Leadership (Abuja)
1 October 2008
The Action Congress (AC) has called for sober reflections and prayers on the occasion of Nigeria's 48th independence anniversary.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Nigerians should use the opportunity offered by the occasion to reflect on the state of the nation.
It said while countries that gained independence about the same time as Nigeria had leapfrogged into the future or are on their way there, Nigeria seemed to have put its development gear in perpetual reverse, to such an extent that many have described the country as a 'toddler' at 48!
"Unfortunately, there are no signs of a quick turnaround in the country's fortunes, as one inept leadership after another have ensured that the country and its long-suffering people remain stuck in the quicksand of poverty
"Thanks to mediocre and selfish leadership, the country is today ranked among the poorest, using all development indices, and among the most corrupt, not minding some recent token jump in the latest rankings of the Transparency International.
"The state of infrastructure is nothing to write home about; millions of able-bodied citizens are either under-employed or unemployed", AC said. "Disenchanted youths are risking all, including trekking through the Sahara desert and sailing on dinghy boats, to escape glaring hopelessness. "These are just a few of the legacies of years of misrule by elected and unelected leaders of our country."
The party also urged Nigerians to pray to God to save the country from a rampaging ruling class, whose only interest is to engage in primitive acquisition of obscene wealth at the expense of the toiling masses.
But it said despite the seeming hopelessness, its believes in the ability of Nigerians, ever creative and illustrious, to help reshape the country's future remains unshaken.
It said, however, that Nigerians must seize the initiative by saying 'no' to corrupt and ineffective leadership and committing to hard work to help lift the country by the bootstrap.
"Heaven helps those who help themselves. That means Nigerians, in addition to praying for divine intervention, must move today to chart a better path for the country for the sake of generations yet to come," it added.
"A good starting point is for them to use the best weapon at their disposal: their vote! Nigerians must do everything within the law to stop vote rigging, which has become the means to impose unelected crooks masquerading as leaders on the country at all levels of governance.
"Stopping vote rigging means the people's votes during elections will count, thus putting it in their hands to elect the leaders of their choice.
"That is the absolute minimum if this democracy must translate to better lives for our people; if we must stand tall in the comity of nations and if we want to really celebrate our independence anniversaries in style and jettison the perpetual 'low key' celebrations.
"For now, we can continue to delude ourselves by saying that the country's survival as one indivisible nation alone is enough cause for celebration. But the truth is that survival itself, as worthy of celebration as it may seem, means nothing if the quality of life remains the way it is today in our nation," AC said.
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