Meet Dumebi Kachikwu, ADC Presidential Candidate
Dumebi Kachikwu is the founder and Chairman of Roots Television Nigeria. He emerged as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2023 general elections.
Moghalu, who joined the ADC in October 2021, was Young Progressives Party (YPP) presidential candidate in 2019.
Dumebi is the younger brother of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.
He was declared the winner after scoring 977 votes; Moghalu polled 589 votes; Chukwuka Monye got 339 votes.
Eight other aspirants participated in the presidential primary in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
He promised to create equal opportunities for men and women and an enhanced welfare package for teachers and initiate a technology-driven education and healthcare system to stop medical and education tourism abroad.
The ADC presidential aspirant pledged to eliminate corruption by ensuring that Nigerian workers are paid better salaries and build modern cities with better amenities, world-class health facilities and accessible and affordable internet services across the country.
He promised to redirect the vast energies of youths to a productive venture like trading with their technical skills rather than engaging in online scams popularly called ‘yahoo.’
He said if elected President, he would collaborate with state governments to invest in power generation, build broadband internet infrastructure and limit states and the private sector to distribution activities only.
Kachikwu said: “Together we can design a new menu for our people. We will rebuild Nigeria from the ground up and do away with the faulty and archaic colonial foundation that now characterises our current existence. We must define our common charter as Nigerians and constitute a new nation that is not only inclusive for all but guarantees equal rights and expressions to all irrespective of tribe, tongue and religion.
This new Nigeria must come first before any other identification. It will be our common bond as we do away with all colonial relics of division, mistrust and hatred.
“No longer will we engage based on Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba or North and South but on the basis of Nigeria, our only fatherland. We will resist all those who make religion and tribe their mantra. It will no longer be business as usual. We will zone out all proponents of zoning and usher in a Nigeria that promotes merit, character and knowhow above primordial sentiments.
“Every component part of Nigeria is blessed with those who have the talents and abilities to pilot the affairs of Nigeria and we must create the enabling environment for these people to emerge in government and governance. Nigeria will no longer be associated with mediocrity as we will invest in our citizens, our greatest asset. The toga of lazy youths won’t stand as we build the greatest workforce on earth. We must build a workforce that knows today and understands the demands and dictates of tomorrow. We can no longer be in conflict with what we don’t know as we make policy somersaults over modern age financial instruments like bitcoins.”
“We cannot be seen to be banning and unbanning platforms like twitter that define the expression of the modern man. No longer will our citizenry be driven to the dark web and unconventional means of communications as they seek to hide from a repressive Government.
Government is and should be a big brother and not a big bully. Millions of our citizenry still live without light and potable water in the year 2022. This is unconscionable.
On power generation and distribution, Kachikwu said: “There is no rocket science to generating power, neither is there magic in distributing power. Our debilitating challenges are man-made and we must use an iron fist in crushing those whose decades of evil practice in our public service space have led us to the brink. We will treat those who sabotage our nation and way of life as saboteurs.”
He also promised to stop public servants from foreign medical treatment and their wards from schooling abroad, saying, “We can’t have different rules for different criminals. If you do the crime, you do the time. If given the privilege to lead you my first executive interface with the National Assembly will include a bill, I have dubbed the Nigerian Patriot Act. It is a bill of equality and fairness. It is a bill that says we are all in this together. It is a bill that would ensure that public servants cannot use the privileges they cannot provide for the common man.
“If you desire to be in the public service, you must use the same services the masses use. No private or foreign schools for our families, no private or foreign hospitals for us or our families, no generators or boreholes in our homes. If we desire efficient and effective education, healthcare, utilities, etc we must make it available to all so that we may all equally benefit from it, “ Kachikwu said.