The Presidential Campaign Council of the African Action Congress has said the party and its presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, if elected, will seek referendum from Nigerians for a new ‘people-oriented’ Constitution.
The campaign team, which noted many Nigerians were suffering under the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government, said 2022 especially was a very hard year for Nigerians.
In a statement made available to our correspondent late Thursday, signed by the campaign team spokesperson, Onyinye-Gandhi Chukwunyere, the group saluted the courage, tenacity, and industrious nature of the good people of Nigeria “who have had to endure untold hardship and suffering these past seven years, especially in 2022, under the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) led APC government.”
The group noted that 2022 was one of the most difficult years for Nigerians as “they had to grapple with a mix of economic hardship and worsening insecurity,” saying “inflation, high unemployment rate, low wages, severely weakened naira, and the consequent erosion of the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians drove millions further into poverty.”
“Insecurity worsened as terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, robbers, and ritualists held Nigerians to ransom, carving out large, ungoverned sections of the country out for themselves and dishing out terror to our people.
“In summary, life for Nigerians under Buhari and the APC has become brutish, nasty, and short.
“We wish to assure the Nigerian people that with their support, this terrible state of affairs will soon be over. The presence of the AAC and our presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, on the ballot in 2023 presents a unique opportunity for our people to reclaim their country and put the ruinous years of this APC government and its equally culpable predecessors behind us.
“The AAC manifesto which is essentially a blueprint for the revolutionary transformation of Nigeria proposes bold political, economic, and social interventions to immediately halt the national decline, and set the country on a solid path to rapid socio-political and economic development,” Chukwunyere stated.
He added, “For a start, we’ll aggressively seek a referendum to facilitate the birth of a new people-oriented Constitution which will address the lingering political and economic injustices at the root of major conflicts in the country. We’ll create and strengthen sustainable institutions to heal and unite the people of Nigeria.
“We’ll democratically socialise the economy in order to bring it within the ownership and control of the Nigerian people. We’ll protect the national treasury and commit collective resources towards strategic investments in energy, healthcare, education, and national security which, taken together, would transform our backward mono-economy into a modern industrial and technological hub, eliminating unemployment and boosting living standards.”
