CITIZENS COMPASS– African Action Congress (AAC) on Tuesday, responded to the comment of a former gubernatorial candidate, Funsho Doherty, about the political ambition of human rights activist and Convener of Revolution Now, Omowole Sowore.
The former in an interview on a podcast, had said the latter has a good intention but was declaring his political ambition under a wrong platform.
AAC responded to Doherty’s comment via a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Femi Adeyeye.
The statement reads, “The attention of our party leadership has been drawn to an interview granted by one Mr Funsho Doherty, former Lagos State governorship candidate, wherein he described our presidential candidate, Mr Sowore as a man with good intentions who is running on a wrong platform.
“While we appreciate Mr Funsho’s assessment of our leader, as a man with good intentions, we consider his insinuation that the AAC is a wrong “platform” for well-intentioned Nigerians as embarrassing.
“His views are well respected and that’s why we have resorted to giving some education to this right-wing conservative element who has also failed to learn from history.
“The first port of call is to set the records straight especially on how we understand political parties and their use in any society.
Unlike Funsho, we believe that political parties are not mere “platforms” or special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for grabbing power or to put it mildly, “winning”elections.
“We strongly believe that political parties are the coming together of like-minds, ideological driven individuals who believe in a particular model of how society should be run. To put it simply, political parties are organizations of people driven by ideological convictions seeking political power and not mere platforms for winning elections, even if it means rigging,sponsoring thugs, buying votes, bribing judges, manipulating the system or kissing asses of godfathers, as in the case of many other political parties especially the APC and Funsho’s new “platform”- the PDP.
“It is this miseducation about what political parties represent, that has informed the statement made by Mr Funsho.
“We know that he was in the ADC as at the last election. In his quest for the “right platform”, he has now moved to the PDP. We are not soothsayers but we can predict that when he’s defeated in the PDP, he will move to APC and the cycle to find the “right platform” continues. He has adventedly his “Peter Obi” journey on a fast lane.
“People who jump from party to party are gerrymanderers and carpetbaggers too lazy or too afraid to stand and build the right platforms to liberate society.
“Our party has stood its ground on honesty and discipline since 2019 when it was created and has withstood several hijack, state-sponsored persecution and attempts to turn it into an SPV. We did not mind the expelling 5 governorship candidates in an election season for gross misconduct. This is the high standard of discipline we promise to bring when we form government.
“Ours is not a party with Wike; where one man is bigger than the leadership of Funsho’s party.
“We expect that a man like Funsho Doherty should know that ideologies are what guide political party participation even in more advanced democracies. A Republican can not overnight, in the same manner Funsho joined PDP, become a Democrat. Even in some African countries, loyalty to the principles of party still hold, but it’s only here anyhowness seems to be the norm. Sincerely, people like Funsho are merely leveraging on the mass ignorance the rulers of Nigeria has caused in our society- a menace the AAC was established to fix.
“Another angle to it is to question the intentions of getting power by “all means”. We believe that it’s not just about getting power. The big question is what will you do with power when you get it?
Unlike Funsho, we believe that the means is as important as the end.
“What exactly is right about the PDP and APC? The same parties that have ruined Nigeria and Nigerians. By 2027, if not stopped, APC would be on the way to complete its own 16 years of ruin, just like its twin, the PDP. Are these “right platforms” giving Nigerians the right life and livelihood? Are the political, economic and social rights of Nigerians protected by these “right platforms”?
We urge Mr Funsho to answer these questions.
“Recent history and evidence have also shown us that the quest for “right platforms” has not benefited the people. Buhari contested 3 times before he met the “right platform” in 2014- the APC.
“Today, can Nigerians look back and bless the day the “good-intentioned” Buhari entered the “right platform” to grab power?
“We want to educate Funsho that it is only proper for well-intentioned people to join well-intentioned parties to seek political power, and not parties with the likes of Bode George. It’s an aberration to call such a party the “right platform”.
“We hope those who share his views understand that the goal is not to grab power by all means. It is to fix Nigeria by all means. We wish him well in his quest till we meet at the polls.”
