By Sanni Onogu, Abuja
Founder of Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation for Economic Empowerment, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, on Wednesday, said that he is confident that President Muhammadu Buhari would bequeath a legacy of free and fair elections in Nigerians at the end of his tenure.
This is even as the business magnate unveiled a political platform – The New Nigeria Group – in furtherance of his presidential ambition for 2023.
Ohuabunwa who recently declared intention to contest the 2023 presidential election, spoke to reporters during the launch of the NNG and interaction with the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Abuja.
He said he believes that President Buhari would sign the Electoral Reforms Bill being considered by the National Assembly into law.
“I am not trusting in Buhari to do the electoral reforms, I don’t put my trust in any human being, because remember the Bible said how miserable for anybody that trusts in the arm of flesh.
“What I have said is that from what I have seen in the last two elections, I am not talking about an electoral law or no electoral law.
“We don’t need any electoral law to conduct a free and fair elections, we don’t, it is for us to determine to have a free and fair election and this can happen in my favour and the favour of Nigeria.
“I said I can read the President’s body language. He is interested. I predicted this in Benin (City) during the election that (Godwin) Obaseki’s election was going to be a part of the new Nigeria.
“I said so and it is on tape because I knew from what I saw there the election was generally free and fair and it worked and Ondo was almost the same thing.
“I am seeing a trend and that trend will continue. Again Nigerians have become wiser, because they have been in this business for too long, they have been collecting money and they end up where they started.
“They have been pushed to do what they don’t want to do, voted for people they don’t believe in because of pecuniary considerations or stomach infrastructure and after that, they are returned to penury.
“Nigerians are becoming enlightened and that is the job of the New Nigerian Group to get more Nigerians to understand that if we want to change the situation we must take our state in our hands vote the right candidate, protect the votes as they did in the two states of Edo and Ondo.
“I also believe the Electoral Act would be signed into law. What happened in 2018 is not the same, everybody that wants to leave office will like to leave a legacy.
“I trust that President Buhari will leave a legacy of bequeathing free and fair elections,” Ohuabunwa said.
The NNG, according to the former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Pfizer/Neimeth, plans to mobilize like-minded citizens to install enlightened, visionary, and committed leadership in the country.
He said that the group is out to make the country a first-world nation “where all the citizens live in harmony, are treated equally to achieve peace and prosperity for all.”
He listed the core values and guiding philosophy of the group to include knowledge, industry, integrity, patriotism, justice, freedom/liberty and godliness.
He noted that the four challenges facing the country which he hopes to tackle if voted into office as president include poverty, corruption, injustice and insecurity.
He insisted that solving the problem of poverty would largely solve the problem of corruption while solutions to injustice will help deal with insecurity.
He said he has been moving around the country to sell the vision of a new Nigeria where things will be done on merit and in the fear of God.
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He said that the country must shift from a nation of importers and consumers to a haven of innovators and producers.
“We need to work hard and work smart to raise our productivity and be in a position to increase our gross national productivity in an effort to improve prosperity and drive down poverty,” he said.
He lamented that the country is divided due to misguided leadership.
“Every child born in this country should have an equal chance with every other child to achieve his or her full potentials without discrimination as to his state of birth, ethnicity or religion,” he said.
He said that the group seeks courageous Nigerians that can stand up to their convictions.
He added that the NNG believes that the country has underperformed as a result of a lack of integrity in its leadership thereby fueling endemic corruption.
“The new Nigeria we seek must be birthed by a crop of Nigerians who are principled and with high moral and spiritual strength to stand up for what is right and righteous,” he said.
Ohuabunwa said that he is not in a hurry to pitch his tent with any of the existing political parties at the moment.
He said that the group would choose from any of the existing political parties to actualise its presidential ambition at the appropriate time.
The high point of the event was the unveiling of the logo of the political movement.
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