By Dickson Omobola
Ahead of the genereal elections, the Platform for Liberty and Democracy, PLIDE, weekend, urged Nigerians to shun sentiment when voting for their leaders, saying excellent character, competence, commitment, compassion and courage are the five attributes that they should look out for in each candidate.
PLIDE also said Nigeria needs transformational leaders who would rescue the country from non-state actors and unite all the ethnic groups, adding that tribal loyalty is one of the reasons that Nigeria has failed to progress.
The guest speaker, Mr Uzodinma Enelamah, who spoke on the theme: ‘Re-awakening a Great Nigeria: A Pathway Forward’, at their official launch in Lagos, said: “The foundation of Nigeria as a nation is poor governance by incompetent and corrupt political leaders who we keep allowing to win elections.
“They manipulate and divide us along tribal, religious and ethnic fault lines. This tribal politics didn’t start today. Some historians trace it to the events in the parliamentary elections that happened in 1951.
“Since that time, we have been struggling for dominance and supremacy rather than coming together to build a nation that works for the good of everyone.”
On his part, the convener, Mr Feyi Owoseni, said, among others, PLIDE was created to tell the stories of the nation’s heroes past.
His words: “In PLIDE, our strategy is very simple, we have said to our members that we do not want them to start contesting for a seat in the senate or contest for the presidency, rather they should go to their housing association, various professional bodies and contest.
“Let’s plant out members in all these places because many tend to look at the centre where the decisions are being made. Our copyrighted cliché is ‘minimum irreducible principles.’ So, in PLIDE, we try to teach that, among others, when the opportunity comes to steal or to rig elections, a member must remember these words.”
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