By Akinjide Aina, Abuja Bureau Chief
Three years away from the next general election, political actors across parties and geopolitical divides bent on rendering President Bola Tinubu a one- term President have intensified moves to form a grand coalition that would eventually morph into a mega political party reminiscence of the 2014 birthing of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Recall that, focused on ousting the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from power, three main opposition parties-the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN ,Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA-coalesced to form the APC which subsequently went on to win the 2015 general election and has remained in power ever since.
Somewhat convinced that it could prove a Trojan task to bounce back to power and reckoning in its present form, the former ruling party – a faction of it controlled by its 2023 presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, – impeccable party sources told the magazine, is leading the charge in the emerging coalition of parties. The former VP, since losing to Senator Tinubu in the 2023 Presidential election, has openly hinted his desire to once again try his luck in 2027.
The magazine was further informed by a PDP chieftain and an ardent promoter of the mega coalition of parties that “the unfolding coalition which will ultimately metamorphose into an indomitable mega party will rescue Nigeria from APC’s rudderless leadership, the coming mega party is poised to sweep Tinubu and the APC out of power. At the fullness of time, the parties and individuals involved in this patriotic movement will be revealed to Nigerians; I assure you that Nigerians will be amazed”.
And asked if the whole gamut of the coalition moves are all about Atiku’s 2027 presidential ambition and for power to return to the North, a chieftain of the APC from the Northwest who is well disposed to a mega party to undo his party in 2027 retorted rhetorically: “Are you happy with the situation of things in this country in the last nine years, especially since May 29, 2023? If you are happy with the situation, I’m not happy and so do millions of Nigeria who want a durable solutions to the country’s woes irrespective of who or what party is capable of providing such solutions”
Meanwhile, The Source can authoritatively reveal that several bigwigs within the APC, majorly from the North are involved in the mega party plan. As an alibi to justify their participation in the coalition, an intractable crisis, it has been learnt, will soon be simulated in the party, akin to the one that engulfed the PDP prior to the formation of the APC.
“What is in the offing is the re-enactment of the rebellion by renegade PDP Governors in 2014 and the dramatic split within the party which birthed the famous new PDP (nPDP)”, the magazine was told.
It was gathered that the arrowheads of the mega party plot within the APC will, towards the end of next year, begin to loudly grumble about the economic hardship and spiraling insecurity in the country and then insist that President Tinubu openly gives an undertaking that he won’t be seeking second term on the ground that he is clueless and lacks ideas as to how to tackle Nigeria’s myriad of problems.
As would be expected, it was learnt, the President will reject their demand and call their bluff. This will thus provide the pro-mega party APC agitators the ammunition to announce a parallel national leadership of the party and claim authenticity preparatory to the formation of the mega party.
Also in the mega party mix is the Labour party. Different factions in the party maintain varied dispositions to the ongoing moves to merge opposition parties to form a mega party. While loyalists of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election and former Governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, are favorably disposed to the idea provided, their principal would fly the flag of the party that would emerge out of the coalition, the Lamidi Apapa group is only interested in wresting the party from the Obi/Abure faction and keep it as an appendage of the APC.
On the other hand, the faction led by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC President President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, is not interested in merging the party with other fringe parties to form a mega party for the purpose of wresting power from the APC in 2027 which, according to impeccable sources was the main reason the Labour union invaded the National Secretariat of the party recently insisting LP belongs to it and demanded the National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure’s resignation.
Said an insider knowledgeable about the schism in the party: “I can tell you categorically that denials notwithstanding, certain elements in the Labour movement are interested in contesting for national political offices in 2027 and sees the LP as tailor made for such ambitions…they do not want to be encumbered by outrageous party nomination fees hence the insistence on appropriating LP to run the show their own way when the time comes.
“They fear that if the Abure led LP eventually leads the party into merger with other parties and a mega party is birthed, they may not be able to compete with politicians with deep war chest for the nomination tickets for various political offices of the would-be new mega party, so they want LP to remain a legal entity entirely controlled by them for the purpose of using it as a vehicle to vie for elections in 2027”
Meanwhile, The Source has learnt that a faction of the PDP led by the FCT Minister and immediate past River State Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike, is poised to pull the rug off Atiku and his PDP faction’s feet as regards the impending mega party. According to multiple sources privy to the goings on in the Wike faction, the former Rivers state governor has as loyalists in the PDP who are ready to do his bidding, several serving National Assembly members, some PDP National Working Committee, NWC members and a number of incumbent and former PDP Governors.
“The game plan is for Wike to lead all his loyalists in the PDP to the APC as soon as it becomes clear that the Atiku-inspired mega party coalition is a fait accompli. With that, Atiku will only be leading the empty shell or the carcass of what was the PDP to an insipid coalition”, one of the sources told the magazine.
Another source identified Bauchi State Governor, Bala Muhammed, Oyo state Governor, Seyi Mankinde and Enugu state Governor, Peter Mbah as PDP Governors amenable to leaving the party for the APC at Wike’s behest.
According to the source who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, “members of the G-5 PDP governors-former Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu state), Victor Ikpeazu (Abia) and Sam Ortom (Benue)- who along Wike, worked against Atiku’s presidential campaign, and a good number of former Governors of the party are also ready to dump the PDP for the APC should Atiku and his gang insist on eroding PDP’s time tested identity by railroading the party into a quicksand coalition or mega party just because of his 2027 presidential ambition”
