THE CONSTITUTION, GUIDELINES & PRINCIPLES

THE CONSTITUTION, GUIDELINES & PRINCIPLES OF UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (UPMF) Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 1

THE CONSTITUTION, GUIDELINES & PRINCIPLES OF UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (UPMF) PREAMBLE We, the members of UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM a non-for-profit political movement do firmly and solemnly resolve to provide for ourselves a constitution and to be governed by the provisions therein contained. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ARTICLE 1 - NAME: The Name of the ASSOCIATION is UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (a.k.a. THE PROGRESSIVES). The names UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM and THE PROGRESSIVES shall be equal. ARTICLE 2 - ADDRESS The address of the Association shall be situated in 2D South East Pavillion, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos State, Nigeria ARTICLE 3 - VISION, MISSION AND AIMS & OBJECTIVES 3.1 VISION To elect the right (progressive) leaders across all levels of governance in Nigeria 3.2 MISSION By building a followership of at least 1m middle class Nigerians passionate and committed enough to influence our political processes. 3.3 AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. To contribute to the pluralist enlightenment of citizens and to the exercise of their freedoms and political rights 2. To study and debate the problems of political, economic, social and cultural life at the local, national and international level 3. To present political programmes and prepare election manifestoes 4. To encourage and prepare able Nigerians for democratically representative elected bodies 5. Particularly from an opposition standpoint, to criticise the activities of the various bodies that belong to the State, the Autonomous Regions, local authorities and the international organisations to which Nigeria belongs 6. To participate in the clarification of issues which are submitted to national, regional or local referendum. 7. To promote the training and political preparation of citizens for a direct and active participation in democratic public life Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 2

8. In general, to help promote fundamental rights and freedoms and the development of democratic institutions. ARTICLE 4 - CONSTITUTION, GUIDELINES AND PRINCIPLES In accordance with Article 3 above, the TRUSTEE of UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (a.k.a. THE PROGRESSIVES) hereby decrees that this Constitution, Guidelines and Principles document possess the force to guide all members and officers under this movement: CHAPTER II: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES ARTICLE 1 POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL FUNCTION THE PROGRESSIVES (UPMF) shall respect the differences between the various indigenous people, ethnicities and religion and adopt policies that express the general will of the people; protect the wishes of the weak, defenceless and needy bonded in the united geographical entity called Nigeria ARTICLE 2 - PURPOSES The purposes of THE PROGRESSIVES shall be: 1. Build a community of at least 1m middle class followers across various locations and sectors if Nigerian economy. 2. Encourage and support each member to engage in an active political mobilization of at least 50 persons per member and encourage them to vote the right candidate. 3. We shall build active mobilization units across all political wards and Local Government Areas in Nigeria. 4. Each middle class member should be willing to contribute at least #1,000 monthly as means of crowd funding the campaign of our qualified candidates 5. Our Policy & Research Team will develop defined guidelines to qualify progressive aspirants that accept to work with us 6. Our Logistics & Grassroots team will develop grassroots followership across states, zones, LGAs & about 9K wards across the country 7. Synergy team will pioneer alliances with other groups for good governance 8. We shall make all our activities visible via the Media Team and they shall be the vehicle for our advocacy & activism activities ARTICLE 3 NATURE AND DURATION THE PROGRESSIVES is registered with the name UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (UPMF) as a legal entity according with the Corporate Affairs Commission in line with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and shall remain and managed as such throughout the life of the party. Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 3

