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From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), yesterday, said it has lost faith in the country’s electoral system.
It said the process was increasingly constituting a clog in the wheel of national peace and unity.
ADF noted that apart from being openly brutal, undemocratic and monetised, the electoral process has been skewed in favour of unpopular candidates with no vision to tackle the myriad challenges confronting the nation.
Its President, Uzodinma Nwala, stated this at a reception organised in honour of former Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Sam Ohuabunwa, in Enugu.
“This is a special moment for us, members of ADF, as we welcome one of our most remarkable leaders, Ohuabunwa, who has just returned to us after a brutal encounter with the undemocratic mode of selection of candidates for the presidency of Nigeria.
“Right from the beginning of the current electoral process, even before and in fact, till tomorrow, the ADF never hid its lack of faith in the highly monitised and corrupt electoral system in Nigeria.
“What Ohuabnunwa has undergone is a brutal experience with the Nigerian electoral system, which ADF has consistently referred to as the game only vampires can play.
“Ohuabunwa has been with us for several years and we know him as one of the most priceless candidates of any political party in the Nigerian political system. He and people like Peter Obi, are a few of the gems in the Nigerian politics. They remind us of the late Aminu Kano, Shehu Yar’Adua and several other nationalists who have been sounding echoes, urging us to abandon the old unpatriotic order of greed and self-centredness if we must develop the needed spirit of harmonious togetherness and progress.
“The greatest threat to national cohesion and peace in Nigeria today is the political leadership that is selfish and unpatriotic. In addition and in particular, the undemocratic mode of selection of political leaders in our party primaries is the greatest threat to national and unity.
“Indeed, the mode of selection of party candidates during primaries is highly monetised. This is why leadership selection in Nigeria favours the highest bidder and often, this is certainly the men who have stolen most from the national treasury.”
Ohuabunwa said the occasion rekindled his burning desire to replicate the Igbo entrepreneurial attitude in the Nigeria system, saying he was not oblivious that Nigerians watched keenly as events unfolded before, during and after the presidential elections.
While thanking the ADF for the honour, he observed that the Igbo were misconstrued, mis-characterised and misunderstood in the country, adding taht the people of the South East are highly broad-minded, accommodating and fair play seekers.
“As I often say, the Igbo man in Nigeria is not well-represented. He’s largely mis-characterised, misunderstood and mis-profiled. And one of my desires is if I have an opportunity, I will show the difference. The little places I have held sway either as chief executive officer of Pfizer or Chairman of Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria or Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, I tried to show the best of what a Nigerian of Igbo extraction can be.
“That, first we are broad-minded, we are entrepreneurial, we seek justice, equity and fairly. We are a people who move on in life in spite of challenges and we are also interested in others moving on too.
“We are not lazy; we are not laid-back; we are not fraudulent and we are not mischievous and we are not mercantilist. But we have a sense of justice and equity; we don’t like to beg.”
