Category: Campaign

I was a guest on Channels tv (Lunchtime Politics) yesterday, January 1, 2020 to analyze the letter written to Nigerians on new year’s day by President Muhammadu Buhari and the position of my party was clear and unambiguous on some certain issues that were raised by the presenter.

1. On President Muhammadu Buhari not contesting in 2023 and his listed achievements in the economy and fighting corruption?

As far as we are concerned, it’s a non-issue and should not be up for discussion because the Nigerian constitution is quite clear on the number of terms prescribed for a president of which the incumbent is not exempted and to the best of my knowledge, the constitution has not been amended to suite a section, individual or group hence, he is not doing us a favor. However, his coming out openly to inform Nigerians that he is not contesting is still good and timely and should put the matter to rest once and for all.

There is clearly a disconnect between the government and the masses and Mr. President does not know what Nigerians are going through neither is the government in touch with global reality. In this era of 4th industrial revolution where the world is talking about Artificial Intelligence and robotics and the need to develop human capital, the government is busy drilling for crude oil in the far north while voting paltry sums for education and health.

In terms of fighting corruption, the current rating of Nigeria where she is placed 144th in the world on the corruption perception index by Transparency International settles that as we have not made any appreciable progress in our fight against corruption. Figures don’t lie.

2. On calling for peace in Nigeria?

The president should start matching words with actions as his own actions have been divisive and does not promote the peace he is professing. Virtually all political appointments have been tilted towards the north in clear violation of the federal character principle. If the president wants to amend the constitution to get rid of the federal character, he should please do, so that we know that going forward, he is free to appoint anybody from anywhere even if all his appointees will be members of his ethnic group.

But as far as the federal character principle as enshrined in the constitution is still in force, Mr. president is mandated to make appointments across board. He should visit the very foundation of what his actions have caused and begin to make amends by correcting the injustice and balance appointments across all ethnicity and religion.

3. On what do i expect from the government in 2020?

The president should start talking about restructuring because that is the only way forward. The APC government should stop deceiving us. The APC is the only party in the world that came to power based on promises made but denied all promises made immediately it got to power.

No nation can make any progress based on the current structure we have. Even if Mr. President does not trust oppositions’ views or the Jonathan’s report on restructuring, he can at least trust the Governor Nasir El-rufai report on restructuring. Let him start with the implementation of that report. Even if he is constructing roads and bridges, to what end when we don’t have a foundation? Let the APC start by implementing that report because that is the only way forward as a nation.

#WeNeedTransformationalLeaders
#TheTimeToRestructureNigeriaIsNow

It is indeed a new dawn as today marks the beginning of another decade, which we prayerfully hope will herald great possibilities, progress and national cohesion almost completely eroded in the past twenty years of the combined leadership of the PDP and APC respectively.

We commend the resilience of Nigerians in spite the several challenges we have gone through as a nation in the last decade most of which can be attributed to leadership failure and made worse by the visionless APC government, which has succeeded in bringing more hardship to Nigerians through her several obnoxious anti-masses policies thereby catapulting Nigeria to the pinnacle of poverty ladder and making the nation the poverty capital of the world.

Today, Nigeria has never been this divided along ethno-religious lines due to the nepotic disposition of the government in skewing appointments in favour of a particular ethnic group in a nation that boast of diversity as one of her greatest assets.

While the party commends the letter written to Nigerians by Mr. President today to inspire hope, we are however bold to tell President Muhammadu Buhari that until he starts matching words with actions, the country will continue to be trapped in a rat race that will only see the nation and development moving in opposite directions. Our reasons are not farfetched:

1. The President cannot be talking of tackling the root causes of violent extremism and the networks that help finance and organise terror without rijigging the current security apparatus to be more responsive and emphasize more on intelligence. The current service chiefs have been in place since the beginning of this administration in 2015 and government cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different result.

2. The President cannot be talking of reforms in education, health care, water sanitation, and the huge opportunities our young and vibrant population offers after allocating a paltry sum of N40b for capital expenditure in education and less than same amount to health in the 2020 budget but proudly allocating N37b for the renovation of NASS building that was erected from foundation to completion for N7b.

3. The President cannot be talking of international partnerships without knowing where the world is heading. We are already in the 4th industrial revolution where the world is talking about robotics, Artificial Intelligence, clean and renewable energy and this government is spending billions of Naira prospecting for crude oil in the north.

