THESHIELD Garkuwa
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As delivered by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman to my appointment as Director General of the African Democratic Congress, ADC campaign on 6, August, 2022
One of the most important aspects of the coming round of fresh elections in Nigeria is the possibility of deciding by popular vote, on the person who will lead the country through and out of its current limitations around security and the economy.
We are by now all aware of a resounding national clamour for a definite generational transfer of power whose immediate trigger is the serial misgovernance of a clearly bankrupt elite, contrived on the back of the most gratitious insults to justice and fairness, wrapped in the crude cover of crass political opportunism and breathtaking ineptitude.
The process that the African Democratic Congress, ADC concluded on Saturday, August 6th, 2022 therefore represents a celebration, more than a competition, for the laying of the foundation of the collapse of that citadel of poor governance, indifference, insensitivity and unprecedented plunder that characterized the previous administrations of an exploiter class that has monopolized the total available activity in our country since independence.
The process is also about the possibility of mobilizing the most populous and greatest Nigerian asset, its youth, to step up in a manner never seen in our political history, to close the unnecessary ethnic and religious divides and work to pull down the pillars of fascism erected by those whose greed for personal wealth and personal ambition remained tied to the continuation of decay and destruction of a nation and a people.
It is about the possibility of Nigerian Muslims and Christians, the North and the South closing the religious and regional divides, awakened by the burden of the shared legacy of the crumbling old order in the general and pervasive insecurity being experienced across the land, and the deteriorating standards of living as politicians fleeced the poor of resources to develop.
It is as well about the possibility of presenting an alternative for the poor, the young, deprived and depressed students of higher institutions and women to use in rejecting the tradition of lining up to receive handouts to abandon their future, and choose instead, to install a leadership that will make them more secure and provide their children with a productive future in 2023.
The African Democratic Congress ADC, I dare say, is today the only alternative political party that offers the window for Nigerians to look to a future without constant threats; a future in which our young will get good education, acquire skills and get jobs; in which corruption will be arrested, contained and eliminated.
The ADC offers the opportunity for Nigerians to elect visionary leaders under whom we’ll celebrate an end of poor governance; to generations of leadership that run away from threats, and to leaders who remembere the people only when they need voters.
In 2023, Nigerian voters should therefore trust the ADC to lead our nation through and out of its limitations, into a future in which we will live secure lives and pursue livelihoods in a united Nigeria whose resources will be protected by leaders.
Accordingly, the ADC stands out as the only party that holds much promise for strengthening national unity and building up pillars of peace and security, development and human rights for the benefit of our peoples and our common home, Nigeria.
I deeply appreciate the vote of confidence that the ADC Board of Trustees, National Executive Council and leaders and elders of party have placed in me to preside over its campaigns for the 2023 elections.
I would like to congratulate the ADC Presidential candidate and the National executives and other organs of the party on their exemplary stewardship and perseverance that made it possible for the ADC to have come this far.
I want to express my special thanks to Presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, and National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu for their commitment to the development and progress of the party.
I appreciate the very generous expressions of support and confidence from my colleagues in the Coalition of Northern Groups CNG and other groups and associations in my beloved region of the North and from every region of the country.
Here, I wish to reiterate my commitment to acting as an impartial, objective and open facilitator of the ADC global campaigns. As many of those here know, in addition to being an activist politician, I am also a writer. As such, I am fully aware that no view is useful if we do not see, and no words have value if we do not listen.
I will be ready to listen to all public opinions and to all critical components of the ADC structure and to work for them and with them.
I want to assure all that I will promote every action within my reach so that the ADC can play a central role in advancing towards the fulfilment of the sustainable unity, peace, security and development that has eluded Nigeria and Nigerians for much too long.
Thank you.
