.
Accordingly, we are at a loss, where to locate the very poor imitation or the bland parody between the two manifestoes, as posited by the PDP. Especially when APC unequivocally stated in Chapter 1 of the Manifesto that, ‘APC in Government shall muster the political will to wage strident War Against Corruption; otherwise our post-oil-economy will be disastrous. It is our considered view that none of our cardinal programs will succeed if the current level of corruption and looting going on in the land is allowed to continue.’
Whereas, we agree with the PDP that, ‘Our government established the EFCC and the ICPC, equipped them with canine and molars to crush the backbone of corruption. As relative as their success are, no record will ever deny their impact in quest for transparent polity’.
However, the truth is that the PDP neither in print nor in practice never made War Against corruption one of its cardinal programs and records show that from ex-president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s days to date, its anti-graft war has been selective.
Otherwise how come that Transparency International has in the last decade enlisted Nigeria in its hall of infamy? Or what can we say of the US Department of State 2012 Country Report on Nigeria, which chronicled that, ’The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government and the security forces.’
Among scams mentioned by the US Report were – N1.067 trillion {$6.8 billion} Fuel Subsidy Scam, N32.8 billion {$210m} Police Pension Fund, N41 billion {$260m} Bankole-Nafada Scam and the blatant refusal of government to honour the Freedom of Information Act, by releasing President Goodluck Jonathan’s Asset Declaration requested by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project {SERAP}.
In sum, we expect the Manifesto War to enrich and deepen our democracy; for PDP now has a challenger –APC -with equal national spread, impregnable structures in every polling booth, wards, local governments, states and members in all the faith and tribes.
Mr Osita Okechukwu
National Publicity Secretary
CNPP
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