4. The President cannot be talking of unity when his actions are clearly nepotic and divisive where all appointments are clearly skewed towards favouring those from the northern part of the country.

5. The President cannot be talking of fighting corruption when rather than build institutions, systems, and processes, he is busy basking in the euphoria of political witch-hunt, which explains why we are still ranked 144th on the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International.

6. The President cannot be talking of Nigerians being tolerant, law-abiding and peace-loving without first setting the example through complete adherence to the rule of law and also embarking on the restructuring of the country.

It is our firm belief that the President Muhammadu Buhari led APC will be sober and humble enough to rescind all anti-masses policies that have made life unbearable for ordinary Nigerians such as excessive taxation rather than expanding the tax net in a bid to raise more revenue, balance appointments to reflect our diversity and invest more in education, health and technological innovations rather than the wild goose chase of borrowing $30b to finance frivolities.

Conclusively, Nigerians should not despair because there is hope that things will get better if only we can unite in holding this government accountable at least till 2023 when we would have yet another opportunity to change political leadership.

This is wishing all Nigerians a 2020 filled with socio-economic and political growth that will translate into prosperity for the masses.

Signed:

Comrade Egbeola Wale Martins
National Publicity Secretary
Young Progressives Party
www.ypp.ng; email: nps@ypp.ng

Few days ago, i wrote the piece below as my humble contribution to the debate on the need to place humanity above religion and the foolishness of charlatans in power who rather than focus on developmental policies continue to hide under the guise of religion to promote ethno-religious intolerance through obnoxious policies in order to continue to perpetuate themselves in power even when being in power does not translate into any meaningful development for the people.

Just like other well meaning Nigerians, i kicked against the banning of opposite genders boarding same tricycles in Kano State and highlighted what should be the developmental focus of the State in 2020 and to God be the glory, the government of Kano State is today reversing that policy, which is capable of further fanning the embers of ethno-religious intolerance in a State meant to be metropolitan and heterogeneous in outlook.

The moral of my story is simple, the masses have the power to resist charlatans in power if we unite towards a common purpose.

HUMANITY ABOVE RELIGION AND THE NEED TO RESTRUCTURE

We need a national value reorientation that will help reshape our mentality to place HUMANITY above RELIGION. Until we get to that point, Nigeria will never develop. The truth is bitter but that is the truth. X-ray what religious intolerance has done to us as a nation since independence and you will agree with me that the myopic emphasis on religion rather than humanity has brought us nothing but sorrow, pain and underdevelopment.

Why should a nation with huge infrastructural deficit and negative human development indicators be investing in hajj and Christian pilgrimages? Who does it benefit, the individuals or the nation? If indeed the nation has been a major beneficiary, then, religious and ethnic considerations would not have been a basis for electing or appointing public officers because the two major religions in Nigeria anchor its central belief on love and peace. So where is the hatred, insecurity and fear of domination by one religion over the other coming from? Your guess is as good as mine. The elites both in the north and south use it as a weapon to divide us in order to further their selfish ambition of perpetuating themselves in power even when holding unto power does not translate into meaningful development for the people.

The need to restructure the country more than ever before on the path of sustainable development is rife and we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this fundamental necessity. Just few days back, a governor in the name of religion deemed it fit that among the several challenges confronting his State, banning opposite genders from boarding same tricycles is topmost in his 2020 developmental agenda while he and his fellow elite oppressors sit beside female passengers when boarding flights within and outside the country.

Now, this is a State with one of the highest rates of out of school children, infant mortality and unemployment in Nigeria and rather than looking for innovative ways in addressing these multiple challenges in 2020 so as to make life better for the people of Kano State, has made the new policy on tricycle the developmental focus of his administration while forgetting that the metropolitan State of Kano just like Lagos in the South is home to people of all ethnic and religious groups and policies should be made with consideration for our heterogenous nature.

In a nation where we are too divided to galvanize ourselves towards a common vision, the need to recaliberate through RESTRUCTURING may become inevitable as any investment in infrastructure will be ultimately destroyed on account of religious intolerance as it is the case with the north east where billions of naira are today being expended for reconstruction to no avail because development will continue to be a mirage in the absence of peace. We either restructure or remain underdeveloped as the present structure is unsustainable.

That said, i strongly condemn the killings of 11 Christians by a demonic group known as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and call on all Nigerians irrespective their faith to do same. It’s time to unite like never before against terrorism. I also demand that LEAH SHARIBU and other religious prisoners in the captivity of Boko Haram should be unconditionally released in obedience to the true teachings of prophet Mohammad on peace and tolerance.