ARTICLE 4 PRINCIPLES OF REGISTRATION a) THE PROGRESSIVES shall be registered in line with requirement for registration of Associations in the guidelines of the Federal Government of Nigeria. b) THE PROGRESSIVES is open to partner with other social media groups for good governance that share same visions and values. c) THE PROGRESSIVES IS NOT a political party and we shall remain as solely a political movement until the members chose to change the current status. d) THE PROGRESSIVES shall uphold discussions for registration as a political party after the combined social media membership strength of the groups have reached one hundred thousand (100,000) memberships. ARTICLE 5 - NAMES, INITIALS AND SYMBOLS a) The name of the movement shall be called UNITED PROGRESSIVE MINDS FORUM (UPMF) b) The name shall not be based on the name of a person, or contain expressions that are directly related to any religion or any national institution. c) It shall not be possible for the symbol to be confused with, and it shall not be graphically or phonetically related to, national symbols or emblems or religious images or symbols. d) Coalition symbols and initials shall rigorously reproduce the set of symbols and initials of the groups and movements that belong to the coalition. ARTICLE 6 PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM a) Members, groups and arms of THE PROGRESSIVES shall pursue their purposes freely as long as they do not offend any aspect of the constitution and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. b) Members, groups and arms of THE PROGRESSIVES shall pursue their purposes freely but in line with the fundamental guiding principles and policies of the association.. ARTICLE 7 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLE a) Members, subgroups and arms shall be governed by democratic principles guiding THE PROGRESSIVES. b) All members shall exercise equal rights in line with our guiding principles c) All members shall exercise only one right of franchise in all electoral processes. d) Selection for qualification of aspirants shall be open to all members however, voting must be completed within a defined window e) Irrespective of number of participants, all voting must be completed within the prescribed time. ARTICLE 8 PRINCIPLE OF TRANSPARENCY a) THE PROGRESSIVES shall pursue their purposes publicly. b) THE PROGRESSIVES shall obligatorily include the following in the publicising of their activities: i. Articles of association; ii. Identity of party officers; iii. Declarations of principles and programmes; iv. General activities at state, national and international level. c) THE PROGRESSIVES shall keep accurate record of all officers from the ward, local to state, regional and national levels. They publicize the identities of her national officers following their appointment, as well as of its articles of association, declarations of principles and programs Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 4

following their approval and after each amendment for the benefit of the general public and appropriate government regulatory agencies. d) The origin and use of funds shall be publicised in line with the Laws governing the financing of Non-Governmental Organizations. ARTICLE 9 PRINCIPLE OF CITIZENSHIP a) The members of THE PROGRESSIVES shall be Nigerian citizens who hold political rights. b) Members can chose to reside within or outside the geographical spheres of Nigeria c) Members must be duly registered within her data base system and will own a membership card. d) Eligible members must own a voters registration card in line with INEC guidelines. ARTICLE 10 SAFEGUARDING THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER a) THE PROGRESSIVES, her members and affiliates shall not be permitted to be armed, militarised or paramilitary in nature. b) The Association shall not encourage racism or display a dictatorial ideology in her policies and procedures. c) Decisions shall be resolved by voting via acceptance by a two-third majority. d) The formation of affiliates or groups with a name or with manifesto objectives that possess a regional or ethnic nature or scope must be approved by the CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP (CAG). ARTICLE 11 RIGHTS OF POLITICAL ASPIRANTS Subject to the terms of the party s policies and guidelines, all aspirants shall be entitled: a) To belong to any political party of their choice. b) All aspirants shall be bound by the visions and policies of THE PROGRESSIVES. c) All Aspirants must have a team of at least fifty middle class persons within their constituencies who will show significant interest to support their aspiration. d) All aspirants shall participate on the issue based debate where each aspirant is given the opportunity to sell his candidacy to his zone. e) People within the various constituencies will have a right to select their preferred candidate by online voting via short messaging services (service provider charges will apply). f) The Association has a responsibility to manage and/or support campaigns for their qualified candidates. g) A campaign team shall constitute members from the aspirant s and THE PROGRESSIVES Strategy Team. h) Monies realized from donations, sell for memorabilia, contributions, dues, votes etc. shall be channelled to cover logistics required for the campaign. i) All financial commitment from contestants shall be considered as donations and will be administered from the campaign team. ARTICLE 12 - COALITIONS a) THE PROGRESSIVES shall be open to form coalitions with other groups for good governance. b) All such coalitions shall be in line with our terms, however any modification shall be approved by the CAG after due considerations. c) Terms of coalitions against our core policies on critical national issues shall be resisted. (Our Core values are our RED LINES and will remain non-negotiable) Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 5

