The African Reformation Party unveils a new political party (ARP) and seeks to probe past leaders from 1960 to date to recover stolen funds for the good of Nigerians said the leader of the group Kunle Okunola, a renowned businessman and former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate.
At an event which took place at the prestigious Voyage In and Hotel, Oregun, Ikeja Lagos State, ON 1ST Oct 2024, the political stalwarts who were drawn from across the country, averred that if the party is voted into power, it would probe past leaders of the country beginning from 1960 till date and that what they have stolen would be recovered for the good of the country.
Kunke, decried the reluctance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register new political parties instead it is deregistering some which the party said is not just unconstitutional but unlawful.
Okunola, who displayed several letters the party has written to the INEC since 2020 till date with responses from the electoral body, revealed that if by December 2024, the party is not registered, it would have no other choice than to occupy INEC offices in Nigeria until the party is registered.
The politician, who disclosed that the party came on board on the 1st of July, 2019, noted that they’ve embarked on nationwide registration of members and their target is to realise over 54 million members across the nation, saying that with such membership the party would win the 2027 election, adding that those who won election with only 8 million votes in a country of more than 200 million people have no mandate.
Okunola and his group made it clear that the expression of interest from in the party is free unlike in other parties where they charge as high as N100 million which automatically disenfranchises the poor from contesting the election.
He said, “The party is not going to ask for any nomination form and if we’re not going to ask for any nomination form, our tickets will be based on merit. It’s a crime that a political party that is registered with N1 million is asking for N100 million from aspirants, and N10 million from the aspirants, making the party only for the rich, pushing the poor in the background. Today, we have a bunch of criminals seeking offices with money.”
He said under his leadership with the level at which the economy is operating, minimum wage would be N700, 000. He decried a situation where less than 3000 people in the country are holding over 200million Nigerians hostage due to the weakness of the people to fight for their right.
Okunola hinted of his readiness to set up an agricultural prison where those convicted for syphoning the nation’s wealth would be sent to work for the people.
Speaking on the ideology of the party and how it began, he said, “The party believes in power rotation, in 2019 which marked the second tenure of former president, Muhammadu Buhari, we were bewildered by challenges of succession, and we knew that the Northerners were completing their eight years term and definitely power has to rotate to the south, and if power must rotate, we looked for somebody who has the political capacity and that was why we set up this movement, new reformation unity forum. Our movement is using political solution to solve Nigerian problem because we cannot take up arms against the government,
“And as at that time, we discovered that there was a prominent group who have obsession tendencies, we also saw that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has pitched their tent with the North and we’re talking about power rotation, so we had no other option than to support the All Progressives Congress (APC). I personally decamped from PDP for this purpose, and we were the first movement to see the vision that Bola Tinubu will become the president of this country. We toured the whole federation, we emphasized more on the north because we have to appeal to them to see reason, to God be the glory we achieved our aim through power rotation, we were able to achieve peace in the land, and we decided that 2027 is coming, you could see all the political parties Nigeria, we are tending towards one party system, the opposition that’s supposed to champion quality protest and add face to that protest for unity of the country, to ensure that there is good governance which was the purpose of the protest, but they did not. All the other political parties are cowards or beneficiaries of the present government. They refused to lead people like the present president did when he was in opposition, he led protests against a sitting government.”
He said that if you are a political party and as an opposition doing nothing, you are a conspirator, you are not also making the present government to deliver on her promise because you’re not putting them on their toes.
He stated that the present government is doing their best but Nigeria has moved beyond rhetoric. “We know the present government is doing her best but Nigeria has revolved beyond rhetoric, it has revolved beyond older people holding the mantle of leadership, leaders who cannot supervise what their office is all about.
“In Nigeria everybody is doing all they like, not because there’s no leader, but just because those leaders are tired. Retirement age in the country is 60 years and if you are giving political offices to people above 60 years at 80 years, what do you expect? This movement wants to change the narrative, and that is why we’re gathered here today, all the six geopolitical zones are here including the diaspora,” he stated.
