The National Chairman of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Bishop Amakiri, has expressed doubts about the ability of the coalition movement to save Nigeria from its leadership and economic woes.
Amakri noted that Nigeria is in urgent need of political leadership substitution but questioned the ability of the coalition leaders to provide the needed change.
According to him, 85% of the current composition of the opposition coalition working towards removing President Bola Tinubu in 2027 were also part of the previous governments responsible for the current situation in the country.
He described the coalition as a group of political power mongers who have failed Nigerians in the past and are only coming together to satisfy their selfish desire to reclaim power.
Naijaonpoint reports that the YPP Chairman, who spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, said the coalition is simply a collection of recycled political elites who have nothing meaningful to offer the country.
“I have a problem, and it is whether 85 per cent of people in that coalition have the moral justification to tell us about a coalition that will liberate the Nigerian people from the political leadership quagmire we find ourselves in. Nigeria is in an emergency need of political leadership substitution.
“Eighty-five per cent of them are people who belong to the PPM coalition group, and those people, a conglomeration, almost 85 per cent gathering of people who have failed the nation.
“I don’t know how prospective that kind of group can actually push the agenda that they are talking about. The task is now left for Nigerians to decide,” he said.
Speaking further, Amakri submitted that most members of the coalition had been given a chance to lead Nigeria, and they failed abysmally.
“You can’t have a gathering of over 85 per cent of persons who have been given the opportunity to lead this country before – and where have they taken the country to? Abysmal failure.
“These are people who once threatened the sovereignty of a nation. Now they’re telling us they want to form a coalition? They have nothing to offer. They are just political power mongers trying to advance their interests,” he said.
The YPP Chairman, however, added that it is left for Nigerians to determine their leaders in the 2027 election.
“When 85 per cent of them belong to this so-called PPM – Political Power Mongers – I don’t know how prospective that kind of group can be. It’s now left for Nigerians to decide.
“Maybe they’ve taken Nigerians for granted – perhaps due to the docility of our people. Every year, they gather, give it a new name, and play with Nigeria like it’s table tennis, back and forth, while young people just watch,” he stated.
He accused the coalition of attempting to take over power without any clear plan for governance, just as another coalition successfully did in 2015.
“It’s the same thing they did in 2015 when they just wanted to kick out a president who was doing very okay. We had people in this country threaten to make the government ungovernable. Is this the kind of people we want to see forming a coalition again?” he said.
Amakri, however, defended the political strategy, ideology and stance of the YPP, saying the party remains on course to achieve its aim.
“We are not in a hurry to produce a president. Our major ambition is to take over the parliament. That’s why the YPP’s strategy is a more realistic one, aimed at legislative control. We are constrained, but we are focused,” he explained.