Ahead of the 2023 general election, a new political party, Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP), has come on stream to rattle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party formed by prominent Nigerians, is to give Nigerians alternative platform to the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Founders of RNP include former governor of Kwara state, Ahmed Abdulfatai, Prof. Pat Utomi, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, former Governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke,
Senator Lee Maeba, Usman Bugaje, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Amb. Nkoyo Toyo, Yomi Awoniyi, Dr. Rose Idi Danladi, Dr. Sadiq Gombe among others.
It was gathered that Usman Bugaje was appointed as the coordinator of the new party.
Speaking at the unveiling, former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatai lamented the state of the nation.
He stated that the high level of nepotism and lack of inclusiveness have given rise to agitations by different ethnic groups.
He recalled that in 2015, Nigerians embraced change, adding that today, “that change appears to be what we didn’t expect, as insecurity has taken over the nation.”
He said, “It is based on this that we decided to set up this Rescue Nigeria Project. We want to salvage this country and see how we can fix the mess. We want to set a template and key criteria leaders must have before they can attain any political position.
“Despite the great opportunities of the past, Nigeria has failed to live up to the dreams of its founding fathers and the hopes of successive generations of its citizens.
“Perhaps, at no other time have these failings become more apparent than in the past decade or so.”
On his part, Tunde Adeniran stated that the nation is currently experiencing a disaster, hence the need to rescue her.
He said: “You only rescue when there is disaster and when you fail to rescue during disaster, it is more dangerous.
“We have a disaster in our hands and we need to rescue the country. We need to look back and see how we get here. We know where Nigeria was before now. We know the task is not going to be easy, but we have to determine how to rescue the nation.”
The RNP national coordinator, Usman Bugaje, in his opening remark, slammed the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
Bugaje said, “when you reduce the problems of this country to what they are, ultimately, it all comes to leadership.
“We have been unable to exit the leadership conundrum precisely because the leadership recruitment mechanism in our political parties is so flawed that, except for accidents, they are incapable of producing competent leaders with the requisite knowledge, discipline and commitment to make a difference. We are living with, or better still, groaning under the consequences of this folly.
“What this means is that any attempt to rescue this country from its troubles must first rescue it from the current leadership recruitment mechanism that seems to leverage on money and connection or ethnic sentiments and no premium on knowledge or competence”.