d) Coalitions shall last for the duration agreed at the time of formation or the completion of the specific activity or purpose for the coalition. e) For the purposes provided for the law and regulatory guidelines, all coalitions shall be made public to relevant government agencies, start and end dates shall be communicated on request. f) Coalitions formed for electoral purposes shall be governed by the provisions of the law. g) The continuous engagement in a coalition beyond the specific purpose shall be approved by the CAG. ARTICLE 13 PRINCIPLES OF MEMBERSHIP a) Membership i. Members shall be Nigerians that are more than 18 years old ii. Members shall be considered fully registered after completing required personal details on our online platform and a registration number assigned to such member. iii. Members shall be considered active after completing full registration and have contributed the membership fees for a period not less than six months. iv. Registered members that have contributed their membership fees consecutively for a period of three months could be considered to have been qualified to be supported by the Association. v. Non-members of THE PROGRESSIVES shall qualify for electoral support via consultancy services. vi. Eligible members must own a voters registration card in line with INEC guidelines. ARTICLE 14 APPLICATION TO EXISTING POLITICAL PARTIES a) A member of THE PROGRESSIVES is at liberty to join any political party of their choice. b) No elected officer shall be an official of a partisan political party. This is a RED LINE to our Processes and Procedures of THE PROGRESSIVES. c) An elected officer seeking to hold a political position or become an Official in a political party in Nigeria shall relinquish the position in THE PROGRESSIVES. d) In such circumstance, the CAG shall select capable members to occupy the vacant positions until the next election. e) A member shall apply at any time to terminate his membership and join another political party. ARTICLE 15 CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT a) THE PROGRESSIVES shall adopt smart measures to reward good deeds and sterling performances. b) Defaulting Association guidelines and principles shall be punished. Punishment shall include warnings, sanctions, fines and dismissal. Severity will be a function of frequency and criticality of the offence c) Offences against party RED LINES might lead to court action and severe punishment. d) Reward system shall be considered and approved by the CAG or any other body as ratified by the CAG. ARTICLE 16 CONFLICT RESOLUTION a) THE PROGRESSIVES shall apply every genuine conflict resolution process to settle scores and resolve conflicts among persons or groups. b) The state and regional coordinators will be the first point of call to resolve all conflicts. c) The Board of Trustees shall be the final body to resolve every internal Association conflicts. Conflict Resolution procedures will include but not limited to arbitration. d) If all conflict resolution processes fail, the angry member may be encouraged to exit the Association. Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 6

ARTICLE 17 TERMINATION a) In line with the concept of freedom of association, every member deserves the right to terminate his or her membership to the Association. b) A member insisting on termination must return all properties belonging to the party at the time of this consideration. c) If such a member is an executive or official member, THE PROGRESSIVES shall make efforts to address any grievances that must have resulted to the decision to exit the Association. d) If such member is an executive or official member, all documents in his/her possession shall be handed over to the highest ranking officer in the office or region. CHAPTER III: POLICIES These are ideologies that will define the core values of the party. It shall represent the Associations RED LINE. They will form a key subject of consideration and acceptance for politicians seeking our support and political groups with the intent for a synergy. Any member or elected officer under our platform who defaulted on these terms shall face severe consequences. ARTICLE 18 IDEOLOGIES AND PRINCIPLES THE PROGRESSIVES shall adopt the following as her ideologies and guiding principles on fundamental and contemporary national issues: a) System of government Our proposed structure shall be: i. Federalism THE PROGRESSIVES shall define restructuring as devolution of certain power to the federating regions and states. Each region shall work to actualize sustenance of the people of that region as this will drastically reduce cost of governance, create visionary leadership and improve fiscal responsibility. ii. THE PROGRESSIVES shall adopt a sharing formula of 30:50:20 to the Federal, Region/State and Local governments. iii. Where a state is incapable of meeting her governing obligations, TPP will support merging such states into a bigger state or merging all states within the area into a regional government for an effective administration. b) Internal Security i. THE PROGRESSIVES is open to and shall adopt smart policies to support an effective regional/state and federal policing. ii. The federal police shall exercise superior powers and responsibility to keep the regional/state police in check. iii. Provision of security to key government officials shall be in line with the constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria. iv. Private security for other government officials, politicians and businessmen shall be provided by private security agencies. No personnel of the Nigerian Police shall be attached to these categories of citizens. v. All private security agents shall be licensed to operate, in line with existing government protocols c) Resource Control i. THE PROGRESSIVES shall support policies that provide full autonomy of all resources of a region to be harnessed by that region ii. The federal government shall design structures to manage savings and borrowing for each region. Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 7

