BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
A national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Sunny Moniedafe, has declared that what the ruling party needed now is a national chairman who will make Nigerians forget their religious and tribal differences and unite as a people.
Moniedafe, known as Jagaban, in an interview with The Point said he is offering himself to serve Nigerians on the platform of the APC because he has the secret of making Nigeria work again as a united people.
“I understand Igbo. I speak Igbo, Urhobo, Fulani, Hausa, Yoruba and many other languages. I am a typical Nigerian. I will call our brothers from the South East, South South, we will sit down and talk. I will come to the round table with open mind to accommodate everyone. By this, we will bring them on board.
“You will see that the Igbo, that people are claiming rejected APC, will be home for our great party,” he said.
Moniedafe said he has the key to move the party to its peak but added that occupying the exalted position of national chairman is not a matter of do or die.
He further stated that the dialogue he will employ will not be like the national CONFAB which he described as a waste of resources since none of its recommendations was implemented.
“As a national chairman, I will not sit on a high horse. I will go to the people, feel them and they will feel our party. The vice chairmen of the six geo-political zones will work. We will embark on meet with the people regularly so that they will know that the party belongs to them and not them to the party. Call for a meeting in Owerri, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Gusau, Makurdi, Yola and I will be there to address them. There is solution for every problem,” he said.
The Yola born politician emphasized that he will also employ the system used by late Adisa Akinloye in running the then National Party of Nigeria which gave it a national outlook.
He disclosed that the party belongs to the people and not to some people and therefore becoming the national chairman will only make him a servant not master.
“By our constitution, the people are the owners of the party. It is not the other way round. I will serve the people, be accountable to the people and by so doing, the party under my chairmanship will return to the people,” he stressed.
He revealed that when the ruling party is indeed progressive, the country has no choice but to become progressive and argued that progressiveness begins with the office of the national chairman.
“No progressive wants to become sit tight in any position. I will not be a national chairman who wants to appropriate the position for self and never open up for change. Like I said, I am not desperate; therefore the office of the APC national chairman will be an office for every party member and even open to non-party members,” he promised.
The former FCT chairman of ACN warned the APC to avoid handing the party to someone who is vying for the post because some powers that be have asked him to come or because he was a former governor or lawmaker.
“We must be careful not to hand our party to someone being fronted by some people for selfish interest. Anybody who wants to be the chairman must make up his mind and not contesting because some caucuses want him for selfishness,” he
added.
