Indications have emerged that some disgruntled members of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party have begun moves to form a new mega party ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The move, it was gathered, is aimed at displacing both the ruling APC and the PDP from the nation’s political space before the next elections.
The Point gathered from reliable sources within the two major parties that many of their prominent members, who have become dissatisfied and disgruntled with the running of both parties, are now strategising to come together to form another mega party that will meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.
Recent media reports indicated that APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, were planning to pull out of the APC and join forces with some opposition politicians and governors elected on the platform of the PDP to form a new mega party.
Also, The Point recently learnt that erstwhile anti-corruption czar and former presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in the 2011 election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is already being wooed to contest the 2019 presidential election by both the ruling APC and the promoters of the proposed mega party.
It was gathered that Ribadu may have been tipped as the likely successor to President Muhamadu Buhari, if the various consultations now going on within the ruling APC across the country is anything to go by. A Presidency source in Abuja told The Point that the choice and endorsement of Ribadu as Buhari’s likely successor was not unconnected with the fact that, “the Buhari-led administration needs a man of ‘proven integrity,’ who could carry on with the war against corruption that has been on the front burner of the policy formulation of the APC as a political party.”
It was learnt that Buhari would not love to hand over to anyone, whose integrity had not been tested, or anyone with any iota of shady past, as “of all other names that were presented to the Presidency in the event that President Buhari is no longer interested in a second term, Ribadu towered above everyone and he is very much favoured.”
Other parameters said to have been used to arrive at the choice of Ribadu included, “Service delivery background and popularity ratings.” As the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ribadu has been rated to have performed creditably in office. “He performed above average.
He did not compromise. He was a terror to criminals of whatever status,” the source said. The Point also gathered that the proposed mega party has penciled down the former EFCC boss as its likely presidential candidate to give fillip and continuity to the anti-corruption war going on in the country. Although the Atiku Media Office had already denied such a move, there are indications with the alleged ill-treatment and sidelining of Tinubu in the scheme of things in the ruling APC, a new mega party is in the offing.
Also, the recent outbursts by Tinubu against the backdrop of the outcome of the governorship primary election in Ondo State, confirmed that all is no longer well with the ruling party.
