12/11/2021
The time has come! Nigeria must be reborn!!
Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa declares his intention to vie for the President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Abuja on the 8th of November 2021.
There is a light on the horizon.
Mazi is Coming!
Let us join hands for progress, peace, stability and true federalism.
MSO 2023, Our Vision, Our Aim, Our Goal!!!
ADDRESS BY MAZI DR. SAM OHUABUNWA (MSO) AT THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS INTENTION TO RUN FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA IN 2023 ON THE PLATFORM OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP)
1. On 30th July 2019, we got a very strong motivation to birth the NEW NIGERIA GROUP and to announce to Nigerians that a NEW NIGERIA was in the offing. This message was urgent as many Nigerians had lost hope in the country because of the depressing economic challenges where 53% of the Nigerian Youths are unemployed (more than half of Nigeria’s employable youths) and nearly another 22% remain underemployed. The country has also become the poverty capital of the world with nearly 70% of Nigerians classified as poor by the World Bank. Many Nigerian youths, including professionals - pharmacists, medical doctors, nurses, engineers etc are daily trodding the foreign embassies seeking visas to every country in the world. Then the Nigerian insecurity situation (terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and murder) compounded the problems, and now even some older and retired Nigerians are fleeing for safety where ever they can find it. IF THIS IS NOT A CRISIS SITUATION, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT CAN BE SO DESCRIBED!!!
2. Today, Nigerians seem more divided than we were in 1970 after the civil war, with many retreating into their ethnic enclaves as the internal cleavages and divides widen by the actions and inactions of our political leadership. Every day, one set of Nigerians issues a “quit” notice to another set of Nigerians in a supposedly “United” Country and nobody suffers any consequences. The youth in Nigeria are asking: "where is the hope for us in Nigeria?” as students and youth corpers are kidnapped with reckless abandon, while the elders are forced into poverty as their salaries and pensions cannot buy much with the combination of STEEP DEVALUATION of the Naira and high inflation rates.
3. Fellow countrymen, there is certainly a worsening feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness in many Nigerians as the Misery Index worsens (more than half of Nigerians are classified as MISERABLE) and many Nigerians across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria complain of one form of injustice or another. Many decry the lack of justice, equity and fair play in the way they are governed and when they complain, they are ignored and when they complain loudly they are silenced. Many feel the democratic space is highly constricting and in many places, Nigerians live in fear of their leaders who act as autocrats and emperors having acquired so much wealth and power with which they harass and intimidate poor and hapless citizens.
4. Also, Nigerians continue to suffer the indignity of being mocked across the globe as citizens of a “fantastically corrupt nation”. Virtually on most global rating indices, Nigeria occupies a very lowly position in areas such as life expectancy, under-5 mortality, maternal mortality, corruption perception index, human development index, etc. Nigerians are routinely profiled as drug peddlers, fraudsters, 419, yahoo-yahoo people. Yet many Nigerians in the diaspora surprise the world by showing extraordinary brilliance, ingenuity and creativity, virtues that contradict the image of the country.
This is the scenario many Nigerians have lived with for many years with the situation seemingly getting worse each passing year. Many have fasted, prayed, cried and mourned for meaningful change in the narrative but the rate of positive change has been so infinitesimal to ignite significant hope. Hence, many Nigerians tell you ”NIGERIA IS IRREDEEMABLE”. BUT WE ARE PERSUADED THAT MEANINGFUL CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE SPENT THE LAST ONE AND HALF YEARS insisting that A NEW NIGERIA is Possible.
5. So, this is our NEW NIGERIA VISION:
To make Nigeria become a FIRST WORLD NATION (where poverty, low quality of life and joblessness will be vastly eliminated, thereby making Nigeria globally competitive like Singapore, South Korea, UAE and others.
To make Nigeria a nation diversified away from export of crude petroleum and natural commodities to AGGRESSIVE EXPORT of processed and value-added products and knowledge-driven services.
To make Nigeria become a NATION THAT WORKS FOR ALL (where all citizens live at peace with each other and where all are treated fairly and equitably, creating happy and contented citizens)
6. A Nation where the following values define our character, culture and conduct: KNOWLEDGE, INDUSTRY, INTEGRITY, FREEDOM, LIBERTY, JUSTICE, PATRIOTISM AND FEAR OF GOD.
