Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, and other Nigerians in civil society groups are set to launch a new political party called The People’s Alternative Political Movement (TPAP).
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made this known when he featured on Arise Television on Thursday, stating that the decision was borne out of the ‘worsening state of the nation’.
The human rights lawyer said about 21 groups, consisting of political parties, labour organisations, human rights and other civil society organisations, had met in Abuja to review the nation’s state.
“…At the end of the review, we came to the irresistible conclusion that we can no longer standby or rather stand on the sidelines while anti-democratic forces and political buccaneers continue to keep our country underdeveloped, and so we have decided to intervene decisively in the political arena.”
He added that the groups also agreed that they would embark on consultations with other genuine progressive forces in the country for three months to form a political party whose ideology would be for the total reconstruction of the state of Nigeria.
According to Falana, the political party’s ideology would be an emphasis on chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantees the socio-economic rights of Nigerians.
The groups believed that there could be no talk of civil and political rights without economic empowerment, he said.
“We are bringing back the politics of ideology, the politics of programmes and manifestoes to address the problems confronting us as a people so that this country which is the largest concentration of black people on earth, can take its rightful place in the committee of nations.”
When asked about political followership in Nigeria and the offering of bribes to electorates, Falana said the ruling class had deliberately pauperised the people so that they are compelled to take pennies to sell their votes. Still, the emerging political party would put an end to it.
“We are going to stop that, by virtue of the electoral act, we are going to ensure that we make the law work, anyone or group that bribes voters, we are going to mobilise young people to ensure that the practice is stopped,” Falana said.
He noted that the Electoral Act provides that no one shall be given money or induced for election purposes. The group would mobilise the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and other security operatives to enforce the law.
Falana further said that the lessons from the ENDSARS protest, judicial workers protest, and other strike actions across the country have shown that Nigerians can be organised to make positive radical changes.
He said voters could collect bribes from politicians, but they should invest in their children’s future by voting for the right people.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94