…insist on going back to negotiation table
There are strong indications that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between member parties of the Coalition of United Political Parties may be reviewed in view of concerns bearing on mutual benefits currently being raised by major parties in the alliance.
Our correspondent gathered at the weekend that some of the major parties observed that supporting a joint presidential candidate under a particular platform, most likely the Peoples Democratic Party, might work against candidates of other member parties, in other elections apart from presidential.
A leader of the Social Democratic Party, who spoke to our correspondent in Abuja on Friday, said that his party had begun a strategy meeting on how to handle the eventualities of an adopted CUPP consensus presidential candidate, without much loss for the party.
Voters are not that sophisticated. Once you start telling them, “vote for this party for presidential, and my own party, for House of Reps, you start causing confusion. People will just get there and vote PDP all through because you have told them to vote for Atiku. I don’t want to risk that. We need a lot of voter education to get things right
The chieftain, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because “the information is supposed to be for the party’s consumption only,” noted that the PDP had benefitted immensely from the CUPP arrangement in terms of rebranding at the expense of other parties.
According to him, many of the SDP candidates, especially the National Assembly and state assembly candidates, are kicking against the alliance at the presidential level because of what they described as a possible negative bandwagon effect on their elections.
He said, “At a time in this country, shortly before the MoU that gave birth to the CUPP was signed, many Nigerians, who wanted APC out by all means, also did not want to have anything to do with PDP. For PDP, the corruption stain was so marked that Nigerians yearned for a credible alternative.
“Many of the frontline players in these parties were reaching out to SDP in scores to see how to work it out. But along the line, when all stakeholders in the Project Nigeria realised that the battle against an unperforming incumbent like President Muhammadu Buhari would not be an easy task even if it was clear that Nigerians did not want him again, we all bought into the idea of a grand alliance. Once PDP became a member of the grand alliance, other parties shielded them from missiles. Everyone faced the APC; people gradually shifted away from the song about 16 years of misrule. This kind of hampered the growth of other parties.”
The party leader, who is from the South West, said the agreement of members of the National Working Committee of the party and other stakeholders was that for the CUPP to work, “there must be give and take.”
“The give and take considerations should be the focus of the next CUPP meeting. One was held last Tuesday. There is no doubt that individual parties will sacrifice some things but let us balance our losses with moderate gains elsewhere in the interest of all,” he said.
The Deputy National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Dr. Chike Okogwu, who also agreed with the SDP chieftain that PDP benefitted immensely from the CUPP arrangement in terms of “perception management”, however, noted that the parties would have to work together to ensure that APC does not return to power at the centre.
He said it was clear that the ADC was the fastest growing party right now, in terms of the quality of members, its good presence at the National and state assemblies, and the number of card carrying members presently, adding that the party’s presidential candidate was also one of the best brains that could take Nigeria to the desired height.
He added, “But our party is also bound by the CUPP arrangement. Whoever emerges as the joint presidential candidate will be accepted but we will also make our demands clear if that person is not our candidate. We are not going to sacrifice our candidates at various levels for another party to shine. Everyone must be very careful. One good thing, however, is that we all agree that we must first have a country before we can talk about states, federal constituencies etc.
“That is why we will do everything possible to ensure it works. However, no party should get too greedy because there is no superior party in this alliance. Nigerians are yearning for a credible alternative, which many of our players have found in ADC. If we decide to support a presidential candidate like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of PDP, we must get it right on the drawing table. All interests must be
protected.”
A House of Representatives candidate of the ADC, who spoke in confidence to our correspondent in Abuja, warned that he would not tell his supporters to vote for Atiku in the presidential election because of past history of choosing different parties for different elective posts.
He said, “Remember that in 2003, when the South West decided to support former President Olusegun Obasanjo, only Lagos, which opted out of that arrangement and told supporters to vote AD all through, retained the governorship seat. I have to be very careful. I won’t commit so much resources into an election that I know is sure for me and lose, based on this kind of arrangement.
“Voters are not that sophisticated. Once you start telling them, “vote for this party for presidential, and my own party, for House of Reps, you start causing confusion. People will just get there and vote PDP all through because you have told them to vote for Atiku. I don’t want to risk that. If we will support Atiku for presidential, then PDP will have to support our own candidates too where they are strong. We need a lot of voter education to get things right. And there is no time for that. If we are going to do this at all, we must start now.”
However, the spokesman of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, when contacted for his reaction, told our correspondent that he would not comment about the CUPP.
“I can’t comment on CUPP. I only comment on issues regarding PDP,” he said.
Efforts to reach the Chairman of the CUPP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, proved abortive. Calls to his phone were diverted and a text message sent to him was not replied as of the time of filing this report.
