A Speech Delivered By The President Of Capp Hajiya Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu At The 10th Meeting Of The Standing Committee Of Capp In Tunis, Tunisia On The 15th Of January 2018.

By Francis John 

A SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT OF CAPP HAJIYA DR. RAMATU TIJJANI ALIYU AT THE 10TH MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF CAPP IN TUNIS, TUNISIA ON THE 15TH OF JANUARY 2018.

Dr. Ali Nafi Ali - Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) Secretary General, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu President – CAPP and Ambassador Sayed

Fellow Comrades,Dr. Ali Nafi Ali - Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) Secretary General, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu President – CAPP and Ambassador Sayed

I welcome you all to the 10th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Council of African political parties (CAPP). We could not have chosen a better venue than this beautiful city. Tunis is a great city and Tunisia is blessed with warm people and a rich heritage. I urge us all to make ourselves at home.

Permit me to use this opportunity to once congratulate the elected executives of CAPP standing committee; the 5 vice Presidents and my humble self. Our commitment is to give better attention to the agenda set by the Council; a lot of us have given it our best efforts and will continue to do so. Although some of the familiar challenges remain, but we remain resolute.

Some landmark events in the recent past shaped the outlook of our continent especially in the last 12 months. On the political front we had the elections in Kenya which became contentious and subject of litigation. We are very happy that this situation came to a resolution without resort to major instability or bloodshed. Secondly, we also witnessed the change of guard in Zimbabwe in a quite remarkable turn of events which ushered in the current administration. We are also satisfied that the people of Zimbabwe seem happy with the development. The election of President George OpongWeah in Liberia was another success story because it not just represented their first successful handover of power but also to an opposition party. Other political events also occurred or are ongoing across the continent and we urge our African brothers to take a cue from the good examples set by others and find a good resolution.

A Cross Section of Delegates at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) in Tunis.

On other fronts we witnessed a wide range of events from diplomatic issues to insurgency and even natural disasters. On the diplomatic front the migrants’ crisis and human rights abuse in Libya dominated the discuss. I must once again commend us all at CAPP for standing up and lending our voices in condemnation of this nefarious act. This migrants issue is one that must be adequately addressed by the active collaboration of all stakeholders including but not limited to the African Union, ECOWAS, Libya, affected African countries as well as CAPP.

The natural disaster by way of 'mudslide' which claimed many lives in Sierra Leone is still fresh in our minds. But one positive we must take away from that unsavory incident is the empathy and comradery demonstrated by other countries especially on the continent. We can equally call on the international community to in the same light find a more permanent solution to the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan as well as the instability in Somalia.

It was not all gloom and doom however, as in the past few months a sizable number of the innocent Chibok girls abducted by terrorist from a school in Chibok, North-East Nigeria have been rescued as a result of the unrelenting efforts of the present Federal government of Nigeria. We must therefore congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as the families of the rescued girls.

However, as a body CAPP will continue to pursue its agenda of a united and prosperous Africa. To achieve better results going forward we must find a way to better address some of our operational challenges. In particular, we must find a way to elicit and receive better support from our home countries and political parties towards our programs at CAPP. We also urge member States to endeavor to pay their dues to CAPP as and when due. This will go a long way towards mitigating our logistical and financial constraints.

Having said that, I must not fail to appreciate the great efforts and support of the good people of Sudan; in particular President Omar Al- Bashir for his unwavering commitment to the success of CAPP. We urge other African leaders to do the same.

In conclusion, I must once again thank all of you for making it here and I wish us all fruitful deliberations.

Thank you for listening.