By Michael Adesanya/Abeokuta
The National Coordinator of the Alternative Movement, Segun Showunmi, has faulted the newly formed coalition’s takeover of the African Democratic Congress ( ADC ), saying that the move was deeply rooted in inordinate ambition.
Showunmi stated that the coalition lacks the capacity to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, and that Nigerians should rather not give them any attention.
The PDP Chieftain also declared that the country operates on an unwritten principle that when the pendulum of power swings to the north for eight years, it comes back and stays in the south for another eight years.
Showunmi disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the Southwest Townhall meeting of The Alternative Movement in Abeokuta.
He said he remained unconvinced on how the new ADC coalition led by the former Senate President, David Mark and former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, could change the order in 2027.
The PDP leader said: “Can’t you see the kind of people calling themselves coalition now? People who at every election season, it must be about them. The Quran and the Bible are very clear. God will not give you what he will not give you and man will not give you what God has not given you.
“You cannot be using your inordinate ambition to disturb the country up and down. The ADC as a party has been there for some time, some of our people are have been there.
“Yet, today they have left their own party and rushed into another party and if they had gone in there quietly like decent people, maybe one would have respected them; but they are coming in with their destructive attitude which they had used to destroy their former parties.
“They are just puffing and behaving as if the party was without people before they joined. Who will follow these people? In any case, where is the evidence of the development that they have done in all the places that they had been given responsibilities?”.
Showunmi said rather than those forming coalition to stay in their respective parties and fix whatever the challenges may be, they have decided to embark on a merry-go-round that will fetch them nothing in 2027 elections.
“We run this country on a pendulum, when power goes to the north and stays eight years, it comes back to the south and stay eight years as well.
“We don’t believe that a Yoruba man should be doing four years stretch and another Yoruba man will also be teaming up with some group for the other part of the country to do 12 years. And if they are looking for someone in the opposition who can make a dent, I can easily tell them but certainly not this coalition.”
He added that in as much as he would not condone any form of misgovernance, the administration of Tinubu just clocked two years.
Showunmi said, “I don’t have time to pamper people. When I needed to criticise, I do without hesitation but I will also not stand by and be interested in some people or system that will not allow leaders to have the peace of mind to work.
“He still has two more years to spend. By third year, maybe we shall take our decision but in the meantime, we may not know who can defeat him but we know that these ones (the coalition) can’t do anything.”
Showunmi also urged his followers to give him three months to also tour the 36 states after which he might come back to announce their next line of move politically.
He disclosed that The Alternative is a movement that is interested in reorientating Nigerians on how to cultivate positive attitude towards political participation, particularly the electoral process.
“We are saying that our people must shun voter apathy, they must always come out to vote during election, they must also shun the terrible attitude of vote buying, it is evil and will never allow us to have good governance.
“We are also saying that we must love one another as a nation. The Alternative is a platform for everyone. It is about seeking what is good, a new order for a country that we can all be proud of.”
The National Publicity of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, while speaking at the event declared that the arrowheads of the coalition are failed leaders who are only trying to recycle themselves.
Arabambi said the current administration of President Tinubu inherited an economy on life support, a security architecture in tatters, and infrastructure crumbling under decades of neglect.
He stated that while Tinubu is working tirelessly to stabilise the patient, the very physicians who poisoned the nation now seek to return with new prescriptions.
Arabambi said that “it is not that The Alternative Movement is opposed to coalition politics, but such coalition must be built with genuine progressive alliances that can move the nation forward and not this one being driven by failures
“What we reject – what every sane Nigerian must reject – is the repackaging of certified failures as reformers. I call on all Nigerians too to reject them, it is a coalition of failures,” he said.
