In a speech he delivered at the British House of Commons, Tinubu said he and other leaders of the APC would sacrifice personal political ambition to ensure democracy survives despite what he claimed was the present disregard of the present leadership for the ballot as demonstrated in the recent Nigeria Governors Forum election where he said the loser was made to claim victory.
APC to tackle poverty
Tinubu in a paper delivered to the British African Diaspora Conference, said the APC government would in its first four years pursue an aggressive plan to lift at least 20 per cent of Nigerians living in poverty out of that level. As part of the plans to eliminate poverty, he said the APC would introduce the first national social security scheme under which Nigerians above 60 years would be entitled to monthly handouts from the Federal Government.
ACN leader, Bola Tinubu
Tinubu's assertions nonetheless, the parties involved in the formation of the APC, yesterday, failed to unveil the national officers of the party, fueling speculations of continuing division among the legacy parties.
Tinubu had in his entourage to London, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; Jumoke Okoya-Thomas among others.
Claiming lack of foresight by the current leadership, Tinubu said the gathering of progressives in the APC would use the power of the ballot to oust the Jonathan administration in the coming general election.
"I do not support the Jonathan government but I oppose anyone seeking its premature, illegal end. Let this government end at the appointed time. But let it end through the ballot box. Then I shall say good riddance."
APC's plans for government
"The Central focus of our efforts in the coming years must be the implementation of the most extensive and aggressive plan to lift as many Nigerians out of poverty as possible. Our desire is to be able to move at least 20% of our people out of poverty (defined as earning less than a dollar a day) in the first four years of our administration."
He said that besides fast-tracking the construction of Independent Power Plants, IPPs, in designated industrial zones, the APC government would also initiate "the construction of Trans- State highways, such as the speed train that will connect the nation's zones and move people, fuel, farm produce and goods, cost-efficiently across the country."
National Social Security Scheme
"First, we intend to establish a partly contributory National Social Security Scheme. Some categories of the poor and vulnerable will benefit with or without contribution. We believe that every Nigerian above the age of 60 who is not under a pension scheme and also qualifies as poor by a "Means Test" must be given a monthly stipend. Widows and the disabled proved by a "Means Test" to be poor must also be provided a monthly stipend whenever they are unemployed. They become disentitled when they are employed.
"An important component of state intervention to redress poverty is the one meal a day programme for primary and secondary school pupils.
The Federal government through supplemental funding will support States in providing Primary and Secondary school pupils with at least one meal a day.
The immediate twin derivatives of this programme is the design to confront the extremely high incidence of malnutrition and other hunger-induced medical conditions amongst poor children as well as eliminating the recruiting grounds for illegal activities.
Also, the programme will stimulate demand thereby boosting local businesses in poultry, bakery and juice and packing industries. This will employ millions of graduates and non-graduates. Then, we can start to talk truly about the dividends of not just democracy but of impactful leadership.
Lamenting alleged lack of democratic norms in the present leadership, he said: "In Nigeria, the tenets of basic arithmetic have little application concerning elections. Votes do not count, they are concocted. Elections are not necessarily won by the candidate with the highest votes. Elections are won by the candidate of the powerful and mighty. Consequently, a group comprising all the nations' governors could not even conduct a simple 35-person election without a disputed outcome.
"This little episode would be laughable if it were an isolated incident. However, it is emblematic of a larger, more troubling pattern that portends calamity if not arrested. With this recent experience, I fear the length of those in power would go and the means they would employ to manipulate results when the battleground is the entire nation and the stakes are the general elections in 2015. The NGF debacle symbolizes a disdain for democracy and the popular will. If we are to save Nigeria, we must rescue the electoral process from its abusers."
He also pledged the APC's commitment to the introduction of electronic voting which he said has been well accepted and practised in many African countries.
Alleging that the present leadership is retrogressive and serving the country the salad of corruption, he said: "This current Nigerian government is a retrogressive one. Much of what they claim as growth is but the harsh redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. The bottom gets squeezed while the top expands. They are serving us the salad of corruption. They consume our today and squander the nation's tomorrow. For 14 years, the PDP-led government cannot turn anything around. A new leadership is required to put a stop to this.
"Our people live in dire straits. But this government would rather waste the money than spend it on the public benefit. They do not believe the people are worth it.
