DISSATISFIED with performance of the current class of incompetent and unaccountable leaders and in furtherance of its social mobilization pro-gramme to organize and harmonize Nigerians for the Common Good, Christian Social Move-ment of Nigeria (CSMN), with its subsidiaries including the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) and Advocates for Freedom and Demo-cracy (AFD), is advo-cating for a new gen-eration of leaders from 2019.
Rising from a Conference in Lagos tagged THINK NEW to mobilize Nigerians to effect social change through promotion of new political leaders to replace the current class of leaders who personify corruption and incom-petency, the group argu-ed that the current poli-tical class is irredeemably corrupt and incompetent.
“That Restructuring of the country politically, financially and culturally must be a key issue in po-litical campaign and that the 2019 elections should be contested on the basis of clear political ideology and clearly de-fined manifestos comple-te with timeline for im-plementation,” the comm-unique signed by the con-ference chairman, Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN, stated.
The conference attended by representatives of new political parties, ethnic nationality groups, and several others from across the country, main-tained that politics of intimidation, cultism, “godfatherism” and fi-nancial inducement in which the highest bidder becomes candidate must be condemned and must discontinued, argu-ing that Nigerians must develop new a mindset that places merit above tribalism, ethnicity, re-ligious affiliation or nepotism in order to raise competent people into leadership positions.
CSMN maintained that the major political parties have developed tentacles all over the nation making it difficult for a single new political party to uproot and replace them, stress-ing that new political parties must embrace dialogue and cooperation in order to build consen-sus to form a formidable team to attain political revolution using demo-cratic means to achieve good governance.
According to the group, “all Nigerians must join hands to resist and de-stroy the vestiges of col-onialism and neo-colo-nialism in the country which have undermined democracy and encour-aged imposition of cand-idates to subvert the will of the people, thereby enthroning a minority government of one tribe and one religion.
“That Nigerians must arise to defend demo-cracy as the only national ideology that can gua-rantee justice, equity and fairness as well as pro-vide peace, progress and prosperity for the peo-ple,” it further stated.
Continuing, participants at the conference also stressed the need for the middle class to arise to fill the void their passivity has created in the polity, urging them to spearhead a new mindset for the grassroots so that all Nig-erians can in one accord THINK NEW.
It also urged elite opinion moulders, particularly religious leaders, to be circumspect about expo-sure and relationship with politicians and political office holders to prevent emitting conflicting sign-als that would hinder the goal of raising new lead-ers in the country.
The Conference therefore resolved that all the new presidential candidates and new political parties should be meeting regu-larly to fashion out work-able proposals leading to consensus and promote the philosophy of THINK NEW to awaken Nigerians to the crucial need to raise new leaders for the country.
The ethnic nationalities, the group further argued, should be actively involv-ed in the meetings of the new political parties to ensure that all the class-es of people in the so-ciety are involved in the negotiations.
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