Prominent Nigerians including Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka; Patrick Utomi and Olisa Agbakoba are revving up their plans for 2019. They are working on the emergence of a third force in the Nigerian polity to displace the rulling All Progressives Congress and major opposition Peoples Democratic Party at the general elections.
These Nigerians spoke about their plans on Wednesday in Abuja at a national summit organised by the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM), a platform positioning itself as that force.
Leaders of the movement emphasised the need to remove the current government in 2019 and urged Nigerians youth to obtain their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to ensure the task is done.
The co-chairperson of the summit, Agbakoba, a senior lawyer, said the 2019 general elections will be a “rough fight” and that the movement wants to recruit about 30 million youth to take power in 2019.
To achieve this, Agbakoba acknowledged that money is needed, even though the movement does not want “moneybag” politicians.
“It means that we here must be very united. We cannot do it alone. It reminds me of when we started the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO). We were exactly seven but confronted this huge military apparatus. Eventually, we became the 12th largest human rights organization in the world. It was our shared commitment. So, that is the commitment you are going to make. It is not to come to Abuja, dress fine and sit down.
“If you want to displace the APC or PDP, it is going to be a rough fight. It is going to be tough. I can see so many people without PVCs. So, if we are going to make a difference, the first thing is to get your PVCs. It is of no use going to the mosques on Fridays or Churches on Sundays to pray. Without PVCs, there will be no change,” Agbakoba said.
“Nigeria is like a big company where there are two million shareholders and in the case of Nigeria, about 200 million shareholders. Less than one thousand are controlling the rest. Think about it. The people holding you bondage, how many of them? They are not many.
“So, we have to break this bondage by participating in the affairs of our nation. That is the only way, but we need money. We do not want the moneybags, but we need money. Do not kid yourself, we need money to prosecute this election but we do not need the old type of money.”
