The All Progressives Congress (APC) has told the World Igbo Congress (WIC) in Dallas USA, that the Igbo people have had no stake in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), despite their contributions to the achievements of the party.
Hence, APC called on Ndigbo to support the new merger party as a perfect choice for change, which is anchored on “the fine tenets of social democracy”.
The South East Zonal Publicity Secretary of APC, Osita Okechukwu who is also the National Publicity Secretary of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) made the call during a presentation at the congress in Dallas on Friday.
Okechchukwu said that the APC manifesto captures the social contract with the people in 8-point agenda, including war against corruption, food security, and accelerated power supply.
While lamenting that the PDP could not consider it fit to zone any of the offices in the official protocol list at the federal level to Ndigbo, he said regretted that all the support Ndigbo gave to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yield no substantive gains for the Igbo people.
Also in the agenda he said, are integrated transport network, free education, the devolution of power, accelerated economic growth and affordable healthcare as well as socio-economic rights and the imperative to invest public funds in development of infrastructure.
“APC unlike its contemporary, PDP, maintains that government has business in business, and sincerely believes that the Nigerian economy is a primitive one and hence provided for five development banks in its manifesto”, Okechukwu noted.
“As Ndigbo, we reasoned that the interest of our people will be best served under a corrupt free state, based on hard work, competition and enterprise. One devoid of crass patronage, the mentality of food is ready and share the money; as is the case with the ruling party in the last 14 years,”
Okechukwu said APC would enthrone zero-tolerance for corruption as their mechanism for the survival of these state banks, adding that they were committed to waging strident “war against corruption”, unlike the PDP, or else the country’s post-oil-economy would be disastrous.
“Regrettably, corruption no doubt is the bane of our development and we are witnesses of how the corruption tainted petroleum products importation has crippled our economy and converted Nigeria from Oil Exporting Country {OPEC} to Oil Importing Country (OPIC)”, he said.