Vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Datti Baba-Ahmed says his party’s message is giving hope to many and is already uniting Nigerians.
Baba-Ahmed stated this on Tuesday while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He said that certain groups feel that there is effort including from other groups, to make theirs come to power, you can see that tension is actually coming down.
“There is a lot of hope for better life, for better security… and the single most important factor uniting Nigeria is the candidacy of Peter Obi.”
Baba-Ahmed said that the candidates of Labour Party have good track records as stepping stone to lead Nigeria. He also spoke on the nations democracy which is now more than 20 years.
“Labour Party candidates, assume I am not the one speaking, are driven by their records. They are stepping on what they have succeeded in to attempt to lead Nigeria,” he said.
“Other candidates, I don’t have to mention (their names) are swimming in the ocean of wealth and power and so they want to rule Nigeria.”
“It is very sad that what you keep hearing (about) endlessly are the three arms of government in a democratic government,” he said.
Rather than focus on just how the arms of government function, he explained that for Nigeria to be a proper democracy, three philosophical conditions must be present.
Elaborating, he said, “One, democracy must not be about individuals or small groups or any group for that matter. It must be about a political entity for it to qualify as democratic. It (should be) about national and bigger interests.
“Two, the aspirations and the desires and the will of the people must reflect in their elections…, which means we are yet to meet the second philosophical condition of democracy.
“The third one is that, as provided in the Constitution, the people must hold power, on whose behalf the elected government exercises authority. What you have now is that government once elected or they impose themselves, they hold the power and exercise the authority.
“So, condition two is not there and condition three is questionable.”
On the issue of security, Baba-Ahmed said the Peter-Obi’s government when brought to power in 2023, will “account for every square-meter of Nigeria” adding that in doing this, the administration will recruit more security agents with emphasis on law enforcement other than defense.
He said the police needs to be expanded, provided with adequate training, welfare, intelligence and networking.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.