Opposition politicians have united to launch a new political party, ahead of the 2027 general election.
The party, the African Reformation Party (ARP) is led by Kunle Okunola, a renowned businessman and former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate.
The new party aims to provide a viable alternative to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which has been criticized for its handling of socioeconomic issues.
Kunle Okunola, ARP’s leader, expressed his dissatisfaction with President Tinubu’s failure to fulfill campaign promises and address Nigeria’s pressing problems..
Okunola said that ARP would prioritize transparency, accountability, and good governance. He noted that the existing political parties have failed Nigerians and have been compromised by the federal government.
The African Reformation Party seeks to probe past leaders from 1960 to date and recover stolen funds. This move is aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in governance. Additionally, the party aims to register over 54 million members nationwide and ensure free expression of interest and merit-based tickets.
Okunola 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 are going to 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, N10 million from the aspirants, making the party only for the rich, pushing the poor in the background. Today what we have is a bunch of criminals seeking offices with money.”
ARP also proposes setting up an agricultural prison for those convicted of syphoning national wealth and increasing the minimum wage to N700,000.
Okunola displayed letters exchanged with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) since 2020, urging registration. He warned that if ARP is not registered by December 2024, the party will occupy INEC offices until registration is completed.
Speaking on the ideology of the party and how it began, he said, “The party believes in power rotation, 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 solutions to solve Nigerian problems 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 People’s 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”.
