2019 polls: PDP, 44 other political parties form alliance

…To hold crucial meeting in Abuja today
…Secondus meets presidential aspirants, govs, legislators, others today
As the battle for the most prestigious seat in the country, the President, 36 governors and legislative seats across the country in 2019 becomes more intense, the leading opposition political party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is set to liaise with 44 other political parties towards displacing the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the party in power in the next election.

As a sign of the seriousness of this planned alliance, the PDP along with the 44 other political parties will today hold a crucial meeting at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja to fine-tune modalities for the alliance and the best approach to achieving their set objectives.

The meeting, according to a source within the leadership of the PDP, is to be attended by frontline leaders of the 44 political parties and associations and is aimed at setting ground rules for the talks which is expected to last for the next few weeks, to work out details of the alliance.

The source, who spoke in confidence, told The Daily Times that, “The aim of the alliance is to forge a common ground and a formidable force to take power from the ruling APC and form the next government.

“I also wish to inform you that the alliance will be broad based to attract the best brains across the country to deliver it from its present bad leadership”.

Describing the present APC-led government as a failure, the source wondered why a government will be in place and herdsmen run riot, killing people from across various regions of the country, with the government claiming that the country is under a foreign invasion, yet unwilling to curtail the herdsmen and protect the people.

While acknowledging that the Boko Haram group was also inflicting serious damage on the country during the PDP rule, the PDP top leader noted however, that while his party was in power, the Boko Haram insurgency was curtailed to a region, adding that the insurgents’ capacity to do much harm was greatly reduced before the party lost power.

He said the aim of the parties in the alliance talk is to save Nigeria from collapse and rescue it from the dangerous negative drift that it is currently facing and position it again to the part of prosperity with adequate security.

Many top politicians from across the various political divide and regions are already jostling for the nations’ number one seat with many of them promising to lead the country towards a new way of doing things.

Among the frontline aspirants for the presidential race are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, former Kaduna State Governor Ahmed Makrfi, former Kano State governor and a serving Senator, Rabiu Kwakwanso, Senator Datti Baba Ahmed, former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido.

Others are Chairman of the PDP former Ministers’ Forum of Nigeria and a former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, Fela Durotoye, Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, Omoyele Sowore, Ahmed Buhari, Dr. Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Dr. ShinaTagbenro Byron of Kowa Party, Elishama Ideh among others.

With the recent crack that appeared within the fold of the APC, with the angst expressed by members of the nPDP, who have threatened to break away from the APC because according to them they are marginalised within the APC and the birth of the Reformed APC, led by Buba Galadima and the seeming hard stance of the chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, that the capacity of the nPDP and rAPC to harm the party was negligible, it is believed that a well coordinated opposition against the APC is imminent in 2019.

At a recent gathering in Lagos, one of the new political movements, comprising Nigerian professionals also determined to reclaim the nation from its present political leadership, the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM), adopted the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) as the political platform that it intends to use to pursue its political agenda come 2019.

The group at a media parley jointly addressed by Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, Dr. Abduljalil Tafawa Balewa, Co-Chairmen of Nigeria Intervention Movement, (NIM) and Dr. Jay Osi Samuels, Chairman of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), noted that majority of Nigerians were overwhelmed by the reckless pursuit of self serving, exploitative political class which has continued to ensure that little or no governance, properly so called, is going on in Nigeria.

The meeting was attended by some of the new breed politicians aspiring to lead the nation in 2019, including Dr. Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Dr. ShinaTagbenro Byron, Fela Durotoye, Ms Elishama Ideh, who all agreed to work together towards achieving a better nation if the need arise.

The Daily Times recalls that the APC also rose to power through a merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the PDP called nPDP and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

The belief within the PDP is that if the APC could come together within a year of the next election, despite their political differences and take power from them in 2015, they can also do the same and take power from the APC in 2019, especially with the obvious crack and disaffection within its fold.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, will today in Abuja, meet with all PDP presidential aspirants, all PDP Governors and former Governors, PDP members of the National Assembly and former members, all members of the BoT, members of PDP former ministers forum, and all state chairmen in a crucial meeting.

Though the agenda of the meeting was not specified in a statement by the party’s National Secretary, Sen. Umaru Ibrahim Tsauri, the development might not be unconnected with the PDP preparedness for the 2019 general polls and both the July 14 and September 22 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun respectively.

Venue of the meeting is the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.