FOR THE RECORDS
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY PROFESSOR OBIORA OKONKWO, OFR ON HIS APPOINTMENT AS ANAMBRA STATE DIRECTOR OF THE ATIKU-OKOWA PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP) PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COUNCIL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE FOR THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Protocols.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are probably aware, the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council of our great party- the PDP, announced me as the Director of its operations in Anambra State for the 2023 general elections. I am very humbled and deeply honoured by this appointment and thank the presidential flagbearers of our great party for the trust reposed in me. In partnership with our teeming supporters across Anambra State and Nigeria at large, we pledge our commitment to the ticket and promise to deliver a resounding victory come February 2023.
A key essence of democratic governance, despite its many challenges, is that periodically- in our own case, every four years- it guarantees citizens the right to choose their leaders by either affirming the party in power or looking elsewhere. 2023 has once again presented us with this great democratic opportunity which we must not take lightly.
And this opportunity broadly begs the question- are we better off today as a country than we were a little over 7 years ago when the current APC government took over from the PDP? The answer for anyone who has either lived in Nigeria or followed developments in our dear country during the period in question is a resounding no. If anything, Nigeria is at a very dire, almost existential moment in its history, such that even the most respected analysts- local and global- now routinely categorize her as either a failed state or a failing/fragile state.
As we are fully aware, Nigeria is bedeviled by such challenges as chronic unemployment and underemployment; persistent energy crisis; widespread corruption; massive infrastructural decay; pervasive insecurity, among many others that have stagnated economic growth adding substantially to youth joblessness across the country. The rapid deterioration of insecurity in Nigeria is such that human life has become so cheap evoking the dreaded Hobbesian state of nature where life was ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.
These challenges together led to the second wave of the EndSARS protests in October 2020 when restive youths erupted across the country in street demonstrations with police violence as the primary trigger. In response to the protests, I wrote a widely published opinion article titled Endsars Protests, Human Security and Good Governance in Nigeria in which I described the protests as a desperate cry for help by Nigerian youths which must be heeded with a paradigm shift in our political governance culture. As I reflected in the article, the ENDSARS protest is an inflection point in our nation’s history that calls for deep introspection to address our myriad developmental challenges of which youth unemployment is a key part. And these require swift, yet well-thought-out, comprehensive, and integrated policies on poverty eradication; not a disparate patchwork of stop-gap measures across agencies that are not only grossly inadequate but are also not effectively coordinated and sometimes lacking in transparency. The root problems that engendered the ENDSARS protests are deep and structural and must be treated as such for to do otherwise is to apply band-aids to a festering sore, which literally is what we have been doing all these while. To paraphrase James Freeman Clarke, Nigeria’s political class should start thinking more about the next generation (our teeming but restive youths) and not the next election, as is all too often the case.
Sadly, not much has been done in the intervening two years to address these problems that engendered the EndSars protests leaving us yet again at the crossroads as the 2023 general elections approach. Nigeria is heading in the wrong direction and requires immediate course correction which the Atiku-Okowa ticket represents.
Given the fault lines and divisions that have been exacerbated in the past 7 years, Nigeria needs a towering, patriotic, and detribalized statesman to bring the country together for as Jesus Christ admonished us in Matthew 12:25: Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. There is no gainsaying that national unity is fundamental to development.
And considering the enormity of our economic and developmental challenges, particularly the recession witnessed in the past 7 years in that regard, Nigeria needs a tested technocrat and experienced administrator to get the country back on track for economic growth. Today, most Nigerians crave the standard of living they enjoyed under successive PDP administrations between 1999- 2015; a quality of life they probably took for granted.
The Atiku-Okowa ticket more than any other in the upcoming 2023 presidential election best embody these aspirations. Since picking the party’s ticket, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has made tackling poverty and insecurity the cornerstone of his government, should he win the election. According to him, “When PDP came to power in 1999, we met Nigeria in a state of poverty, insecurity, hunger, and lack of education. We lifted Nigeria from the bottom to the top. We became the biggest economy in Africa, we had peace, and we progressed. But when Nigerians said they wanted change, they voted for change in 2015. What we have seen is poverty, insecurity, lack of jobs, and disunity. Our children are no longer going to school. Is that what we want to continue? So, today, we have inaugurated the flag off of our campaign to rescue Nigeria. To rescue Nigeria from hunger, to rescue Nigeria from poverty, and also to bring back the unity that we require in this country.
A key panacea to Nigeria’s developmental challenges is Restructuring which, will among other things gives a sense of belonging to the federating units, mainstream equity, and fairness in national governance and reduce distrust among Nigerians. It is on record that the PDP candidate is one of the strongest proponents of a truly federal system of government in Nigeria which aligns with the interests of the southeast region. A restructured Nigeria along with state police will also help address our security challenges which as the first order of government and at the barest minimum should be the protection of lives and property.
Let me end this brief speech by reiterating our readiness for the presidential election and our commitment to deliver Anambra State and Nigeria for the Atiku-Okowa ticket. In pursuit of this goal, my team and I will awaken the PDP spirit, galvanize old members of the party, bring in new members; take our inclusive and strictly issue-based campaign to every voter, ward, and local government area of Anambra State spreading the rescue gospel encapsulated in the 5-point agenda of the Atiku-Okowa manifesto.
The 2023 election is about the future of Nigeria, especially her teeming youths who are the primary motivation for the Atiku-Okowa quest for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
With Atiku- a wealth creator, technocrat, statesman, administrator, patriot, and bridge-builder- at the helm, things will quickly turn around and Nigeria will meet its immense promise. He did it before as a key player in the PDP administration that reformed our institutions, paid off our debts, and created the largest economy in Africa. The future beckons! #WewantPDPback
Thanks for listening.
Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, OFR