The government should stop living in self denial, accept responsibility of failure in providing security and rejig the country’s security architecture so that it can be more responsive in addressing our security challenges. The government must do everything by all means necessary to stop religious persecution and free all religious prisoners in captivity. Above all, the time to RESTRUCTURE is now!

Comr. Egbeola Olawale Martins
National Publicity Secretary
Young Progressives Party
nps@ypp.ng

We need a national value reorientation that will help reshape our mentality to place HUMANITY above RELIGION. Until we get to that point, Nigeria will never develop. The truth is bitter but that is the truth. X-ray what religious intolerance has done to us as a nation since independence and you will agree with me that the myopic emphasis on religion rather than humanity has brought us nothing but sorrow, pain and underdevelopment.

Why should a nation with huge infrastructural deficit and negative human development indicators be investing in hajj and Christian pilgrimages? Who does it benefit, the individuals or the nation? If indeed the nation has been a major beneficiary, then, religious and ethnic considerations would not have been a basis for electing or appointing public officers because the two major religions in Nigeria anchor its central belief on love and peace. So where is the hatred, insecurity and fear of domination by one religion over the other coming from? Your guess is as good as mine. The elites both in the north and south use it as a weapon to divide us in order to further their selfish ambition of perpetuating themselves in power even when holding unto power does not translate into meaningful development for the people.

The need to restructure the country more than ever before on the path of sustainable development is rife and we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this fundamental necessity. Just few days back, a governor in the name of religion deemed it fit that among the several challenges confronting his State, banning opposite genders from boarding same tricycles is topmost in his 2020 developmental agenda while he and his fellow elite oppressors sit beside female passengers when boarding flights within and outside the country.

Now, this is a State with one of the highest rates of out of school children, infant mortality and unemployment in Nigeria and rather than looking for innovative ways in addressing these multiple challenges in 2020 so as to make life better for the people of Kano State, has made the new policy on tricycle the developmental focus of his administration while forgetting that the metropolitan State of Kano just like Lagos in the South is home to people of all ethnic and religious groups and policies should be made with consideration for our heterogenous nature.

In a nation where we are too divided to galvanize ourselves towards a common vision, the need to recaliberate through RESTRUCTURING may become inevitable as any investment in infrastructure will be ultimately destroyed on account of religious intolerance as it is the case with the north east where billions of naira are today being expended for reconstruction to no avail because development will continue to be a mirage in the absence of peace. We either restructure or remain underdeveloped as the present structure is unsustainable.

That said, i strongly condemn the killings of 11 Christians by a demonic group known as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and call on all Nigerians irrespective their faith to do same. It’s time to unite like never before against terrorism. I also demand that LEAH SHARIBU and other religious prisoners in the captivity of Boko Haram should be unconditionally released in obedience to the true teachings of prophet Mohammad on peace and tolerance.

The government should stop living in self denial, accept responsibility of failure in providing security and rejig the country’s security architecture so that it can be more responsive in addressing our security challenges. The government must do everything by all means necessary to stop religious persecution and free all religious prisoners in captivity. Above all, the time to RESTRUCTURE is now!

Comr. Egbeola Olawale Martins
National Publicity Secretary
Young Progressives Party
nps@ypp.ng

The APC led government should learn to be humble in defeat because when tyranny is in conflict with the rule of law, the latter will always prevail. Nigeria is a republic and not an empire that the whole nation will bow to the whims and caprices of an individual or a group of individuals known as the cabal.

It was quite visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that both local and international pressure led to the release of Sowore and Dasuki respectively and let it be made clear that i may not share the same ideology with Sowore, neither am i in support of Dasuki if indeed there are incontrovertible evidence that he stole from our common wealth but when the judiciary, which is an equal arm of government with the statutory mandate to interpret the law gives an order, the executive is bound to obey whether it’s in their favour or not as any action to the contrary is the definition of totalitarianism and not democracy.

The compassion you never had when the court ordered that the duo be released coupled with clamour by people of good conscience that the rule of law must be followed cannot suddenly develop overnight after Deji Adeyanju was attacked during a peaceful protest by the pro-government protesters coupled with the letter that was written and signed by four U.S Senators and two members of the house demanding the release of Sowore and the need for the rule of law to be followed by the GMB led government. Could it be a coincidence that a witch cried yesterday and a baby died today? The answer definitely is no. We saw this coming and it was never a matter of whether Sowore and other political prisoners will be released but when.

