Dike Onwuamaeze
The President of the ANAP Foundation and Founder of Stanbic IBTC, Mr. Atedo Peterside has expressed support for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The economist yesterday listed seven points he considered before deciding to throw his weight behind the SDP.
He listed the points to include the party’s manifesto and how appropriate it was for Nigeria at this time; the quality of the party’s national leadership; his own adjudged acceptability at the local/ward level of the party; the commitment and willingness of the party leadership to practise internal democracy.
In addition, he said he considered if the party’s doors truly open to Nigerian youths who wish to claim their country back and if it is a place where he feels truly welcome?
In an opinion article published in THISDAY yesterday, Atedo had written that he was excited at the possibility of many more Nigerian youths getting politically active between now and the 2023 general elections and what that portends for Nigeria.
“GoNigeria is an initiative of Anap Foundation. It started at the end of 2021 with 18 Advocates drawn from the 6 geopolitical zones. GoNigeria is a non-profit, non-partisan Movement dedicated to building a new voice for young people in Nigeria. It will remain true to its ideals.
“An increasingly large number of youths have since come back to me, to say that they have registered online with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and done their biometrics and so they expect to pick up their PVCs soon.
“Others have complained about obstacles and frustrations surrounding biometric capture (in particular) at some INEC Centres; this should be monitored and escalated as necessary. Some other youths however stress that they want to go beyond collection of PVCs and actually get involved in party politics, but outside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“They argue that choosing between the two large political parties is akin to a choice between “the devil and the deep blue sea” (my sincere apologies to the APC/PDP members who are GoNigeria Advocates and the many other good people in APC/PDP who are themselves victims of Godfatherism).
“Most Nigerians are deeply concerned about the state of our economy (high inflation and high unemployment) and also fear for their lives on account of the worsening security situation. Sadly, the poor economy aggravates the security situation and vice versa. It is also impossible to separate economics from politics. Perhaps many of us mistakenly concentrated on the economy for too long?”
