Political Analyst, Dr Austin Nweze believes that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has not shown anything new or different in the manifesto it presented to Nigerians.
Although the APC has promised change, he said that what Nigeria needs is new ideas for that change and he had not seen any fresh idea that could bring about change in Nigeria in the APC road map.
Nweze, who was the guest of Politics Today on Channels Television, called on Nigerians to be careful about the kind of change they demand as it was important to know what the alternatives were before demanding change.
Citing the example of Nigeria’s independence, Nweze explained that Nigerians only insisted that they wanted a change in the form of independence from the British without bothering to ask what the new government would be like, a situation he saw as the genesis of the country’s problems.
He stated that the structure of government being run in Nigeria was faulty and was a mistake. He said that it was too expensive and creates an atmosphere where some people feel marginalised, and fixing that situation was the kind of change he had expected from the APC and not maintaining the same system.
Dr. Nweze further explained that one of the major problems facing Nigeria was the fear of the people of being dominated by other ethnic groups. On this basis of this and the size of the country, he posited that Nigeria was too big for one person to lead.
He insisted that the only way for Nigeria to truly experience change was for the system of government to be totally restructured. He said, “This system of governance should be crashed” adding that the National Conference has offered an opportunity for that change to be achieved.
He also revealed a planned proposition of “6 College of Presidents” who would represent the 6 Geo-political zones of the country. They would jointly have a 6-year tenure as President, during which they would take turns to lead the country for 1 year each. He said that this would eliminate the issue of marginalization and create a more united people, and then can the country try to fight corruption as promised by the APC.
Speaking on about the speech delivered by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili at the APC summit, Nweze commended the courage and the depth of the speech but regretted that there was still a possibility that the politicians present at the event would sweep her words aside and revert to “business as usual”. According to him, “this people don’t care.”
