Some prominent Nigerians announced the formation of a new political party, Rescue Nigeria Project.
According to them, the new party, described as a project, will give Nigerians an alternative platform to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Founders of RNP include former governor of Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfatai; renowned economist, Professor Pat Utomi; a former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran and a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke,
Others include Senator Lee Maeba: Usman Bugaje; a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega; Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo; Yomi Awoniyi; Rose Idi Danladi and Sadiq Gombe.
The leaders of the RNP identified failure of leadership as the main factor behind the problems affecting the nation, Vanguard reports.
Speaking on Tuesday, Abdulfatai lamented the state of the nation, noting that the high level of nepotism and lack of inclusiveness has given rise to agitations by different ethnic groups.
According to the former governor, in 2015, Nigerians embraced change, adding that today, “that change appears to be what we didn’t expect, as insecurity has taken over the nation.”
He said, “It is based on this that we decided to set up this Rescue Nigeria Project. We want to salvage this country and see how we can fix the mess. We want to set a template and key criteria leaders must have before they can attain any political position.
“Despite the great opportunities of the past, Nigeria has failed to live up to the dreams of its founding fathers and the hopes of successive generations of its citizens.
“Perhaps, at no other time have these failings become more apparent than in the past decade or so.
“In 2015, Nigerians overwhelmingly embraced the promise of change. These hopes have not only been dashed, but they have arguably turned out to be the worst political statements ever to be made in this country. Nigeria today appears set to fulfil all the prophesies of doom.”
He further noted that “Unprecedented nepotism and political exclusion have left the country more divided than ever as evident in the various separatists’ agitation that is threatening the corporate existence of the country itself.”
Also speaking, Adeniran noted that there is a disaster at hand, hence the move to rescue the nation.
He said: “You only rescue when there is disaster and when you fail to rescue during a disaster, it is more dangerous.
“We have a disaster in our hands and we need to rescue the country. We need to look back and see how we get here. We know where Nigeria was before now. We know the task is not going to be easy, but we have to determine how to rescue the nation.”
In his opening remarks, the RNP national coordinator, Usman Bugaje, explained that the Rescue Nigeria Project was founded on the premise that the challenges bedevilling the country were largely derived from poor leadership.
Bugaje, taking a swipe at the President the Muhammadu Buhari-led government, said, “When you reduce the problems of this country to what they are, ultimately, it all comes to leadership.
“We have been unable to exit the leadership conundrum precisely because the leadership recruitment mechanism in our political parties is so flawed that, except for accidents, they are incapable of producing competent leaders with the requisite knowledge, discipline and commitment to make a difference. We are living with, or better still, groaning under the consequences of this folly.
“What this means is that any attempt to rescue this country from its troubles must first rescue it from the current leadership recruitment mechanism that seems to leverage on money and connection or ethnic sentiments and no premium on knowledge or competence.
“The challenge is how to introduce a set of criteria or better still re-calibrate the recruitment mechanism in our political parties to prioritize knowledge, competence and character. The deepening crises in the political parties are all the more reason this re-calibration is necessary.
“We must change the conversation about leadership. The first thing we should want to know about our President is not which part of the country he or she comes from, rather how competent is he or she? What is the content of his policy document? What is his team made up of?
“We also seek to ensure a seismic shift from the politics of big men to the politics of big ideas. The empty politics of big men have not taken us anywhere but down the drain. We simply can’t continue this way.”
