…Harps on social justice, open society, others

By Dirisu Yakubu, Abuja

As part of its contribution to the events marking the  59^th independence anniversary of Nigeria, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Monday blamed the woes that have bedeviled the country to what it called years of less than inspiring leadership of the political class.

Social Democratic Party

This is even as the SDP noted that for Nigeria to move forward, she must embrace social justice, pursue social inclusion and the rule of law at all levels. In a statement signed by the party’s national chairman, Professor Tunde Adeniran, the party decried the failure of successive leadership epochs to carry on the mantle of leadership held uprightly by key players of the First Republic.

“We are contending with religious tensions, pervasive corruption, falling public infrastructure, deplorable quality of life of our own people, growing insecurity, dwindling economy, and erosion of value system, low level of patriotism on the part of the leaders and the led as well as a generally despondent population. All the foregoing national maladies are largely brought upon us by less than inspiring leadership we have had over the years. 

“For Nigeria to regain last grounds, achieve sustainable development and get the country to take this rightful place among the comity of nations and fulfill its manifest destiny as the true giant of Africa we must, as a matter of necessity, come up with creative ways to engender peace and renegotiate and strengthen the union; remove all our polarities; build our public institutions and systems to be effective and efficient for service delivery instead of building powerful individuals.

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“Nigeria must enthrone social justice, build an egalitarian and open society, imbibe social inclusion, entrench the culture of respect for the rule of law by insulating our judicature from all forms of undue manipulations; build a nation driven by social inclusion. One that is for all not for a few; prioritize education and make a massive investment in new-age technology and entrepreneurship development to build our human capital and create wealth and economic empowerment for our teeming young population. We must scale-up agriculture to create food security for our growing population; eliminate corruption by removing the soil conditions upon which it thrives and promote good governance; return citizens to our cherished national value systems and the ideals of community spirit, brotherliness and solidarity of all peoples irrespective of difference in culture, ethnicity, and religion,” the statement read in part. 

That stated, the SDP said “at independence, the quality of our public utility, infrastructure, institution, system, and national life was generally impressive and greatly promising. We had a crop of national leaders that were visionary and highly patriotic in orientation. Their leadership inspired hope in the people. The country no doubt would have made much if we have had successive credible leadership in the years after independence. Our founding fathers and leaders lived a life that was greatly inspiring and they were manifestly committed patriots who believed in the country and its capacity to attain greatness.

“That much could be seen in the personal exertions at the protagonist of independence as well as audacious pronouncement of Rt. Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe who as the first indigenous Governor-General, made a highly galvanizing declaration three years after independence upon the proclamation of the country as a Federal Republic that “the primary purpose of our constitution is to further the ends of liberty, equality, and Justice… to ensure and consolidate our unity into a more perfect union; to inculcate in our citizens faith in our fatherland…equality of opportunity for all, dispensation of justice to all without fear or favor and delegation of executive powers to the collective responsibility of dedicated servants of the state, whose forte is intelligence, humanity, fair play and honesty”. 

“He went further to charge the citizens that “to no person, no matter how wealthy, should we sell our soil. To no nation, no matter how powerful, should we mortgage our conscience. To no group, no matter how influential, should we pawn our thoughts. But we should always reserve to ourselves and to our posterity the right to know, to thin, to hold an opinion and to pursue our own good in our own way without denying or depriving others of their rights to do so that is our concepts of national freedom… ” 

The statement continued: “In the almost six decades of independence, the country has gone through a chequered and torturous journey of nationhood. We started well but the unfortunate military incursion into the nation’s political space in 1966, only three years after becoming a republic. The destabilizing civil war that later engulfed the nation and the national disruptions that followed all combined to impede a giant leap the country would have made. 

“The challenges that confront us today are undeniably enormous and worrisomely multidimensional. They are exacerbated by global megatrends of climate change, resource rummaging, cyber crimes as well as terrorism.” The party pledged to return the country to the path of development, urging Nigerians to give it a trial in the next round of general election.  

“There is no gainsaying that we have no other country that we can call ours. As such, as a party which ideology centers on making life truly better for the people, the SDP is prepared and getting strategically positioned ahead of the next elections to attain power and provide the right political direction and leadership for the nation. While we prepare for that future role, we urge Nigerians to keep the faith and endure the times.

“The party will continue to add value to national development processes and promote the stability of the country at all times. But it behaves on our governments and leaders at all levels to strive to build the nation where justice and peace reign. They should eschew all forms of corruption, jettison nepotism and crass opportunism in the discharge of their duties and make our commonwealth to work for all of us while they get more committed to genuine national interests, beginning with the well-being of the individual Nigerians. 

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