Dumebi Kachikwu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot beat the party in the 2023 election.
Mr Kachikwu said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.
He said the two major parties stood no chance of winning as they have failed Nigerians.
“The country has continued to lag in all indices of development since 1999 when PDP assumed power after which it handed over to APC in 2015,” he said.
Mr Kachikwu said the indices of good governance anchored on the rule of law in Nigeria have remained negative since the return to civil rule in 1999.
He said the two dominant parties gravely impoverished the country and made it the “poverty capital of the world.”
“Today, the inflation rate has rallied to a 17-year high of 20.5 per cent up from 8.06 per cent in 2014 before the APC took over the reins of power at the centre in 2015, notwithstanding the humongous debt the party has amassed for the country through reckless borrowing.
“This rate of inflation simply means that the average Nigerian cannot afford basic daily necessities like three square meals due to skyrocketing food prices and other essential services like healthcare and education for their children,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to reinvent the country by voting for ADC, saying that the party has the vision and the know-how to turn the fortunes of the country around.
The ADC presidential candidate urged Nigerians to vote wisely in 2023 to reclaim, revive and restore the positive destiny of Nigeria.
Mr Kachikwu said he would unveil his plans for the election on Tuesday.
Mr Kachikwu was purportedly expelled by a faction of the ADC led by Ralph Nwosu who had run the party for 17 years until he was removed by another group in the party which set up an interim leadership headed by Patricia Akwashiki, a former PDP senator.
Despite the expulsion, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published his name on the final list of presidential candidates on 20 September.