AHEAD of 2019 presidential election,
Nigeria’s major opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and 41 other
political parties have moved to come together to form a coalition aimed at
producing a formidable candidate.
The objective of the alliance is to
field a consensus candidate to be presented by one of the parties. Against this
backdrop, and desirous to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari, the parties had
been engaged in marathon meetings on the viability of the agenda.
Saturday Hotunz Blog gathered that the latest forum was well attended by representatives of
the various parties last Wednesday at the Abuja residence of a former Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi. A Source told Saturday Vanguard that the
PDP was well represented with its Contact Committee Chairman and former
governor of Cross River State, Sen Liyel Imoke in attendance. Also present were
the party’s National Secretary, Senator Ibrahim Tsauri; National Legal Adviser,
Barrister Emmanuel Enoindem; former National Woman Leader, Ambassador Kema
Chikwe, and Ambassador Aminu Wali, among others. The Action Peoples Party, APP,
was represented by its National Chairman, Ugochinyere Ikenga.
The source
further said another meeting was scheduled for yesterday at 5 pm. But as at
press time, it was not clear if the gathering had taken place. Speaking with
Saturday Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, a National Chairman of one of
the parties said: “ What we have is not a merger, but a coalition of over 42
registered political parties coming together to challenge the President
Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The parties have voluntarily come together
on their own to save Nigeria from its present challenges. “We plan to form a
Government of National Unity.
Buhari is already an outgoing President. He will
be defeated like a baby boxer. At the end of the day, the political parties
will confront Buhari with one individual that will defeat him. The person may
come from the PDP, SDP, LP, or PPA.” Apart from the PDP, other parties in the
coalition are the Accord Party,AP; Action Alliance, AA; Advanced Congress of
Democrats, ACD; Alliance for New Nigeria, ANN; Advanced Peoples Democratic
Alliance, APDA; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; African Peoples Party,
APP; Democratic Alternative, DA; Democratic Peoples Congress, DPC and
Democratic Peoples Party, DPP. Others are Fresh Democratic Party; Hope
Democratic Party, HDP; Labour Party, LP; Social Democratic Party, SDP; Kowa
Party, KP; Modern Democratic Party, MDP; Mega Progressive Peoples Party, MPPP;
Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, and Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, among
others.
An SDP source said: “The political parties have resolved to take a cue
from what the then legacy parties did to defeat the PDP three years ago. They
will be stronger by coming together and weaker if they choose to enter the
contest as independent parties. Aware of this, they are meeting frequently and
what I can tell Nigerians is that the parties have decided to put Nigeria
first. Whatever it takes to defend the interest of Nigeria, we will come up
with it and ensure we take this country back from those who think it is
exclusively theirs.”
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