2015: APC, Atiku’s associates party may collaborate

There are indications that the All Progressives Congress and the newly registered Peoples Democratic Movement may work together during the 2015 general elections.

The PDM National Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf, and the APC  National Publicity  Secretary, Alhaji  Lai Mohammed, gave this indication in separate interviews with our correspondent on Sunday.

Mohammed said, “We will be more than happy to work  with any party that believes that the nation needs to be rescued from the present government.”

Yusuf, who did not give details of the planned collaboration, however, said the PDM was at present focused on advertising its programmes to Nigerians.

He said, “In politics, cooperation is one of the important tenets of politics.  When the need for cooperation arises, we will consider it.”

He, however, did not say whether the parties would consider the possibility of fielding a  common presidential candidate in 2015.

The PDM Chairman noted that the concern of its members at present was how to convince Nigerians that the party was a genuine alternative.

He said, “Right now, we are focused on building the party. Our focus is on advertising our programmes. The focus is not on elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission has a time-frame within which to make those kinds of calculations.”

He also faulted a claim that INEC had started the fragmentation of political parties with the registration of the PDM and the Independent Democrats on Friday.

He said, “I believe in a democracy, there can never be too many choices. It is the voters that will decide the genuine alternative party and which of the parties cater for their interests and welfare.

“Ours is to provide the platform. Ours is to provide programmes and to market these programmes  and  make Nigerians aware that we have genuine programmes for the country.”

He also dismissed a report that the formation of the party was part of the North’s plan to wrest power from President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, the party has come to clean up the mess in the country since 1960.

He stated,“Our party is formed to give Nigerians a genuine alternative. We do not focus on individuals. The focus is on cleaning up the mess that has been in the environment since 1960.

“The PDP is a recent creation. Jonathan is a recent President. We are talking about the rot that has been building up for the last 50 or so years.”

The PDM has been associated with a former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.

Some newspapers (The PUNCH not included) had last week reported that the former vice-president was behind the move to register the party.

Last Thursday, Atiku said he was still a member of the PDP, adding that he was not involved in the formation of the PDM.

He, however, admitted that his associates formed the new party.

PUNCH