The money is more important. They claim to be hoarding it for that mythical rainy day, when most Nigerians are drowning in poverty. If that is not troubled waters, I don't know what new calamity will make this government ever recognize the need to build the new bridges needed for the people to cross over into prosperity.
"I have said this before and I shall say it again. These leaders would rather save the money and spend the people. We progressives would rather spend the money to save the people."
Tinubu said that based on the situation on ground, he and other leaders of the APC would make sacrifice to save the nation.
"It is for this reason- to save the nation from the stranglehold of permanent poverty and poor governance – that the members of the progressive opposition political parties have decided to put aside personal ambition (including my own ambition) to form a new party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. We do this because Nigeria has entered a critical state of economic depression."
Confusion as party fails to appoint national officers
Meanwhile, confusion yesterday, set in to the midst of the APC, following failure of the leaders of the fledgling party to unveil the national officers, fuelling speculations of unresolved disagreement among the merging parties over the positions.
Vanguard learnt that the three parties- ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, had converged on Abuja with a view to naming the officers to man its key national offices, only to have a change of mind afterwards.
Sources said disagreement among the parties led to the postponement of the unveiling of the new officers but Tom Ikimi, the ACN Merger Committee Chairman, said the postponement was to allow for further consultations.
Ikimi denied that there was disagreement within the APC about the would-be national officers as speculated, boasting that they had what he called "a successful meeting."
"There is no disagreement in APC about the issue of interim management officers, and we had a successful meeting this afternoon, and so one of our decisions is to consult further.
"The names have been worked out and we need to consult further with our various parties in order to agree with those names on the list.
"The plan, hope and commitment of the merger committee are that the new party will be broad-based, open and truly belong to all its members equally.
He also said they were working assiduously to ensure that the party is registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the final document for registration would be signed by the ACN, ANPP, and CPC.
"The final document for registration in accordance with INEC regulations has to be signed by only the three merging parties that have done their conventions. It has to be signed by their national chairmen, secretaries and treasurers."
Meanwhile, Ikimi stated, yesterday, that the merging parties last Friday submitted their registration documents to INEC in accordance with the provisions of the law.
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Tunuba or shabu u don know wat u are say dont is was u say for acn in lagos,2day person are suffering in lagos is only a fool will listen to ur useless talk,u old fool.
ReplyDeleteWho is this mad man? See how u are barbering! Tinubu has said the right thing. May God help Nigeria through APC. Amen.
ReplyDeletePls before you write any comment here make sure you 'know' what to write. People should stop embarrasing themselves. Its not by force to comment, especially if you want to abuse somebody and you cannot write a simple english. Its disgusting that you can't even correctly spell the name of the person you are trying to abuse. Stop mocking yourself and run back to school. Its not too late!!!
ReplyDeleteAPC is the political party domain for the frustrated owners of AC/ACN party including some blood shot eyed northerners.
ReplyDeleteThey have already segregated the easterners. The leadership of APC have the same blood that ran on Awolowo which was deception and tribalism. Any reasonable nigerian cannot join forces with APC. Its only the illiterate northerner that can easily be deceived including the tribal yorubas that I see joining the party.
Hear me; APC is a party meant for the muslems.
In the current situation in Nigeria, any solution is better than the PDP led government.
ReplyDeletePDP does not care about suffering people. PDP will do anything to win any election but they cannot implement anything to bring progress for common people on the street.
Since PDP came to power in Nigeria, we have not seen progress in electricity supply but so much money has been spent. Good road is like a dream. We need a government that can solve simple problems.
This article Ȋ̝̊̅ڪ quite funny. Its clear our politicians have nothing to offer. He Ȋ̝̊̅ڪ still profering a system of comsumption although he claims it would shift from them (politicians) to †нє masses esp. †нє aged which ofcourse Ȋ̝̊̅ڪ unbelievable. But he didn't address †нє critical issues we know are our problems. Solving only one of them such as electricity or corruption would take us farther in development than promise us flimsy free food like he Ȋ̝̊̅ڪ talking to illiterates or fools
ReplyDeleteThe issue is simple, he or she who did not know that he or she did not and he or she did not want to know will never know and will continue to live in the dark. 2015 is around the corner he will be ashamed seeing the good things APC will do for us all especially him or her. Just look at the uncoordinated sentences. APC shall open school for their likes.
