After the news broke last week that KOWA PARTY was one of the political Parties in a coalition to oust the incumbent administration of the All Progressives Congress and following the media reports of the nature of the coalition and its objectives, KOWA party says it has become imperative fot it to clear the air on KOWA’s involvement in a coalition with Parties perceived as essentially “tainted” by past misrule and “corrupt” elements.
The Party’s leadership in a press statement released by its national secretary Mark Adebayo says the party has been under tremendous pressures from members and the Party’s well-wishers all over the world to explain the rationale behind the action.
The letter read in part,”KOWA Party believes, that this administration has failed the country on Security and Anti-Corruption and all governance indices in an unprecedented manner leading the country in a rapid regression into total anarchy if not state failure, and is therefore willing to join the Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) to oust an irresponsible government from power through a consensus Presidential candidate rather than dividing the opposition vote.
First and foremeost, the Party wishes to unequivocally state that in no way is it deviating from its founding ideology to serve the people with credible, responsible, and effective leadership. It is totally committed to the realization of this goal. However, due to the current political climate in the country and in order to actualize this objective, plus certain internal Party dynamics, joining the coalition appearsto be the best possible alternative at the moment.
Aside from certain fundamental internal dynamics that informed the decision to be part of it, KOWA joined the coalition on an exploratory basis and at the moment still reviewing the terms of engagement and membership. It is a developing process.”
The party further explained that it will not lose its identity or sovereignty in the name of alliance.
“KOWA as a party will not lose its identity in any sense. KOWA is still fielding its candidates for the Governorship, National Assemblies, State Assemblies, Local Governments and Wards.
KOWA Party will still do its presidential Primary and produce a presidential candidate who will face an All-Party Screening Panel to be set up by the Coalition comprising of equal numbers of representatives from all member-Parties following which the best candidtate will emerge as the flag bearer of the coalition through a mutually agreed democratic process.
KOWA entered this tentative agreement as equals and in no way has the playing field been altered to favour any candidate or Party. This MOU is only applicable to the Presidential elections as we understand that if leadership at the helm of affairs is not capable enough to handle the enormity of issues which plagues our country then we have failed in our quest for effective leadership.
Truth be told, there is no single political Party or individual in Nigeria today, no matter how well-meaning, untainted, patriotic, altruistic, or incorruptible that has the capacity or the required resources to effect the necessary political revolution that Nigeria needs at this moment in order to rescue it from state-encouraged terrorism, violence and bloodsheds of unprecedented proportions.
The biggest challenge confronting Nigeria today is aggravated insecurity leading to the killings of thousands of Nigerians under a totally insensitive and incompetent government and if care is not taken, by the way the country’s security situation is daily degenerating we may not have a country called Nigeria by 2019.
Therefore, standing aloof or sitting on the fence is not an option for KOWA.
It is truly a critical and difficult time for our nation and also a very difficult decision to go into a marriage of convenience with political strange bedfellows. But Nigeria is like a burning building now. Those trapped inside must first find a way of escape at all costs before debating the credibility or otherwise of their rescuers.
It is also necessary to clarify that from the onset, KOWA did not join a coalition led by the PDP nor driven by APC. KOWA was part of the Nigerian Intervention Movement, NIM, with many other political Parties from the onset. The PDP and R-APC are late entrants. They were never part of the initial coalition efforts. Because the two are most prominent of all other Political Parties, the media conveniently dubbed it a PDP-led coalition which immediately changed the public perception of the coalition. Like stated above, KOWA’s membership of the coalition is an exploratory engagement subject to review at any moment the agreed modus operandi are tampered with or the internal dynamics of the Party that informed our joining the coalition in the first instance no longer exist.
For now, our main objective is to work within the coalition to convince the “bigger” Parties to support one of the new generation Parties, among which is KOWA, to produce the presidential candidate while they support the candidate that eventually emerges with their well-established structures and humongous Party machinery accross the country.
Moreover, KOWA is open to other coalition efforts and is already planning to drive its own coalition initiative. Nothing is cast in stone yet.
We remain focused as a Party for justice, good governance, restructuring, and ingenious national advancement. ” the statement ended.
