APC, Aggrieved PDP Govs May Form Alliance for 2015

Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwakwanso 

Onyebuchi Ezigbo 

As the intra party crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues to take its toll on the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it may go into a strategic alliance with the seven aggrieved northern PDP governors in the run up to the 2015 general election.

The open invitation by APC came just as the newly appointed youth leader of the rival PDP, Comrade Timi Frank, warned yesterday that if the move by the New PDP to rescue the party and to reposition it fails, the party would lose the 2015 general election.

In a statement in Abuja, the New PDP youth leader threatened to lead a mass protest over the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) strike, saying the non-resolution of the strike by university lecturers was the height of insensitivity on the part of the federal government.

Speaking on the phone with THISDAY yesterday, the interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, said the party would not hesitate to receive the seven governors behind the New PDP revolt with open arms.

“We will welcome them with open arms and like I said before, we feel that these seven governors are too important to our political dynamics to be ignored. So we are going to welcome them and we will accommodate them,” he said.

Muhammed, who spoke against the backdrop of a recent statement credited to the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwakwanso, that the aggrieved governors might be forced to pitch their tent with the opposition party should the struggle in PDP fail, noted that APC considers a partnership with the governors as very strategic.
On whether the governors’ agenda and that of APC was in sync, Muhammed said: “To the extent that they are not satisfied with the PDP because of the lack of proper organisation by the PDP, it tallies with our own.

“It is when they come that we will now see which part of their agenda we can accommodate and how they can add value also to the APC vision.

“We should not forget that many of these governors are serving two terms in office, and as such have got vast experience both at the state and national levels. In fact, some of them have been former federal ministers, permanent secretaries and they are not the kind of people you can ignore.

“They are very vital resources, they are very strategic for us and if we are able to strike a bargain and agree on a position with them, of course it will help the polity, not just APC but the whole of Nigeria.”

However, the youth leader of the splinter PDP, Frank, said its leaders were determined to rescue the party and as such were not yet considering leaving it to join any new party.

He said the objective of the New PDP is to take the party back to its glorious days.

ThisDay