Why we picked Ribadu – Akande

Posted by admin Action Congress of Nigeria, National Politics, Party Politics Sunday, January 16th, 2011

The national chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Adebisi Akande, has said that the party picked former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as its presidential candidate because of the need to allow youths to take over governance of the country.

Answering questions from newsmen in his home town, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, during the celebration of his 72nd birthday on Sunday, Chief Akande said that his party picked Ribadu to promote the youth and women to the pinnacle of governance in the country.

According to him, “in August last year, our party, the ACN decided to migrate from the recycling of elders because we felt that the military had destroyed the youth of the country and, as a result, we awarded more marks to the youth and Nuhu Ribadu falls in that category.

“Secondly, the two other aspirants, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa and Alhaji Malami, voluntarily withdrew from the race and we had to respect their decision and adopted Ribadu as our presidential candidate.”

Chief Akande, who said that the ACN was not imposing any candidate, said that what the party was doing was the British type of democracy where aspirants would emerge through a process.

Answering another question on the alliance with other political parties, the ACN chairman, who said that the party was not foreclosing an alliance with other political parties stated that the ACN decided to field its own presidential candidate because it has the confidence of winning the April 2011 presidential election.

Said he: “We were talking to CPC and ANPP to form an alliance but the discussion was too slow and ACN has more confidence of winning the election and by April this year, we are taking over the presidency from the PDP.”

Chief Akande, while noting that there was an improvement in the INEC of today than that of the past, stated that the party was only nursing the fear of the police because “the IGP has not told us where they are going and what they are going to do during the elections.”

He warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, not to attempt to rig election in Lagos State, adding that Jonathan and the PDP will burn their fingers if they attempted to take over Lagos State from the ACN.

-Tribunewp_posts