By Raphael Okhiria
A highly respected grassroots politician based in Benin City, Edo State, Hon. Sunny Aguebor, popularly known as ‘BIBI’, has given reasons why he refused to decamp from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling-All Progressives Congress (APC), but instead moved to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Aguebor, who is well vast and knowledgeable about the political system in the state, said his decision to venture into politics beginning from the year 2007 was to help bring about the desired positive democratic change in the country.
The successful international businessman noted that because he didn’t get the opportunity to realise his avowed desire to contribute his political quota under the PDP, which has lately become a crisis ridden party, he decided to crosscarpet to the ADC.
“Well, I now see that the ADC is the only political platform that is genuinely interested in bringing positive democratic benefits to the majority of Nigerians. Hence, I have decided to pitch my political tent with the party.”
On why he didn’t join the APC, Hon. Aguebor noted that the party was not his ideal political party, saying that for the past 11 years, the APC has been taking Nigerians round the circle of excruciating torture with no end in sight.
According to him, “I can’t join the APC because the people there don’t seem to know what they are doing except the fact that they know best how to inflict untold hardship on the people of this country.
“You see, a lot of politicians have different reasons for joining politics. Some people are there for pecuniary reasons, some people are there for very selfish interests, which is very personal to them. But as for me, I did not join politics because I wanted something personal.
“I joined politics to change Nigeria for a better country. I joined politics in order to improve,
generally, on the welfare of our people. For me, the APC has failed woefully, woefully in every
facet.
“So, there’s no way I could have been part of that kind of arrangement. If I had decided to join the APC, maybe there’s nothing I would have been asking for that they would not give to me. But that would have been personal and selfish interests, but I do that because of whom I am.
“So, if Nigeria must be put in the right state, then there’s the need for people of like minds to come together, rally around, and put a narrative of changing what is going on presently. At least, we all live in this country. The same Nigeria where you were born, the same Nigeria where you have lived, the same Nigeria where we have everything in the past.
“Is it the same Nigeria that we are now? A lot of things have changed. I’ll give you a personal example. In this country, I remember many years ago, that was in 1981, I was in HSC, and I remember receiving a bursary.
“Then, when eventually I went to the university, I also remember getting a bursary. Those were benefits. Those are things that the students of today, they don’t know that such a thing ever existed. It’s the same country, I remember very well.
“Because my parents were in the North. My dad was in Jos. Each time I travelled to see my dad
from Lagos to Jos, I had access to what they call a rebate ticket to Nigeria Airways. Very, very cheap rebates. Because of my being a student, then.
“As a student, you just go to Students Affairs. You go to Nigeria Airways’ office at the university premises and get a rebate to fly at a very cheap rate.
“These were things we enjoyed. So, this present generation of Nigerians, they don’t even know
what has really gone wrong. So, because I’m a product of that very good system, it’s my desire to see a better country that all Nigerians will be proud of. It’s doable. All we need is to have the right people in positions of authority. That’s my desire, and that’s what the ADC stands for.”