As activities leading to the commencement of the elections gear up, the All Progressives Youth Forum (APYF) transitioned to The Progressives Forum (TPF) for greater inclusion, wider reach, better representation and more strategic engagements.
The TPF founder, Ismaeel Ahmed said the objective of the forum which was to take part and take charge, has seen some significant impact in how the forum has added value to the government from providing policy direction to the delivery of policy execution through the various aides and appointees.
He expressed satisfaction that in the last 7 years, members of the group have taken elective and appointive positions that has added value to the government and impacted on the wellbeing of the people and on the performance of government.
He said: “Our mission is to take our destiny into our hands. We want to anchor the pool for professionals to take charge of policy-making and running the party structures. We want to bring our expertise and training to bear on the party structures and governance. We will be pushing for cabinet positions for our members and everybody involved in progressive ideology.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, Ife Adebayo who has served as chairman of APYF noted that the TPF is focused on strengthening the progressive impact on the party.
A significant part of the initiative that the TPF would bring to bear is the establishment of the Progressives Institute. An institute that would focus on developing leaders and the inculcation of the progressive ideals and ideology in future leaders.
Also speaking at the unveiling event, The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate’sspokesman Festus Keyamo had said that Nigeria owes the sustenance of the present multiparty democracy to the doggedness and integrity of the presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Keyamo, who went down memory lane made this declaration in Abuja on Tuesday whilst noting that Tinubu should be commended for his doggedness and his ideological standpoint.
He went on to identify the TPF as the missing link that will help in energizing the base, providing facts and figures that underscores the impressive performance of the government and the party. He noted that the TPF would be able to fill the gap of the missing salesman for the party and government going forward.
According to the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity: “Without Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, we will not have a multiparty democracy today. That’s the truth! He has earned it. If you are wise enough 2003, that was a turning point in Nigeria’s democracy. The PDP wiped out all the people and states in both the South and North.
He noted that it took the forthrightness of Tinubu to stand against the deft moves by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to turn the country into a one-party state in 2003.
This, he believed, were the ideals that must become of reference as efforts at instituting the progressivism as an ideology into the politics of the country.
“But Asiwaju fought back and kept Lagos. Although they nearly entered Lagos, he fought fiercely to recover it. At that point, they came to him and said, ‘Oya, Asiwaju come to PDP so that you won’t have problems in 2007.
“It takes a strength of character and conviction to say ‘No, I won’t join the ruling party.’ From Lagos, he started to fight back before he stretched his hands over the Niger and today, we have General Buhari in power.
“That is why we have a multiparty democracy today. If not, this country would have ended up as a one-party state. I usually say it. You may not want to vote for him but give him his credit. Without that man standing today, we would have only a party called the PDP. That’s the truth,” he said.
