…Warn against imposition, discrimination of members, others
Ahead of 2027 general elections, major stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Coalition in Kaduna state have called on Senator David Mark-led national leadership to protect them from act of intolerance, discrimination and lawlessness from certain individuals in the state.
The Coalition stakeholders include members of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and Labour Party, (LP).
Also in Forum are the State Leaders of the African Democratic Party (ADC) led by Ahmed Tijjani Mustapha, Patrick Didam and Ibrahim Suleiman.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Kaduna, the Forum said their position is also endorsed by the National Chairman of Labour Party , Sen. Nenadi Usman, 2023 Vice Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Sen. Datti Baba Ahmed, and Shu’aibu Idris Mikati, who sent representatives to the media briefing.
According to the press statement they all jointly signed, the Coalition and ADC must be oriented to produce elected leaders whose character is different.
“As stakeholders in Kaduna state, we want to appeal for the protection of the national leadership to prevent a repeat of another political disappointment in the name of campaign to rescue Nigerian democracy.
“We want to appeal to all opposition political leaders in Kaduna State aspiring to join the Coalition and register as members of the ADC to have a higher tolerance level in order to meet the requirement of qualifying to serve as political leaders capable of rescuing democracy.
“When political leaders are intolerant, what comes out of them will be realities such as being discriminatory, self-serving and lawless. Where this is allowed to be the case, the default mindset of such a political leader will be imposition and winning elections through rigging. These are dominantly the character of elected leaders today, which the coalition and ADC wants to change.
“We appeal to all citizens aspiring to join the Coalition and ADC from all the 23 Local Governments to locate all the membership registration points and register when the time is announced. As stakeholders, we will work hard, including engaging leaders of the Coalition and ADC at all levels to create a strong political equal opportunity platform that would guarantee the unity of citizens in Kaduna State.
“As stakeholders, we are committed to ensuring that the objective of rescuing Nigerian democracy and moving the nation forward is achieved. May God bless the Coalition and ADC and crown Nigerians with success in producing good leaders that can work selflessly to meet public expectations”.
On why all ADC members and leaders my change their orientation, the stakeholdears said: “it is important we define the orientation of the Coalition and how it should function in Kaduna State for it to guarantee that political activities will promote unity of citizens based on mutual respect.
“Coming from the recent past, whereby citizens were mobilised to change government, but elected leaders ended up creating more damage, we are wary about producing another assemblage of politicians whose main objective is limited to grabbing power covered by some grandiose promises that only aimed to mobilise the anger and frustrations of citizens to win elections.
“Avoiding a repeat of such experiences will require that decisive steps are taken from the onset to make the Coalition and ADC different. The first thing that must be different is that the Coalition and ADC in Kaduna State must not be reduced to operating in the mode of being controlled by a godfather where one leader monopolises the process of decision making and ends up imposing State party leaders and when it is time for election, single handedly appoints delegates and impose candidates.
“The new orientation we want is that all stakeholders must be recognised and involved in all decision making and majority opinion should be respected and accepted as the decisions of the party through application of known and acceptable democratic methods as enshrined in the party’s constitution.
“On no account should anyone use the fraudulent practice of imposing a so-called consensus to trample on internal democracy within the Coalition and ADC. Achieving the new orientation will require that meetings be held, and members are allowed to freely express themselves, including the right to disagree with political leaders and offering better alternatives”.
