National Coordinator of the Patriots Roundtable, an independent support group for the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima’s joint ticket, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu has stressed the need to ‘strengthen and enhance the national democratic space’ by supporting a winning team that can deliver the dividends of democracy .
‘’ After a thorough examination, sifting and sorting through the muddling melange of the presidential candidates and their ideals and promptings, we have decided to pitch camp with the Tinubu -Shettima ticket based on our vision and their vision about the indivisibility of the Nigerian Union , predicated on equity and fairness, resolved on a unifying accommodation of all members of our diverse Union, without favoritism to any tribe or sectarian recourse’’, he said.
Fielding questions during at the press conference at its Lekki office earlier today, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu stressed the need for patriotic Nigerians to be decisive in their stance, in the interest of a united, indivisible nation .
‘’At every critical juncture of a nation state, all patriots must stake their purpose in the continuity of their country. All patriots must proclaim their position amid the conflicting national fray. All patriots must stand out, boldly identifying with some defining values and verities’’ he said.
The National Coordinator however stressed that the group would not hesitate to criticise any untoward action or move by the Tinubu-Shettima team if it felt such was not in the national interest.
He emphasised the role of the Patriots Roundtable as ‘predicated on the patent indivisibility of the Nigerian Union pivoted on fairness , equity and justice , indifferent to tribal or sectarian identity’.
excerpts from the speech ;
The Nigerian Union is at a crossroads. It is weighed down by multifarious historical challenges and a bitter and pestiferous burden of the present.
There are hurdles everywhere. Voices are colliding in sometimes crude, fissiparous passion.
But we must move from the brink. We must withdraw from the destructive edge. We must steer towards compromise and the peace of the Roundtable.
Our position is borne upon necessary amity and accommodating fairness. Our guiding vision is about Truth and conscionable shepherding as the defining core of nation building.
This is the Patriots Roundtable leitmotif . Amid the holler and conflicting ideals about the Nigerian journey as our nation pivots towards the 2023 general elections , we have joined the fray to enlighten and guide, to contribute and support , to strengthen and enhance the national democratic space.
We will engage without bias. We will debate without malice. We will tussle in the intellectual fray of ideas and idealism with purposeful patriotic largeness.
We will henceforth advocate with vigorous assertion as an Independent Support Group for Tinubu – Shettima dream ticket , ultimately believing that this dynamic duo is borne upon an inherent undying idealism that will heal the broken places, that will rectify the ancient wrongs, that will mend the wounds of old , and God’s willing , pull our nation out of the present variegated challenges.
The journey ahead will be tough and tasking. There will be nay-sayers and malignant agents of envy and recidivism. There will be provocateurs of ruin pretending salvaging emblems.
We are ready. We are proven, steadfast , focused and firm, unyielding in this patriotic grapple’’.
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