iii. The states or regions will contribute to the centre to support the regulatory responsibilities and other task as may be agreed by the assemblies. iv. Alternatively, THE PROGRESSIVES shall also adopt a financial sharing formula of 30:50:20 among the Federal, Region/State and Local governments. d) Socio-Economic Policies Information and Communication We shall pursue effective implementation of the following guidelines i. Every ministry at the Federal level must be duplicated to the regions/states or vice versa to ensure an effective dissemination of their responsibilities to the grassroots and job creation. ii. Each ministry will have a proper 24 hours monitored information and feedback process. iii. Performance for these information and communication outfits shall be monitored by appropriate federal government regulatory agency and sanctions shall apply as required for cases of contempt and ineffectiveness. e) Projects and Contracting i. All service contracts shall be executed by tested professionals in the respective fields and not based on political affiliation. ii. Government shall establish a central supply chain system for each region to manage all procurement and distribute materials to end users. This will insist availability of such items as drugs for hospitals, books and materials for schools, office equipment for civil service etc. This will also promote use and improvement of locally made materials. iii. Payment terms for government vendors shall be revised to not more than 45 DAYS from submission of invoice. f) Citizenship i. We shall insist on the abolishment of the State of Origin but shall uphold the State of Residence as a genuine means for all citizens to benefit from the dividends of government ii. A citizen shall be eligible to the dividends of the government of the region/state of residence after living in the area and paying taxes for a period of not more than one year. iii. This period may not apply to foreign citizens. g) CENSUS i. THE PROGRESSIVES shall support a full census to ascertain the true population of the country. h) COMPENSATION AND BENEFIT i. Executives of political parties shall be compensated in line with federal ministry staff payroll. ii. The leadership of the National Assemblies shall not receive any compensation above the level of a Permanent Secretary in a Federal Ministry. Remuneration for members shall be benchmarked by other senior officers in the Federal Ministries. iii. We shall renegotiate compensation packages for public servants, most importantly teachers, doctors and all security apparatus attached to the government. i) ELECTIONS AND VOTING i. We shall support a free and fair elections at all times and at all levels. ii. All internal selections shall be transparent and devoid of violence. iii. We shall work to implement Electronic and Diaspora voting. j) CONSULATES i. There shall be purpose based consideration for appointment of consulates. ii. There must be clear expectations and purpose for consular representing the state in foreign countries. Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 8

ARTICLE 19 CORE VALUES a) PENALTY FOR ERRING PUBLIC SERVANTS i. THE PROGRESSIVES shall support a bi-annual audit of all public agencies and ministries. ii. THE PROGRESSIVES shall support strict punishment for erring and indicted public ministries, parastatals and agencies. It is against our RED LINE for the party to try to instigate or initiate a cover up. iii. We shall support the law enforcement agents with investigations and ensure the full weight of the law is applied. b) SERVICE LEVEL PERFORMANCE FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS i. THE PROGRESSIVES shall insist on transparent recruitment processes, based on merit, for all officers in the public services. ii. We shall adopt a clear appraisal process for promotions and terminations. It is against our RED LINE to favour an officer on the basis of quota system and nepotism. iii. Technocrats in the private sector shall be encouraged to provide new technologies which will be executed with full participation of the ministries. iv. The ministries shall be structured to provide supervisory and regulatory responsibilities for government projects. v. Monthly project reports shall be provided for all projects and by all participating ministries c) CONSIDERATION FOR WEAK, INDIGENT AND POOR i. Government at all levels will include designs that considers the weak and indigent for all projects. ii. Company CSR will be properly coordinated to apply to medical health research, treatment and rehabilitation of indigent people like the sick and prisoners. iii. CSR shall also be channeled to support education for the indigent and as a means of providing public convenience to avoid open defecation. CHAPTER 4: PROPOSALS This section will be overview of proposals from technocrats on subjects of interest. These subject to general discussion on the group pages. They could also service as resource materials for our aspirants. Information contained in this section could form proposals to new laws and review for strengthening of already existing laws. This section will be divided into articles and the contributors are well referenced. LIST OF DEVELOPED PROPOSALS ARTICLE 1 - STRENTHENING THE PENAL CODES IN NIGERIAN LAWS - Mr. Olaide Omideyi, 2017 ARTICLE 2 - NIGERIA HEALTH SYSTEM REFORMATION - Mr. Chibunna Kachi Benson, 2017 ARTICLE 3 AGRICULTURE: WHY THE FULANI HERDSMEN & FARMERS FIGHT: HOW CLIMATE CHANGE & BOKO HARAM CRISIS CREATED THE CRISIS AND SIX (6) EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY RECOMMENDATION FOR ITS RESOLUTION BY MALCOLM FABIYI & ADELEKE OTUNUGA - submitted to this group by Olaide Omideyi, 2018 ARTICLE 4 LAND ADMINISTRATION SOLUTIONS Victor Olorunfemi Stephens, 2018 ARTICLE 5 CITIZENSHIP, NATIONALITY & PTRIOTISM MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PROGRESSIVE ASPIRANTS ARTICLE 6 PROPOSED NEW LAWS & ITEMS FOR REVISION MR. Olaide Omideyi Constitution, Guidelines & Principles Page 9