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| National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed |
A
fresh crisis may soon rock the All Progressives Congress as a splinter
group in the All Nigeria Peoples Party is seeking a halt to the merger
and registration of the APC.
The ANPP is one of the three main
opposition parties spearheading the formation of APC to defeat the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 elections. The others are
the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change.
Until last week, the ownership of the
acronym, APC, had been a subject of controversy between the All
Progressives Congress, the African Peoples Congress and the All
Patriotic Citizens.
The All Patriotic Citizens dropped its
name, while the Independent National Electoral Commission declined to
register the African Peoples Congress which hitherto insisted on its
name and the acronym.
The opposition parties had separately
and collectively accused the PDP of sponsoring those behind the parties
contending the APC acronym.
In calling for an end to ANPP’s
involvement in the merger, the splinter group alleged that all the
parties to the arrangement were not being treated equally.
The group, in a letter addressed to the
ANPP National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, therefore gave the party’s
leadership three weeks to pull out of the merger to avoid committing
political suicide.
The letter dated April 2 and signed by
the convener of the group and the Usuma ward Chairman of the ANPP, in
Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Mallam Isa Bala, was copied to INEC
chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega. It is entilted, “MERGER/APC CRISIS: HOW
WE HAVE BEEN FOOLED & DECEIVED BY BOLA TINUBU/ACN PARTY (THE SECRET
TINUBU IS HIDING FROM US (MERGING PARTNERS).”
In the letter, the group alleged that
the All progressives Congress was the brainchild of a former Lagos
State Governor, Bola Tinubu, who had in 2006 formed a political group
with the acronym, APC.
According to it , the same APC, which
was registered in January 2006 transformed to the ACN in August 2006
under Tinubu’s leadership .
It argued that the same people who
sponsored the “failed” APC were insisting on the acronym just to
expand their political empire.
A copy of the letter which was obtained by The PUNCH
in Abuja reads in part, “The merger could have also provided a strong
two -party system in Nigeria which will produce a virile opposition as
it is obtained in advanced democracies of the world.
“The gains of the merger cannot be over-emphasised as the generality of Nigerians had anxiously waited for its realisation.
“However, to our utter bewilderment, we
have discovered the unholy, inordinate, ulterior motive of a few
insatiable political gluttons, who are largely obsessed with the
self-driven interest of expanding their political empire to the
detriment of the greater majority of Nigerians.
“We the members of ANPP Concerned
Stakeholders, therefore, call upon our national leadership to henceforth
suspend involvement in the merger process until this and other
questions are answered.
“It has become obvious that the merger
partners are not treated as equal entities in the merger project, rather
it is being dominated by the Bola Tinubu- led ACN.
“The interest of our great party is
evidently, not adequately protected, in the present merging arrangement.
Therefore, our party cannot surrender its identity that all our
founding fathers have laboured for, to satisfy the interest of an
individual.
“Consequently, we give our national
leadership three weeks to suspend their involvement in the merger if
this anomaly is not corrected. We also urge our national leadership to
start discussing the possibility of forming alliance with the Congress
for Progressive Change and other political parties on basis of mutual
respect and equality for one another in the 2015 general elections .
“On this note, we encourage the CPC led
by General (Muhammadu) Buhari to also review its stance and stake in the
merger arrangement, as it is a hoax that can yield no political or
democratic dividend.
“As earlier advocated, an alliance with
CPC and other political parties where Gen. Buhari, a time-tested
leader is presented as a presidential candidate, will garner an
overwhelming acceptance from Nigerians.”
But the National Publicity Secretary of
the ANPP, Chief Emma Eneuku, dismissed members of the group as
impostors who were being used to distract the merger.
He said, “He (Bala) is not a member of
our party. He is just one of those people they are using to distract
what we are doing. A member of my party cannot just write INEC, we have
a NEC (National Executive Committee) meeting on the 11th of this month,
where everybody will come. Anyone who does not like what we are
doing can approach the party. When somebody is working like this, you
know he is not working for our party.”
Also, the National Publicity Secretary
of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, recalled that Nigerians had been
previously informed that the PDP would stop at nothing to frustrate the
merger.
He said, “The ANPP has disowned the
man. It is part of the antics to distract us from what we are doing. The
ANPP says they don’t know him; he is an agent being used by the PDP to
derail the process.
“The name APC did not even come from the
ACN. If I can remember very well, it was the ANPP that even came with
the name not us, what is his grouse? What has INEC got to do with this? I
think he is just one who is seeking attention. We told Nigerians a few
days ago that the Presidency will do everything to derail the merger;
this is one of it.”
The CPC said the whole affair was part of the same script which showed the level of desperation of opponents of the merger.
“Their plan failed. It is not surprising
that the PDP is making another failed attempt at scuttling the merger
by using a political neophyte who is unaware of the legitimacy in our
political system. Such is the confusion of the PDP company,” its
National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, said.
When contacted, INEC Director of
Information, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, said he was in a meeting and as
such unavailable for comments.
But the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said, “I have not seen the letter.”
THE PUNCH
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