ReplyDeleteI can only support APC if they are not bringing Buhari as their presidential candidate.
ReplyDeleteTunuba...as if this guy misyarn intentionally sha!!!
ReplyDeleteWonders they say, shall never end!!!
"wat u are say dont is was u say"
"2day person are suffering"
Nigeria's got TaLENT!!!
Me I dey laff o
APC,CPC especialy ACN, these parties need to wash themselves of filth of suspcion about their support for BOKO HARAM insurgency.
ReplyDeletewhn this same Tinubu was the Lagos state governor, can he come out to boast of any achievement? he is there blabbing about PDP being a corrupt political party, is ACN left out? come to Lagos, LCC, oriental hotel, ikeja shopping mall, lekki toll gate,alpha beta company( lagos state tax collector) and several others to mention but a few are all owned by this same man, am also aware of his share in CCECC, the company handling most construction works in lagos, he has also succeeded in making his wife a senator, am also sure that all the LGA seats in the state is occupied by ACN members whether they win or not,
ReplyDeleteAm not a fan of PDP but what am saying here is that all of them are the same people, making empty promises and neglecting the poor, God help us in this country
My Dear senator Tinubu,is like the APC is not a viable option to Nigeria because of the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1. You said you will offer social security to Nigerians, however I wish to say that the present Government has put in place a social security system that is being implemented by a government agency still at infant stage.
Secondly, the government is also working on the integrated power project.
Thirdly, the present government is also constructing the railway system.
In addition your people voted at the governors forum not because Amaechi was credible, but because you wanted to "disgrace Goodluck Jonathan".
Senator Tinubu your team is made up of old people who do not have anything rather than sectional interest.
One of your strong accomplice in this "dead on arrival" APC made a callous statement on air that has drowned the irk of Nigerians.
Simply put, go and rest, be an elderstateman, because it's obvious, your time has passed.
hahahaah, see this man that has colonized the whole of Lagos state and the entire states in the south west whr little or nothing is happening, am sure the area boys in lagos remit the daily money they extort from bus drivers to u, am also aware he is planning to make his wife the next governor of Lagos state, did ur wife hv any pedigree in d lagos house of assembly let alone senate, is he even a Lagosian? am also aware that his mother is the Iyaloja general(head of all markets) of Lagos state, yet u call urself a true democrat, U went to the house of common to promise food for Nigerians, did we tell u we are hungry or is that our major problem? pls let us know y we must blv in u and ur APC, as far as am concerned, Nigerian politicians are the same, b it PDP,ACN,CPC,APGA,ANPP, etc
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @12:37, U talk thru. All our POLITICIANS na the SAME. See CRIMINAL TINUBU, wey USE Lagos TAX PAYERS MONEY construct LEKKI-EPE EXPRESS WAY and come dey make them PAY TOLL FEE. When the CITIZENS express Ur FRUSTRATION by means of PEACEFUL PROTEST, "BLOOD THIRSTY" AHMED send his "NFA-AREA BOYS" go STAB & KILL them. Well, I no BLAME our POLITICIANS na the MASSES wey dey GULLIBLE I BLAME. AFTER ALL MY BIBLE SAY " MAN DON DOMINATE MAN to his INJURY"
ReplyDeleteIf PDP, PAP, CPP, GCE, NNPC, UGWU like make them RULE, na the same RESULT we go get. All na BIBLE PROPHECY "In the LAST DAYS MEN will be LOVERS of themselves,.........."
I rest my case!
EL-MATOSKY.
I will never read comments on this page or forum again, except this so called Nigerian Eye decides to scrap the anonymous stuff...we should be able to be identified with our comments, either by names or email addresses.
ReplyDeleteThis is my singular comments.
Akinjide,
ReplyDeletethis is nonsense, who are u? Tribal bigot. U want to bring in sentiments. People should be allowed to comment with or without sentiments or id. See comments as general not from sentimental standpoint. If u don't ve anything to say keep quiet.
bitola
The so called anonymous pples on this site mostly are always talking foolishly, i quite agree with you Akinjide the best thing is for one to stop reading or following the site. as for those of you who thought your insult and abuse of other right thinking leaders who are out to rescue the country from bad leaders and PDP lead govt. U have shown much ignorance and were your sense belong.
ReplyDelete