Kunle Okunola, a former chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and candidate of the party for Ikeja Constituency 1 House of Representatives seat, is the convener of the proposed new political party, Africa Reformation Party (ARP). In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on efforts to set up the new party, why the proposed party is different and how it intends to unseat the leading parties in the country. Excerpts:
Why are you forming Africa Reformation Party?
We are the non-negotiable people who are seeking to register a political party known as the Africa Reformation Party. It is a new dawn in Nigeria politics; it is due to the fact that all the existing political parties are based on corruption, through the sale of their nomination form. But our political party wants to offer nomination form free of charge to see the difference if this free form would make elected public officials do better and be more accountable to the public.
How prepared is your association to unseat the ruling party if registered?
Today’s event is supposed to be a pointer to the whole world that we are ready. We have a national coordinator of our movement, which is giving birth to the national officers of our proposed political party; that is why we are spread all over Nigeria.
Today, the Northern representative comes from three regions in the North, which are North Central, North East and North West. While in the South, there are people coming from Bauchi and Adamawa to this place to discuss the future and progress of Nigeria.
It is not about personal effort and money, if not for Nigeria and personal sacrifice we would not do this in vain. We were the first group that called on President Bola Tinubu to contest in the 2023 general election and here he is. Some people told us we are working for Tinubu, but it is not true, if truly we are the first people that saw Tinubu’s vision we have seen another vision. Behold we see what is happening, but rather than me to pitch tent with any party I said let us form a party to correct the wrongs by ourselves.
We decided to start a political party because we have met the conditions to form a new party.
We are present in 24 states out of the 36 states, we have office in Abuja too and we have secretariats in all the states of the country that is what the constitution says. We have the right to form a political party.
We are forming a new political party ahead of 2027, if anybody joins the existing political party, it is a waste of time because the existing political parties are a distraction and in shambles.
You all remember when Peter Obi joined the Labour Party, the same party is in crisis now, when Kwankwaso joined NNPP they won only Kano and that is why today, some members suspended him and that is why we say; Nigeria is a joke.
We have never been in political office and we are not corrupt, we have not tasted political office and we want to work for Nigeria, which is why we think and reason for Nigeria.
I want to say that once I am elected the president of Nigeria, I would probe the political leaders of Nigeria from 1960 till date for delegating our nation.
I would not go back on that, but I would look for money to develop this country, because I was not favored by any leader of yesterday to be in power.
What confidence do you have that INEC would register your proposed part?
I don’t have anything more than Nigeria, unity is what we want, the only thing missing in Nigeria is good leadership; the only thing that wants to talk about leaders are those who have gathered the people of Nigeria together to talk about the leaders of all works of life together to rescue Nigeria.
If INEC is doing what they like, we would occupy their office. We want Nigeria to call them out; why have they failed to register us and why have they failed to register new political parties.
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But INEC said they deregistered some parties because they failed to meet up?
The means would justify the end. I can tell you we have been on this for a long time, most of the political parties are stooge of the existing major parties and they only register them and put them down. I can tell you that they are dealers who collect money from unsuspecting members of the public who want to contest on these platforms. But we are not forming a political party because we want to take money, we are not forming a party because we want to take over Nigeria and reform the country. We want to change the leadership crisis in the country. That is why you would see people from all walks of life, people from all over the country.
But we are asking; why is INEC not registering others? If you know that the people you registered failed, why are you not registering others?
They should answer that. You can’t say because there are people living in Nigeria, then you kill all pregnant women that no new baby should be born. Registering political parties is like a new generation, it is continuous.
Do you have members across Nigeria and the capacity?
The requirement to form a party is what we have met now; after being registered we would start mobilisation from city and state to state. We hope to win from seat to seat and that is why INEC is stopping us from coming on board. I can tell you that INEC is stopping us from achieving, because we have spread as a national party. I can tell you that APC is not a national party. PDP was registered by the military government and we are the only movement that is national in outlook. I mean truly a national party. Our constitution says, we would remain a movement before turning into a political party which is what we are doing.
How is the ARM different from PDP or APC?
We want to correct the wrongs of the past by bringing on board the physically challenged Nigerians that were neglected before.
We have a credible manifesto, for instance; we are giving our royal fathers constitutional roles, so that they would not be hunted, left behind and play a key role in governance.
Through power rotation we believe there would be patriotism towards salvaging Nigeria and we cannot allow anybody to sell what belongs to everybody for themselves only. We have credible people in Nigeria who want the opportunity to rule at different levels in the country.
Popular people who have the capacity and who are not corrupt, this party would sponsor their election and is for INEC to understand that; why would you be registering a party for one million and such a party is collecting ten million naira for nomination fees and they are not sanctioned. We have turned Nigeria into a corrupt space and that is what we want to change.
Why don’t you join any existing party instead, considering the rigour of forming a new party?
The existing political parties are there just to cash in from Nigerians who want to contest elections by introducing the delegate system; they would bring their girlfriends to vote in primary election and congress. This is a cancerous system and nobody is working to change that. They are mere distractions for 2027.
Exiting party hijack by corrupt people, these people have finished their tenure in elected positions and come to manage political parties. Look at some of the existing political parties in the country; their leaders are past senators, governors etc. for us those are the people we want to probe.
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