Perhaps, a strong political alliance, akin to the 2013 merger of legacy parties, is about to be forged by politicians across the four major political parties.
The group, which met again in Lagos on Friday, is fine tuning modalities towards a mega political party to stop the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027. A member of one of the groups, who pleaded anonymity, listed the alliance groups to include the African Democratic Congress (ADC), “reclaimed Labour Party,” a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), two serving governors from the East, and “two or three other governors from the North. “That’s towards the making of a mega party; they are dissatisfied with the current government.”
He further disclosed: “A couple of APC members are among too; Atiku is somehow talking with the group. “Technically, PDP is dead. Wike has finished it. The person that we have not talked with yet is Bala Mohammed, who is struggling to hold PDP together. But I am sure somewhere along the line, he will come along.” The formation of the alliance, if it succeeds, will be the only option left to have a strong political party that will challenge the APC in 2027. At the moment, all the opposition parties have been factionalised. Two factional chairmen emerged in PDP over the weekend, following suspension and counter suspension of some members of the National Working Committee (NWC). Also at weekend, a Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the PDP NWC and the Board of Trustees (BoT) from removing the acting National Chairman Ambassador Umar Damagum, until December next year.
The party had already scheduled its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for October 24, where it was hoped there would be change in its leadership. A former governor on the platform of the party, admitted that, “many contenders” are in contention for the control of the party. “But a court in Abuja barred NEC or any organ from sacking Damagun’s NWC. So, it’s settled for now. “That’s exactly what Jagaban (Tinubu) wants. He will battle to the extent that the opposition shows (no) reasonable capacity,” he stated. The former governor however hoped that the emerging coalition won’t be “the same people that brought Buhari and through him destroyed our country!” According to him, Tinubu, who succeeded him, “is just in the funeral home!” adding, “his greatest achievement so far is that herdsmen are no longer invading my rural village with impunity.”
He wondered how the coalition would succeed in getting rid of Tinubu in 2027. The court judgement is a set back to PDP. The party had concluded arrangement to elect successor to Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, who was sacked from office since March 2023. The North Central zone, where Ayu comes from, seemed to have put its house in order, and is working in unison to present candidates for consideration at the NEC. Two front line candidates are former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and Conrad Terhide Utaan. Suswam is believed to be candidate of the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar while Utaan is suspected to enjoy the support of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nysom Wike. The court judgement is seen as part of plan to keep PDP ineffective and unable to play its opposition role to the ruling party. There is indication that the judgement may be appealed but the possibility of upturning before next week’s NEC seems impossible. (Sunday Telegraph)
