The June 23rd convention of the All Progressives Congress took a new dimension regarding the race for the National Chairmanship of the party with the former Governor of Cross-River State, His Excellency Chief Clement Ebiri's recent declaration to join the race.

Chief Clement a former Governor of Cross River state who had earlier obtained his nomination form to contest for the highly elated position made his formal declaration on June 6th in Cross River state he was joined by thousands of party faithfuls and supporters.

The speech read:

DECLARATION OF ASPIRATION FOR THE POSITION OF NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) BY HIS EXCELLENCY, CHIEF CLEMENT DAVID EBRI, AT TRANSCORP HOTEL, CALABAR, CROSS RIVER STATE, ON WEDNESDAY, 6TH JUNE, 2018.


I welcome you most warmly to the historic city of Calabar, seat of Nigeria’s pre-modern administrative headquarters, and venue of the public declaration of my candidacy for the position of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This declaration holds at a time when the party faces enormous challenges related to its leadership and when the great accomplishments of the Muhammadu Buhari administration can be reversed if we do not make concerted efforts to stabilize our ruling party and ensure victory at the polls a few short months away.
The decision to run for this exalted office was not taken lightly but in deeply-rooted and protracted consultation with my family, friends, political associates and major stakeholders in our great party. I have been humbled and inspired by the wide-ranging support that I have received from APC members who have a record of placing crucial national priorities above more provincial interests. I came away from these consultations with the conviction that the fate of our beloved country, Nigeria, is inextricably tied to the fate of our party. In other words, as the APC goes, Nigeria goes. A party without strong norms of internal democracy cannot bequeath any standard democratic or ethical ideals to a nation. Hence, our ruling party must be seen to be treading the right path in all its actions.
We are the helmsmen of the Nigerian ship of state. What happens in the leadership of this country’s ruling party, the APC, is directly responsible for whether we can work to reduce poverty, eradicate hunger, provide adequate health services, improve infrastructure and energy supply, scale up education to globally competitive standards, protect our environment, enhance security, and pave the way for the accomplishment of all the sustainable development goals.
It is 19 years since we ushered in the current democratic dispensation, propelled by the determination to build and sustain strong institutions in keeping with the ideal and spirit of the 1999 Constitution. Four years ago, the major political parties – the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All-Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – recognized the imperative for united action to confront and take over the reins of power from a long-sitting but poorly performing political party. They successfully merged to birth the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I commend the vision and sacrifices of all of our members who participated and contributed to the grand strategy that led to our great party’s electoral victory in 2015. We owe them an indelible debt of gratitude.
The coming together of a group of political parties to secure electoral victory at Federal Government Level and in several States, however, is one thing while the provision of the needed Party Leadership to truly weld the different cooperating platforms into one united organic party that effectively dissolves and defuses pre-existing parties and tendencies, achieve stability by managing size and success, embrace expansion, offer a definite programme direction to its members in government and religiously monitor and hold both itself and the government to public accountability, is quite another matter. This latter weakness stands out as the greatest challenge confronting our great party today.
While Nigerians agree with the new culture of change we have introduced in the way of doing things, both party members and non-members, including the international community of which Nigeria is a visible member, recognize the challenge that “Change must begin with us.” Across the length and breadth of our country and at different platforms/levels of our party organization, there is visible evidence of poorly handled, unresolved and lingering intra-party crises, disagreements and conflicts all of which create internal contradictions that have the potential to derail us from the primary goal for which our great party was established, namely, to take, expand and retain governmental power at all levels.
As the 2019 National Elections approach, our great party has rightly commenced the process for the emergence of a strong and united platform that will propel us to electoral victory again. Great men and women are now needed to rise to the challenge of providing the visionary, effective and broad based organizational leadership on whose wide shoulders the destiny of our great party, Government, people and Country will rest. I have given careful thought to these enormous challenges, examined the inter-play of various circumstances, assessed my experience and potential and, most of all, I have been challenged by my undying love for our great party and our country, to take a bold and determined step forward.
This is why I have accepted to hold an inclusive Town Hall Meeting where participants, representing various political, economic, social, religious and other identified interests and opinions will join me in charting the path for the emergence of a truly united, inclusive and great party in which “Every Voice Counts”.
I believe that a fundamental task of the APC is to win elections. After this is achieved, it should offer its elected officials a means for organizing government as it becomes the primary link between the people and government. What I discuss below are my ideas as to how to achieve these primary missions of the party. If we remain embroiled in crises, Nigeria will stagnate. This infighting and bickering do not bode well for our democracy and our honour – the commitment we made to serve our people rather than ourselves. If we continue this way, millions of our people will suffer. That child driven home from school in the morning because the parents could not afford the fees represents the human casualty of the character of our party politics. That pregnant woman without health insurance or access to the care she needs is a signpost of our lack of comprehension and, perhaps, competence. The village elder sitting alone and drained, hungry and tired, is the human footnote to the final loss of compassion and the capacity to care.
The tragic content of life in Nigeria is directly linked to the quality of party governance. If we can cause party governance to acquire the veneer of responsibility and integrity that is the hallmark of our central administration under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, we would be half way to uhuru for our people. These are some of the agonising contemplations as well as visions of promise that have encouraged me to run for office as National Chairman of our great party.
As you know, the position of the National Chairmanship has been zoned to the South-South Geopolitical Zone of which Cross River State is a part. The general thinking of many well-meaning stakeholders in the party is that the rotational principle, which is so central to the sense of equity within APC, should be demonstrated within this geopolitical context. The states, which are the constituent parts of the respective geopolitical zones, should, where conditions allow, produce credible officers on an equitable basis.
In this regard, I am indeed privileged to inform you that it has been one of my highest honours to serve this very state (Cross River) as its elected Civilian Governor (1992-1993). I subsequently went on to serve our nation more directly as Chairman of the Presidential Committee set up to review the 1999 Constitution (2000-2001) and also as National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (January 2008- August 2009). In these capacities, I developed a holistic vision of what constitutes the Nigerian state and estate along with an inclusive approach to the administration of complex organizations, such as political parties, related to it.
I ask that you consider the following pertinent areas of advantage, by way of iteration, that would make my candidacy credible and generate stature and momentum for our party as we approach the general elections next year.
1. Our party is that historical party, which is in power in Africa’s largest democracy at a time when global forces can prove overwhelming for citizens whose social and economic positioning in a local context might exclude from the benefits from our democracy. My antecedents show that I can calmly balance these forces to reduce exclusion and build massive confidence in our goal to develop a lasting prosperous nation. The national leadership of our party is quite central to this purpose.

