Atedo Peterside, the president and founder of Anap Foundation and convener of GoNigeria says he will join one of the registered political parties in days and he is urging other Nigerians seeking to make a difference to do the same.
Peterside told BusinessDay early Wednesday he was currently examining the profiles of the various parties and within days he will pitch his tent in one of them.
According to him, “I now believe that every adult Nigerian at home or abroad should join a political party. Our political parties will not improve on account of external pressure alone. Change must also come from within. It is difficult to improve a Club or Party that you do not belong to. If I believe this, then I also must practise it.”
In looking at what party to join, Peterside is interested in the party manifesto, the quality of its national leadership, willingness to practice internal democracy as well as his acceptability in his local ward
He said he has been “actively engaged Nigerian youths in recent months with the sole aim of convincing as many of them as possible to register, pick up their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC) and get ready to vote in the 2023 General Elections.
“I am excited at the possibility of many more Nigerian youths getting politically active between now and the 2023 General Elections and what that portends for Nigeria.
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“GoNigeria is an initiative of Anap Foundation. It started at the end of 2021 with 18 Advocates drawn from the 6 geopolitical zones. GoNigeria is a non-profit, non-partisan Movement dedicated to building a new voice for young people in Nigeria. It will remain true to its ideals.
“An increasingly large number of youths have since come back to me, to say that they have registered online with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and done their biometrics and so they expect to pick up their PVCs soon. Others have complained about obstacles and frustrations surrounding biometric capture (in particular) at some INEC Centres; this should be monitored and escalated as necessary.
“Some other youths however stress that they want to go beyond collection of PVCs and actually get involved in party politics, but outside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). They argue that choosing between the two large political parties is akin to a choice between “the devil and the deep blue sea” (my sincere apologies to the APC/PDP members who are GoNigeria Advocates and the many other good people in APC/PDP who are themselves victims of Godfatherism).
“Most Nigerians are deeply concerned about the state of our economy (high inflation and high unemployment) and also fear for their lives on account of the worsening security situation. Sadly, the poor economy aggravates the security situation and vice versa. It is also impossible to separate economics from politics. Perhaps many of us mistakenly concentrated on the economy for too long?
The new electoral act has significantly improved the probability that INEC can conduct proper elections. We must commend President Buhari, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and all others who contributed to bring this about. However, it is also true to point out that they have delivered very little else and so I disagree with those who expect them to midwife anything beyond their own departure come May 2023. The rest of us must seize the bull by the horns and overcome both voter apathy and the reluctance of many good people to get involved in party politics. Nobody is going to come from Mars or Jupiter to improve Nigerian political parties. If they remain defective then they may consistently spew out bad choices.”
