By Chidiebere Onyemaizu
To have a strong footing in the South east and fend off All Progressives Congress, APC’s incursion, break the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s hold and dominate the political turf, promoters of Third Force which has come to be known as Coalition for Nigeria Movement, CNM are lobbying the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA to serve as the flank of the Movement in the zone.
Speculations are rife that one of the fringe parties, the Social Democratic Party, SDP has been adopted to serve as the platform of the Movement as opposed to transforming into a new party. To this end, several APC and PDP bigwigs, governors as wells as serving members of the National Assembly are reportedly on the verge of moving to the party. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is the brain behind CNM while former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Olu Falae is the National Leader of the SDP.
It is not yet clear if the national leadership of APGA is ready to trade off its identify but some chieftains of the party who spoke to the The source argue that for strategic national politicking, APGA should retain its identify so as to serve as a bargaining tool for the South east where it has mass appeal.
Political analysts opine that APGA’s involvement in the CNM will eventually dovetail into a merger with the SDP.This Magazine learnt that retention of its name, logo and motto were the conditions SDP gave before it agreed to yield its platform to the CNM proponents.
The implication of this is that APGA and any other party involved in the CNM project will simply fuse into the SDP and lose their identities.
Essentially, Governor Willie Obiano’s victory in last year’s Anambra gubernatorial election has help to further cement APGA’s presence in the South east. The party’s stalwarts say the governor who is also Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, and National Leader is committed to transforming APGA into a party to reckon with in national politics.
Shortly after his re-election, the governor described APGA as a hurricane that can never be stopped in the South east. Obiano: “What happened when APGA swept the entire polls in Anambra state will be replicated in Imo, Abia, Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi in 2019. APGA is a hurricane that nobody can stop in the Southeast”