Arrogance and ignorance have always been the hallmark of the APC government, which is completely bereft of the understanding of the tenets of democracy and who like their leader, an unrepentant dictator does not understand the concept of the rule of law or how else do you describe this ill-conceived statement coming from a so called Attorney General and Minister of Justice who should know better. Rather than showing remorse and apologize to Nigerians for the brazen display of executive rascality and lawlessness, they are further mocking our intelligence by making us to believe they acted based on conscience. Are you kidding me?

The APC cannot give what it doesn’t have. As far as i am concerned, you can only show compassion when you have conscience and the APC government sold their conscience to the devil the very day it denied all promises made to us during their campaigns in 2015 such as restructuring the country, provision of electricity in 6 months, creation of 3 million jobs per annum, adequate protection of lives and property, making N1 to equal $1, stop the payment of petroleum subsidy and make the pump price of petrol N45 per litre.

Conclusively, it’s time for Nigerians to be more vigilant like never before as the struggle for the very soul of the nation is ongoing and the only way the masses can win this battle is through eternal vigilance and mass action against the enemies of Nigeria in government who are delusioned to think they love this nation more than all of us and that all actions taken including those not in the interest of the nation should not be subjected to scrutiny.

Comr. Egbeola Olawale Martins
National Publicity Secretary
Young Progressives Party
www.ypp.ng; nps@ypp.ng

July 17, 2019.

One Death Too Many: President Muhammadu Buhari Should Rise Above the Endless Rhetoric of Bringing Perpetrators to Book.

The leadership of the Young Progressives Party commiserate with the leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti on the death of his daughter who was gruesomely murdered few days back by suspected killer herdsmen in Ore road on her way to Lagos. May God in his infinite mercies grant the entire Fasoranti family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.

The heartless killing of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin and thousands before her has become one too many and there will not be an end in sight to this criminality around the country except the government of President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledge the stark reality that insecurity in the country is far worse than he is made to believe by his team of security advisers.

The President should know that over thirty thousand Nigerians have either been killed, maimed, raped or kidnapped for ransom by suspected bandits, Fulani herdsmen or boko haram terrorists in the last four years in places like Taraba, Kaduna, Plateau, Zamfara, Katsina, Benue and most recently in almost all the States in the Southwest.

In addition, there are currently over two million internally displaced persons in the country as a result of conflicts, terrorism and banditry. These figures put together points to only one thing that Nigeria is fast becoming a failed State and for any government to think otherwise is living in denial and an act of great disservice to the nation.

It is in lieu of the various security challenges facing the nation that we recommend the following to the President Muhammadu Buhari led government in order to immediately halt the declining state of insecurity and restore back the confidence of Nigerians:

1. The President should first acknowledge the seriousness of the security challenges presently confronting the nation by looking beyond the advice of unpatriotic sycophants around him.
2. A complete rejig of the current security architecture starting with the sacking of the current service chiefs who are already overwhelmed and the appointment of new ones that will reflect our heterogeneous nature without compromising competence.
3. Convoke an all-inclusive and non-partisan National Conference with the core mandate of discussing and recommending an holistic restructuring model potent enough to address our socio-economic and political challenges rather than the narrow call by the Senate for a National Security Summit. The current political structure is unsustainable and partly responsible for our security challenges and covening a National Security Summit without addressing the current political structure will amount to efforts in futility in the long run.
4. The Nigerian Police should immediately commence community policing with massive investment in intelligence gathering and forging strong synergy with communities in order to expose criminal elements in these communities.
5. The government should rise above the endless rhetoric of bringing perpetrators of these killings to book and start matching words with actions by embarking on an aggressive manhunt, arrest and prosecution of all criminal elements including their sponsors who have been responsible for unleashing terror in different parts of the country in the last four years. The absence of justice will only continue to embolden perpetrators, increase suspicion and eventually result to anarchy.

Conclusively, while we agree with President Muhammadu Buhari that every country has security challenges, he should also be reminded that Nigeria is not every country nor at war and neither should this perception be a license for insecurity in Nigeria to be handled with kid gloves.

Signed:
Comrade Egbeola Wale Martins
National Publicity Secretary.

CONTINUOUS REJECTION OF THE 2018 AMENDED ELECTORAL BILL: AN ATTEMPT BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI TO FRAUDULENTLY BENEFIT FROM A FLAWED ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN 2019.