Omoyele Sowore, a Presidential aspirant and Publisher of SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, has formally declared his intention to run for the office of President of Nigeria under the platform of the Africa Action Congress (AAC).
He made the declaration in Abuja, on Wednesday, at the National Secretariat of the party. AAC is one of the 23 political parties announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday.
He stressed that AAC is the only political party that has global reach, adding that Nigerians, both at home and abroad, have keyed in into the values and ideology of the party for revolutionary development of the country.
Sowore said with determination and will, Nigerian youths must take the country back from “greedy politicians”, noting that the TakeItBack movement has organised more than 60 events across the length and breadth of the country and visited more than 23 states.
According to him, he is the only Presidential Aspirant, who has organised the highest number of town hall meetings and travelled to villages within six months.
He said: “We have travelled to nooks and crannies of this country and the world. We have been to places like Benin, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Jalingo, Kano, Port Harcourt, Abia and others. We have been to a village on the bank of the Benue river and they said they had never seen government there before we went there to talk to them.”
He pointed out that he is in support of the clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria, as well as the creation of state police, noting that this would address and reduce the crime rate in the country.
Speaking on why he supported the calls for state policing, he said: “They will also engage in community policing, because they are part of the community. So, I totally support state policing, but I am worried, because what they are asking for is not the one we are asking for. An average governor in Nigeria is protected by more than 200 policemen and you have not added the Department of State Services, Civil Defence, Army and the Navy. An average governor probably has 500 armed security agents around them.”
Sowore stated that he would not create state police where governors would not pay salary, noting that “You are going to be more endangered with state police when the governors do not pay their salaries in seven months, and they have arms. There will be open day robbery by people in uniform.”
He also spoke on the 1999 Constitution, stating that it had not met the aspirations of Nigerians and proposed the need to change the constitution.
His words: “We need to change our Constitution because this Constitution is a fraud. We did not write the Nigerian Constitution and we have no input there. It was written by the Nigerian Military and they inserted the most fraudulent and insulting words: ‘We The People of Nigeria’. Our Constitution needs to be rewritten.”
The Presidential aspirant assured that when voted into power, he would abrogate some government agencies and parastatals, which have become a liability at the expense of Nigerians, adding that such exercise would be carried out in accordance with the law.
He maintained that the present government led by President Muhammadu Buhari cannot carry out any meaningful restructuring that will serve the interest of the common man, noting that “there is no reason for an 80-year-old politician to tell Nigerians that he wants to restructure the country.” He urged them to stay where they belong, stating that AAC will wrestle power from them come 2019.
“Everybody who is asking for restructuring is also asking for the Constitution to be changed. Without us being in power, they cannot change the Constitution in our own interest.”
Source: Sahara Reporters
