Aggrieved leaders in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set to launch a new political party ahead of the 2023 general elections, Daily Independent exclusively gathered.
The arrowhead of the movement, who is a former two-term governor and currently a member of the National Assembly in a text message to Daily Independent, said “the formation of the new political party is already at advanced stage”.
He also said some active members of the two political parties have been giving “clandestine backing and covert support” to the yet to be launched political party
Leaders of the yet-to-be formed party said they are expecting an influx of APC and PDP members to join the party when it is officially launched.
Another source, who is also part of the movement, said the leaders of the movement are already in talks with other anti-APC, PDP, who are desirous of providing a credible alternative to Nigeria in 2023 such as the National Consultative Front (NCFront), Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP) and other civil society organisations.
The NCFront is led by Ghali Umar Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives; Dr. Olu Agunloye, a former Minister of Power and Steel; Ralph Nwosu, National Chairman of Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) and Dr. Yunusa Tanko, former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP).
Leaders of the RNM include former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega; political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi; former governor of Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfatai; and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke.
One of the leaders, who asked not to be named, said it is clear that Nigerians are fed up with both the APC and PDP and will gladly embrace the new political party especially given the calibre of people coming on board.
When asked if the time frame is not too short to form a new political party with just one year and two months to the date of the presidential election, he said, “You just wait and watch. It is people that make up a political party. All the machineries are in place already and we are confident that the party we are putting together will be registered by INEC.
“Nigerians voted the PDP out in 2015 when the APC presented themselves as credible alternative. But now, it has been discovered that the APC is even worse than the PDP. They are birds of a feather and politicians without ideology who do not have the interests of Nigeria at heart. Just wait and see what happens in the two political parties in days to come, especially during their primaries”, he said.
Also speaking, Senator Rufai Hanga, pioneer national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), who recently dumped the APC, said the new political party to be formed will be stronger than the APC when it was first launched in 2013.
He said, “God forbid for Nigeria to end up between APC and PDP. PDP and APC are drifting, sinking by the day. A third force will soon emerge which will be stronger than APC when it first launched in 2013.
“You know APC was very strong when it was formed and that was why it was able to dislodge PDP in the 2015 presidential election. The third force that will emerge now will be much stronger than the APC when it came. The party will participate in this forthcoming 2023 election and it will clean sweep the whole polity. I can assure you of this”.
However, when contacted, Yunusa Tanko, who is the Head, Public Affairs Bureau of NCFront, said nobody has contacted them for any alignment.
“Nobody has contacted us for any alignment as at today. We are not into any alliance with any other group as at now. We are going on with our own programme”, he said.
