Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has expressed readiness to make amends for his part in the emergence of Buhari as President in 2015 presidential election.
Jega who along some prominent leaders in the country, recently formed a new party known as Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP), said that Nigeria cannot continue to allow bad people to govern or misgovern them anymore.
While speaking in Abuja, he said the country needs serious political cleansing which would also require every Nigerian to not repeat past mistakes.
“I believe that all Nigerians can no longer sit on the fence as everybody needs to contribute to the cleansing of politics in Nigeria. There should be no fence-sitters; our future is at stake. We cannot allow bad people to continue to govern us or misgovern us and continue to wreck our country and its future,” he said.
He said every Nigerian deserves a better life and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that. He advised that if it becomes clear that leaders in the country are unable to improve the lives of the people, they have no reason to be in power.
He said it was unfortunate that leaders’ nonchalant attitude to the masses woes thrive in Nigeria, ‘‘whereas these are what other nations have been fighting to erase from their system. If a leader fails, it is up to the public to ensure that they vote them out”.
A former governor of Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfatai, who is among those who formed the new party, 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.”