The
three leading opposition political parties, the Action Congress of
Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples
Party, on Tuesday said their plan to merge was to save the country from
collapse.
Their leaders spoke in Abuja at the presentation of Manifesto of a Nigerian Opposition Politics, written by a civil rights activist, Mr. Salihu Lukman.
According to the ACN National Chairman, Chief Bisi
Akande, all progressives must unite in order to send the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party out of power in 2015.
This, he said, was necessary in order to save the country and its people from the “misrule” of the PDP-led Federal Government.
Represented by the party’s National Secretary,
Senator Lawan Shuaib, Akande said, “Nigerian and its people are at
crossroads. We must move fast and save the country from the PDP. That is
the essence of the merger.”
Also, the CPC National Leader and a former Head of
State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), called on Nigerians not to
lose hope.
Posterity, he said, would not forgive the opposition leaders if they allowed personal agenda to mar the proposed merger plan.
Buhari, represented by a former Deputy Governor of
Bauchi State, Alhaji Garba Gadi, said the desire to consummate the
relationship would make the CPC inaugurate its merger team by Wednesday
(today).
He said, “By morrow (today), the CPC will inaugurate a
committee on the proposed merger talk. This is to show that we are
determined about it and we must not fail.”
The ANPP National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu, said
the 2015 political battle would be between the conservatives and the
progressives.
Describing the PDP as the conservatives, Onu said the party had failed the nation.
He said, “By the grace of God, we will make it in
2015. The 2015 election battle will be between the conservatives and the
progressives. The conservatives have been in power since 1999 and
people have been dying of hunger since then.
“From 2015, the progressives will put a stop to this.
Now, our schools are no longer working. Our children are now going to
Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo to get education.
“The conservatives have refused to build hospitals
and that is why Nigerians are now going to India to get treated for
minor sickness. This must stop.”
Former PDP National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe, who
chaired the event, said it was disheartening that many politicians
preferred to jump from one party to the other in search of tickets to
contest elections.
Ogbe, who urged politicians to drop their personal
interest for the nation’s interest, said their desire to seek elective
positions at all costs “leaves them without honour.”
Former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of
the ACN, Bola Tinubu, promised that he and Buhari would do their best
for the merger to succeed.
Tinubu, represented by the Minority Leader in the
House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, however appealed to the
opposition members to close ranks in the interest of the nation.
Meanwhile, the CPC National Chairman, Tony Momoh, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja that the opposition parties were determined to take over power from PDP in 2015.
He said, “The basic fundamental thing that the CPC
will be involved in this year is to establish a massive election wining
body that will give Nigerians an alternative government.”
Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment