TOWARDS consolidating the gains recorded with the signing of a memorandum of understanding by about 40 political parties on Monday, three of the parties in the coalition merged on Friday, Saturday Tribune can authoritatively reveal.
The merger will see the emergence of a new party, “in a matter of days,” a source privy to the merger told Saturday Tribune.
The parties in the merger deal are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
A document that spells out the merger details, the proposed name of the resulting party and other information about the deal has been drawn and is believed to have been signed on Friday, although none of the parties was ready to officially confirm the development.
However, the National Working Committee of the PDP will today hold a meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The National Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, disclosed this on Friday during a parley with members of the party in Ogun State.
In attendance at the meeting were all members of the NWC, the party’s Board of Trustees chairman, Senator Wali Jubrin; former Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Olabode George; former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, among others. They were received by the state chairman of the party, Mr Sikirulahi Ogundele and Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu.
Secondus said the entire leadership of the PDP was in the state to for a consultative meeting with Obasanjo on the state of the nation.
He described Obasanjo as a warrior, a winner, the father of the PDP and the father of the nation.
Speaking on the state of the nation, Secondus bemoaned the bloodletting across the nation as a result of the nefarious acts of herdsmen, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC) government was too weak to contain the problem.
“We are happy to be here. Our mission is to come and consult with our father, our hero and the father of the nation, President Olusegun Obasanjo. He is a warrior. He is a winner and the man who fought the battle and won military and civilian. That is exactly what we are here to do,” he said.
He said the entire country was waiting for the party to rescue it from the “bad governance” of the APC in 2019.
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“The nation is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The country is going through quite a lot of challenges. We pray to God to rescue this nation.
“The entire nation is waiting for the PDP. We will not disappoint them. We are now a party of rule of law. We are now a party that has nothing to do with impunity,” Secondus added.
He insisted that the party was taking a long walk to freedom to rescue the country.
Secondus criticised the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for spending the $321 million recovered Abacha loot without budgeting for it, noting that the APC-led government would be held accountable for all the monies spent.
“The mother of all corruption is in this government – the Abacha loot; the money has been withdrawn from the bank and the Federal Government is distributing it cash to their cronies. Is this how to run the economy of a nation. We just want to assure Buhari and his party that they would be held accountable for every kobo spent.
“No government will put money on basket and be sharing it. The PDP government that will take over in 2019 will ask them to refund the money. You are fighting corruption on one hand and you are engaging in corruption.
“This government is in trouble. They have no choice. They are weak and they have nothing to offer,” the PDP National Chairman said.
On the Ekiti election holding today, Secondus said the party would not succumb to any form of intimidation that would subvert the will of the people.
He also promised that the leadership of the party would, as a matter of urgency, address all issues raised concerning the party in the state.
Presidency moves against R-APC
Meanwhile, indications have emerged that the Presidency is taking seriously, the planned defection of some members of the APC to the R-APC and eventually to the opposition PDP.
Investigations by Saturday Tribune confirmed that the Presidency is deploying a carrot and stick approach to handle the insurgency currently rocking the ruling party.
Members of the R-APC had on July 4 launched a breakaway faction of the APC and insisted that they were the authentic party.
The faction, led by a former close ally of President Buhari, Mallam Buba Galadima, had announced it was joining the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which is working closely with the PDP.
Sources confirmed on Friday that President Buhari is personally coordinating the moves to rein in some aggrieved members of the APC from the North West and North East.
The attempt is believed to be targeted at two things: to forestall the R-APC and the PDP from gaining a majority in the National Assembly and secondly, to forestall a situation where the APC would be heading for extinction just before the next general election.
It was also gathered that the aggrieved APC members have been classified into two. One is those that are still amenable to appeals who are largely in the North East and North West and those who are seen as lost, who are in the North Central.
“The Presidency appears to be pressing the panic buttons following the unfolding onslaught against the APC by the R-APC and the PDP. It appears the government’s propaganda tools are not catching fire as expected,” a source said.
It was gathered that some coordinated visits are being embarked upon to the homes of some strategic senators and that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje, was visited in the course of last week.
The visit to Goje’s house by Presidency chieftains was seen as curious as the former Gombe State governor did not receive any such visit when his wife died last year. “He also did not receive a call,” a source said.
“There have been secret visits to the homes of a few key senators and members of the R-APC who are believed to have the capacity to swing things,” another source said, adding, however, that the likes of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, are believed to be unchangeable.
It is believed that while some of the amenable senators are being either visited or reached though emissaries, the propaganda machine of the administration could be unleashed to take care of those whose minds cannot be changed.
“For those who cannot be appealed to, the propaganda machine is to start attacking them and announcing their exit before time so that some of them can either be forced to counter the false news or when they eventually leave, it will not be big news anymore,” another source stated.
Multiple sources painted a clearer view of the said propaganda tools to include the announcement of some persons as linked to certain houses in the Maitama area of Abuja, while some senators perceived as having links to one issue or the other could be arrested for questioning.
Let’s stop the gang-up against Buhari, Oshiomhole begs aggrieved APC chieftains
In what appears to be a softening of his hardline stance, the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has begged aggrieved chieftains of the party to have a rethink and cooperate with President Buhari to complete his term and seek a fresh mandate in 2019.
Certain chieftains operating under the aegis of the R-APC had filed a suit to challenge the outcome of the national convention that produced Oshiomhole as the national chairman alongside members of his National Working Committee.
But in a statement issued by his media aide, Simon Ebegbulem, Oshiomhole noted that those who were against the re-election of President Buhari were the ones talking about legacy parties ahead the 2019 general election.
He made the declaration while hosting members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led by the former Deputy National Chairman, Alhaji Rasaq Muse and the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, when they paid him a solidarity visit.
The APC National Chairman appealed to all leaders of the party to discuss issues that would unite the party rather than divide it, stressing that after the merger that produced the APC, the respective parties had ceased to exist.
“Only those who are against President Buhari’s re-election will on the eve of election, be talking about legacy parties. It is completely non-existent and we must all work to remove it from our heart. I know the present and we are looking at the future. When people form groups, I say it is not helpful.
Those are tools to cause disunity in the party and I have never believed in groups.
“I have also read the papers where people say they are leaving the party because of their own selfish interest. Let’s see ourselves as children of the same father and not children from different mothers. We all have a duty to help President Buhari sustain the unity within the APC so that we can get the voters, particularly now that people are sponsoring all sorts of people to go and embarrass the President and our party.
“I know our enemies will not succeed. I am appealing to people to work for peace, forget about legacy parties and let us talk about the present and the future,” he stated.
©Tribune