2. I am a firm believer in the idea that our party belongs to the people and that their voices should count in the decisions we take. I am persuaded that this idea is not only one that is rooted in our party’s progressive moral philosophy but is also of prime strategic value because it is from the solidity of our base and the consolidated confidence of our constituencies that we can go on to build a towering APC.
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3. I am an experienced mediator and conciliator who can bring highly developed conflict management skills to the table as APC National Chairman. I believe that an abrasive personality and intolerant attitudes are not helpful if one presides over a heated system. This is because I have been schooled in the ancient African notion that birds do not build their nests in trees that are troubled by tempestuous winds for, otherwise, the nests can be easily displaced. Instead, they seek trees that are stable and ordinarily calm but which have deep taproots that enable them safeguard all the nests of interests that their branches carry.

4. The human resource investments in Cross River State by the Federal Government are enormous and should be justified by harmonizing available forces and resources to ensure that our party takes over the leadership of the state in 2019 and, thereby, bring development to our people, and increase participation within our intra-party gubernatorial fold.

5. As National Chairman of the APC – should I indeed be so fortunate to be given this opportunity – I would work tirelessly and characteristically to position the party technologically in order to keep the youth invested in our politics while simultaneously developing the human side of our engagements. None shall be left out. I can do this because I have never been identified with polarizing politics. Rather, I believe in the unity of this nation and the harmony and interdependent participation and reward of those who call it home.

6. As National Chairman of the APC, I will, in conjunction with other officers and members, make APC’s existing organs, all 30 of them, to function at optimal levels. All the organs of the party should communicate effectively. They must not be allowed to exist in silos and operate as lone rangers. The power and effectiveness of the party depends, in part, on a strong network of its community of party organs. National leaders should always be in touch with them. There will be cohesion and cohesiveness. This can be achieved through a strong IT presence including a possible APC app designed to allow all party organs and members to be constantly in touch with each other and the party. This is one way of creating solidarity and a sense of belonging in real time and of mitigating the effects of unconscionable propaganda in an era of fake news and untruthfulness.

7. As National Chairman of the APC, I will design rapid response mechanisms to petitions and complaints. I will encourage activities at local party levels such as cooperatives, empowerment programmes, group lending schemes and awareness programmes. All these and others will help along with a verifiable culture of internal democracy, transparency and accountability to encourage commitment to the party by all members.

8. As National Chairman of the APC, I will work to unify our members into an effective and winning electoral coalition. This will provide us with a group of strong loyal supporters on most issues, one that will frequently vote our candidates into office.

9. As National Chairman of the APC, I will advance the idea that the ability of our party to recruit the best candidates that will win elections will be the root of its future victories. We must make adequate provisions to offer our party’s candidates functional training and support. More than this, we must not only help those who need to raise funds, but we must do our best to turn out voters on Election Day.

10. As National Chairman of the APC, I will also promote the significance of Skilled Information Management. Right from the level of the wards, information should be made to percolate up through the networks to the centre. Proper information management is also essential for appropriate budget allocation. We must pay attention to local needs and try as much as possible to empower party leaders at subnational levels of party authority.

11. As National Chairman of the APC, I will pursue a policy of constructive outreach to all sections of the country and all sectors of the economy and the business world as well as to major stakeholders and traditional leaders all over the country. The party will invest in a party newspaper to provide a forum for sharing positions on national issues as well as a place for members to share opinions. I will also organize periodic meetings with government officials to monitor consistency in the implementation of party platforms.
Distinguished party members, this is indeed a historic moment because, today, I pledge myself afresh to the rebuilding of a great nation and a great party. As I have stated elsewhere before, “No party can give democracy to the people except it demonstrates democracy in the running of its own affairs.” This will be the lesson of the forthcoming National Convention. It is to this cause – the need to achieve internal democracy within the APC as a means of delivering development to our people – that I am at this moment dedicating my life.
Let the campaigning be decent and without rancour, as befits the activities of Progressives. In the true spirit of democracy, we shall involve all our members because we believe that the task of running the party and lifting it to great heights is a shared responsibility.
Let me, please, at this juncture, place on record my gratitude for the efforts of all those who have made this event possible. We thank the organisers of this public declaration, the security forces who have ensured that this was a peaceful exercise in a secure environment, and friends and well-wishers who have travelled quite some distance to be here. I ask that you take time out of your busy schedules to take in the warmth and charm of this city and, if you are able, the rest of the state. A visit to the iconic Old Residency Museum will reinforce the enormity of the grave and enormous undertaking to which we have just pledged ourselves.
Thank you once again for joining me at this historic public declaration of my candidacy for the position of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress. I look forward to carrying the conversations we have here forward with you and am counting on your support for a successful National Convention on 23rd June, 2018.
May the Almighty continue to be gracious to us, bestow on us His peace, which passes all understanding, and may He as always bless our President, his able lieutenants and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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