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Mission Statement
It should now be clear to all discerning Nigerians that our democracy is on death throes. The caricature we practice today does violence to international accepted democratic norms.
There are certain minimum ingredients for any nation to justify the appellation of a democratic sate. These cardinal ingredients include; constitutionalism and the rule of law; sanctity of the ballot box. Implicit in this is the sovereign right of the people to choose their government at periodic elections. The element of competition and alternatives through virile contending political parties (platforms).
In complete negation of these concepts, what we have here are as follows: The charade called 2003 general election which has gone down in history as the worst electoral exercise in Nigeria’s political history, only surpassed by the infamy called 2004 local government elections.
The refusal of General Olusegun Obasanjo to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Lagos LGA funds brouhaha; the contemptuous statements spewing from both the Chairman of PDP Col. Ahmadu Ali, and INEC Chairman Professor Maurice Iwu on court orders, has finally rubbished claims to observance of the rule of law.As of today none of the 29 political parties stands a fighting chance against the behemoth called the PDP.
We have therefore come to the painful but true realisation that any person or group making pretences to contesting for power in 2007 is engaged in political masturbation. A most worthless and barren exercise. On the palms of one man lies the powers to determine whoever, not excluding himself, would occupy Aso Rock Villa come 29th May 2007. That one man is Mathew Olusegun Okikola Aremu Obasanjo.
What then is to be done? The escapist approach would be to surrender and join Baba and the “winners”. On the contrary however, we urge on all patriots to hearken to our call to patriotic duty, civic responsibility, and save our nascent democracy from perdition.
We believe that the first step in this salvage mission is to accept the cold reality of the scenario described above. The second is to agree that it must be totally rejected and effectively challenged. To do so, all hands must literally be on deck. There would be no room here for prima donnas, egocentrics, sole agenda or pocket groupism.
We therefore propose a rainbow coalition called Patriotic Alliance of political parties, civil society organisations, credible ethnic nationality or regional associations and militant tendencies.
The first objective of the Alliance is to arrest this creeping fascism by sensitizing and mobilizing the Nigerian masses on the potent danger to their democratic enterprise. The second is to confront head on this anti-democratic tendency by making a grab for power. An unavoidable imperative for this is comprehensive electoral reforms. This will not only restore the sanctity of the ballot box but collaterally restore voter confidence.
We of the CNPP commit ourselves to playing an anchor role in this strategy. The leadership of the CNPP drawing on partnerships, contacts, and comradeship forged over many years of activism in the pro-democracy movement and political party’s forum is in a vantage position to facilitate this alliance.
Finally we appeal to your sense of patriotism and civic responsibility and recommend this initiative to you. We further invite you as a partner in progress and solicit support in cash or kind.
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