Aggrieved leaders in the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) and the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) are set to launch a new
political party ahead of the 2023
general elections, Daily Independent
exclusively gathered.
The arrowhead of the movement, who
is a former two-term governor and
currently a member of the National
Assembly in a text message to Daily
Independent, said “the formation of
the new political party is already at
advanced stage”.
He also said some active members
of the two political parties have been
giving “clandestine backing and
covert support” to the yet to be
launched political party
Leaders of the yet-to-be formed party
said they are expecting an influx of
APC and PDP members to join the
party when it is officially launched.
Another source, who is also part of
the movement, said the leaders of the
movement are already in talks with
other anti-APC, PDP, who are desirous
of providing a credible alternative to
Nigeria in 2023 such as the National
Consultative Front (NCFront),
Nigeria Project (RNP) and other civil
society organisations.
The NCFront is led by Ghali Umar
Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the
House of Representatives; Dr. Olu
Agunloye, a former Minister of Power
and Steel; Ralph Nwosu, National
Chairman of Africa Democratic
Congress (ADC) and Dr. Yunusa
Tanko, former presidential candidate
of the National Conscience Party
(NCP).
Leaders of the RNM include former
Chairman of Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.
Attahiru Jega; political economist,
Prof. Pat Utomi; former governor of
Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfatai; and
former governor of Cross River State,
Donald Duke.
One of the leaders, who asked not to
be named, said it is clear
Nigerians are fed up with both the
APC and PDP and will gladly embrace
the new political party especially
given the calibre of people coming
on board.
When asked if the time frame is not
too short to form a new political party
with just one year and two months to
the date of the presidential election,
he said, “You just wait and watch. It
is people that make up a political
party. All the machineries are in place
already and we are confident that the
party we are putting together will be
registered by INEC.
“Nigerians voted the PDP out in 2015
when the APC presented themselves
as credible alternative. But now, it has
been discovered that the APC is even
worse than the PDP. They are birds of
a feather and politicians without
ideology who do not have the
interests of Nigeria at heart. Just wait
and see what happens in the two
political parties in days to come,
especially during their primaries”, he
said.
Also speaking, Senator Rufai Hanga,
pioneer national chairman of the
defunct Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC), who recently dumped
the APC, said the new political party
to be formed will be stronger than
the APC when it was first launched in
2013.
He said, “God forbid for Nigeria to
end up between APC and PDP. PDP
and APC are drifting, sinking by the
day. A third force will soon emerge
which will be stronger than APC when
it first launched in 2013.
“You know APC was very strong when
it was formed and that was why
was able to dislodge PDP in the
2015 presidential election. The third
force that will emerge now will be
much stronger than the APC when it
came. The party will participate in
this forthcoming 2023 election and it
will clean sweep the whole polity. I
can assure you of this”.
However, when contacted, Yunusa
Tanko, who is the Head, Public
Affairs Bureau of NCFront, said
nobody has contacted them for any
alignment.
“Nobody has contacted us for any
alignment as at today. We are not
into any alliance with any other group
as at now. We are going on with our
own programme”, he said.
