SOME of the 21 newly-registered political parties have taken a swipe at the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for running the country aground, describing them as one and the same.
They said the evils of corruption and impunity under the immediate past PDP administration were still very much present under the current APC administration.
National Chairman of the newly-registered National Rescue Mission NRM, Senator Saidu Dansandau, said his party has come to salvage the country.
He said: “As far as NRM is concerned, we see no difference between them. In terms of the issue of corruption, implementation of budget, prudent management of the nation’s resources for the common good of Nigerian people, we have not seen any difference between the APC and the PDP.
“Our experience from 1999 to date has unequivocally shown that we have failed, and that is a shame. Furthermore, this experience has exposed Nigerian politicians as incapable of providing good governance.
‘’It is our conviction that all the socio-economic and political crisis bedevilling this country are manifestations of bad governance.”
On his part, Protem National Chairman of Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party, ANRP, Mr Tope Fasua, said all the former political parties were no longer viable options for Nigerians to entrust with leadership.
“We are bent on upstaging the statusquo under which Nigerians have suffered untold hardship. Nigerians know that these former parties are no longer options. Nigerians will also observe us and see that we are all about fiscal responsibility.”
‘’We abhor wastage of our human, natural and financial resources and we have no sense of entitlement. We also have a sense of urgency to understand that we do not have all the time in the world to keep underachieving as a people.
‘’In short, we are a group of young and not so young men and women who are coming to do things differently and make life better for our people. We are coming with a totally new thinking that will revolutionise the Nigerian space intellectually and otherwise,” he said.
Speaking further, Fasua said ANRP was the “only party in the history of Nigeria that started with such a broad base of membership.
‘’We were over 27,000 in verifiable membership size by the time our name was announced by INEC. This is no mean feat. In spite of the delay in obtaining our go ahead, we kept working hard.
‘’We are the only party in Nigeria with total transparency around its membership numbers and that is an advantage. With this background, we have secured thousands of Nigerian minds who are taking our message to millions.
‘’They know we are not backed by any moneybag or some corrupt past politician but we are funded by normal people who are investing hard earned money in the process. In no time, we will achieve millions of members and we will not be rig-able because our members will be everywhere. We are already seen as the third force in Nigeria but we really want to be the first force.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC had on Thursday, registered 21 new political parties in addition to the country’s 46 existing political parties.