A Nation where the federating units will be liberated from the shackles of oppression and suffocation from the Centre, so they can compete, soar and prosper and provide maximum democracy dividends to theIr citizens.
A nation that will focus on Driving Investment (domestic and foreign) to create businesses, projects and programs; incentivizing these to Create JOBS, while transforming the Jobs to create WEALTH, resulting in decreasing poverty and increasing prosperity FOR ALL CITIZENS (shared prosperity).
A nation where LAW & ORDER will reign supreme, where lives will be sacrosanct, where private endeavour will be courted, where the average Nigerian will have easy access to quality education (through scholarships, bursaries, and student loans), affordable healthcare (through universal health insurance), housing supported by mortgage and where TECHNOLOGY will drive service delivery.
A NATION WHERE THE OFFICE OF THE CITIZEN WILL BE ELEVATED ABOVE THE OFFICE OF THE POLITICIAN
7. POLITICAL PLATFORM
Since we began to propagate this idea of A NEW NIGERIA, many citizens have jumped on to the NEW NIGERIA GROUP (NNG) bandwagon. Today, we have Chapters in the 36 States of Nigeria (plus Abuja) and in the Diaspora. Our Registered Membership is grossing SEVEN MILLION people and the number is growing by the day. But everywhere we went, the question kept recurring: Is the NNG a political party or on what political party will you run to take power to implement the birth of the NEW NIGERIA?
Ladies and gentlemen, this press briefing is called today to essentially answer this recurring question. I HAVE BEEN A REGISTERED MEMBER OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY ( PDP) almost from the founding of the Party. Though membership of the NNG cuts across many other parties, including those with no party affiliations, we have prayerfully DECIDED TO RUN ON THE PLATFORM OF MY PARTY - THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP).
We are bringing most of our members who are currently not members of PDP into the party as a way of strengthening the party and infusing NEW BLOOD, NEW THINKING AND HELPING TO SUPPORT THE PARTY IN ITS NEW MISSION.
We are drawn more closely to the PDP having noted its determination to run as a true Democratic Party with a new internal democratic ethos. This new direction indicating an enviable reformation was exhibited at its National Convention for the election of Party officials at the end of October 2021, during which it peacefully elected a new and competent crop of national leaders.
The PDP in our view has shown that it has learnt some useful lessons during the past 6 years of being in the opposition at the Federal level, and seems prepared to correct all mistakes it may have made when it was in power, and to refocus Governance at all levels to the true ENHANCEMENT OF THE SECURITY, WELL BEING AND HAPPINESS OF THE CITIZENS OF NIGERIA as its core mandate.
We believe that in doing this, the new THINKING, the new VISION, the new VALUES and the FRESHNESS we bring will be in sync with the NEW MISSION of the PDP. No doubt, we are fully persuaded that the birth of a NEW NIGERIA which we espouse will find fulfilment through the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
8. Finally, we are also convinced that the COMPETENCE, CHARACTER AND COURAGE we bring into political leadership will put the Party in good stead to assuage the cries of the Nigerian Citizens who have longed for enlightened, visionary, empathetic leadership that will HEAL THE COUNTRY, UNITE THE PEOPLE AND FORGE A NATION THAT IS AT PEACE WITH ITSELF AND IS GLOBALLY RESPECTED.
CONCLUSION
Gentlemen of the press, this announcement is intended to clear two doubts. First, it is to confirm that I plan by God’s grace to run on the platform of the PDP for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023. Second, it is to confirm that I am from the South-East geopolitical zone of the Country and I am running for the office of the President come 2023. Thus, the erroneous impression or assertion that no South Eastern Nigerian is showing serious interest in running for the office of President in 2023 is hereby fully debunked.
At the appropriate time, we shall in concert with our Party leadership make the needed declaration.
Thank you so much. God bless Nigeria.
Mazi (Dr) Sam Ohuabunwa OFR, MON, NPOM
CONVENER - NEW NIGERIA GROUP (NNG)
