8/13/2019 Third Force

1/2

The THIRD FORCE

Sorry, but I m not talking about the snipers that General Obasanjo mentioned in his letter. There was no mention of snipers in this document. Thank God! But there is a plan to establish a THIRD FORCE

After carefully assessing the various challenges and hurdles that President Jonathan s team may confront in selling him to Nigerians in 2015, the authors of the 2013-2015: Political power and governance road map urgently recommended for the establishment of what they called the THIRD FORCE. According to them, the mandate of the THIRD FORCE will be to possess the national political and social center; to propagate Mr. President s vision of nationalist and patriotic values with uncommoncommitment and passion; to defend Mr. President s National Transformation policies and Programmes in an authentic and credible manner; to rally the non-partisansto the support of Mr. President and his party; and to deconstruct and de-legitimize the challenges posed by the APC with high moral authority, ethical standingand patriotic credentials.

The idea of the THIRD FORCE, it was argued, becomes necessary because it is hard to convince Nigerians through career politicians and people working for the government. Nigerians will not trust them. So, the government needs a neutral group of respected Nigerians to sell President Jonathan to Nigerians.

For this strategy to work, however, distance must be established between the gov

ernment and the THIRD FORCE. It must be seen as an independent entity to remainCREDIBLE and AUTHENTIC. The THIRD force would be answerable to what they calledthe FACILITATOR, appointed by the president as an intermediary between the THIRD FORCE and the Government.

One of the key responsibilities of the THIRD FROCE is to discredit APC by spreading the following message and information about the party.

I. The APC is nothing short of a potentially destabilizing political conspiracybetween extremist political forces in the North West and South West geo-political corridors with clients planted in other 4 geo-political zones

II. The APC is driven by vaunting, raw ambition by leadership that is powered by

arrogance, hubris and a holier-than-thou, know-it-all mentality

III. The APC is ideologically and morally bankrupt and is not a national political alternative to the PDP given the sordid and corrupt track record of its principal FINACIER and a number of its ranking functionaries

IV. The APC s record on internal party democracy is awful, distasteful and culticin nature

V. The APC wants to rely on sheer propaganda, lies, half-truths and vicious attacks on Mr. President as its main weapons of political war

VI. The APC is quite prepared to overheat the system and plunge Nigeria into cri

sis and corporate instability unless it achieves its main objective of taking over the country, by all means, and at all cost.

Who exactly are the members of this THIRD FROCE?

The document was very clear who the government plans to use and how. The THIRD FORCE must be composed of credible individuals who have high moral standing, who have impeccable patriotic credentials, who have distinguished themselves over the years in their chosen fields of endeavor, who have not held any visible position in the current government and who may even had to contend with or criticized t

8/13/2019 Third Force

2/2

he government at various time. The more independent-minded they have been in the past and the more distance they may have created between themselves and the government the more authentic and credible they will appear and the more ready thenon-partisans will be willing to buy into their pronouncements and other concrete activities.

How does the government plan to deploy the THRID FORCE to accomplish their political goal? This is also clear. The work plan of the THIRD FROCE will include, but is not limited to:

i. Multi-level media intervention (radio and TV talk-shows and interview programmes, newspaper adverts, opinion articles, back page comments, press releases/statements, press conferences/press briefings, exploitation of social media spacesand platforms, etc

ii. Strategy meetings, workshops, seminars, etc, for different public (political players, key civil society organs, media executives, labor leaders, youth and women organizations, operators in the security and intelligence community, inter-faith groupings, socio-cultural and socio-political unions).

iii. Occasional publications in the form of widely distributed monographs, pamphlets, flyers, proceedings of seminars, etc on TRANSFORMATION AGENDA, inculcation of patriotic values, peace and national security issues, negation of the politics of bitterness, discord and animosity being presently foisted on the nation by

the APCiv. Interface with foreign media at home and abroad, engagement with diplomaticmissions and international development, peace building and governance organizations.

Who is going to be responsible for managing the THIRD FORCE?

The FACILITATOR will be appointed by the President and The THIRD FORCE should bedriven by not more than 6 individuals with deep knowledge of, and extensive andstrategic penetration of labour, civil society, media, youth, women and ethnic nationalities spheres and platforms. Using the tactics and strategy of proactivepropaganda and rapid response the group will be highly mobile and capable of cre

ating and sustaining the work of various front organizations and pre-existing ones on short notice in the implementation of its over-all patriotic agenda.

I like the idea of the THIRD FORCE more than the idea of the Snipers mentioned by President Obasanjo in his letter.

I apologize for my delay in responding to your messages. As I mentioned early, I have limited access to Facebook and internet.

Good morning!