Obasanjo’s call for Fresh Coalition: New Party, ANRP expresses readiness to meet him

Recently registered political party, Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), has responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s call for Nigerians to move towards a new political coalition that will replace the ill-performing All Progressives Congress (APC) and its discredited counterpart, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former President, in a statement, on Tuesday, described the two major parties as unworthy of leading Nigeria and called for a coalition of fresh minds to rescue the country from the grip of the two behemoths in the next general elections.

In an open letter addressed to Obasanjo, the ANRP described itself as a political orgnisation founded on openness and transparency, adding that it is at home with the periodic interventions the former President makes, via letters, to those in government.

“We wish to inform you that we formed the coalition that your letter calls for over thirteen months ago; precisely on 16 December, 2016. Considering the contents of your letter critically, we want to assure you that our party ticks all the boxes and even takes the debate for a better Nigeria farther than you have captured in your missive,” said the party.

The ANRP claimed to have been formed by Nigerians, who have not been part of the age-long rot in the country. It equally claimed to have foreseen the failures of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency pointed out by Obasanjo as far back as 2016, the reason it assembled a coalition of professionals with love for the country.

“We took lessons from some of your earlier responses to Nigerian youths around the issue of leadership. In this wise, we refused to look for “Dead Men’s Shoes”; we started constructing our own shoes no matter how uncomfortable it felt (we know we can keep improving on it). We refused the toga of “Work-Avoidance” for which our young and not-so-young people are known – and so we have been doing a lot of work since then – building consensus, organising and training our members as regards the challenges ahead and why we need to sacrifice our time, financial and other resources,” said the ANRP.

While disclosing that it has attracted about 33,000 Nigerians from wards across the country, a figure displayed on its website as evidence of its commitment to transparency. The party also boasted that it is the first and only political party in Nigeria that has done this.

“Our vision, therefore, is for deepening the practice of democracy in our dear country. We project that before the
2019 general elections, our numbers will nudge one million. ANRP is an ideas-based political party. We are driven by intense and well-organised internal debates and are Nigeria’s largest gathering of talents ever.

“We are also tech-driven, because we are very futuristic. Indeed we are known as the ‘Computer Party’. Technology also assures transparency and so we have an active website,” the party stated.
On its source of funding, the party disclosed that it is crowd-funded and has financed its activities with little contributions from all members.

“We are letting our members and Nigerians at large know that if they don’t contribute to the evolution of our politics, it will be tough to complain about outcomes. We have also seen how established politicians in Nigeria have deliberately excluded ordinary Nigerians from decision-making by relegating them to a position of crumb-eaters while corruption festers. We don’t encourage any of us to have a prima donna (know-it-all) or superstar attitude.
Instead we make every member realise their potentials. All members in ANRP are therefore equal,” explained the ANRP.

The party advertised itself as gender-sensitive and one that is not ideologically pigeon-holed. It described itself as an organisation with a belief in economic restructuring, which reduces the amount of financial resources resident at the federal level, but will enforce strict anti-corruption measures at the sub-national and local government levels towards delivering the goods for majority of Nigerians.

“We are against the usurpation of local government effectiveness by our governors and have determined that Nigeria’s growth and development can only be bottoms-up. We believe that Nigeria has to get its best brains working at the local government levels – which Nigerian leaders have totally neglected over the years. We are a party that believes strongly that Nigeria is abundant, especially in human and material resources,” the party stated.

The party, however, declared that it is not getting high on its own importance and realises that it is a tough and complex task to govern Nigeria. It refrained from excoriating President Buhari, who it said must have realised that his performance in office is sub-par through Obasanjo’s letter.