LAGOS—BARRING last minute changes, the much expected outcome of the alliance talks between the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, andAction Congress of Nigeria, ACN, will be known today.
The most significant outcome of the friendship is that it has put paidto the presidential ambition of the former boss of Economic andFinancial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, under the ACN.
This followed the final talks held in Lagos last night where the CPCleader, General Muhammadu Buhari, is likely to run as jointpresidential candidate of the CPC and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN,on ACN’s platform with former Ekiti State governor, Otunba NiyiAdebayo, as his running mate, according to feelers from top_levelCPC/ACN alliance talks held at ACN leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’shouse at Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi.
The CPC team was led by Buhari himself whileTinubu led ACN’s team.
Joint presidential candidate
Sources said the ACN leaders had already accepted Buhari as their jointpresidential candidate. However, at last night’s meeting, theydemanded that, following the APP/AD alliance formula of 1999, the CPCleader should run on ACN’s platform, since it is already too late tomerge the two parties, as the ACN leaders initially preferred.
The ACN’s leaders’ demand, sources said, was because CPC is littleknown in the West, where ACN is now dominant, and it would be easierfor the ACN leaders if the joint candidate ran on their ticket. It wasnot clear whether the CPC leaders accepted the demand, which would makematters very difficult for them too, since CPC is just making animpact in the North and its supporters would be confused if asked tovote for ACN.
Another issue said to have dominated last night’s talks, was the issueof a running mate for Buhari. The ACN leaders’ first preference was forTinubu, who became the most powerful politician in the South West withACN’s snatching of several states from the PDP through the courts.
However, the CPC delegation was quick to point out the politicaldangers of fielding a Muslim_Muslim ticket, especially in some parts ofthe country such as the North Central Zone.
A flurry of political activities took place that tended towardsreshaping the political landscape, particularly the outcome of thegeneral elections expected to hold in April 2011.
Some of those activities included the amalgamation of oppositionelements, under the auspices of Patriotic Electoral Alliance ofNigeria, PEAN, in their efforts to wrest power from the ruling party,the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
This was followed by the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC’s announcement of the shift and, perhaps, the final date for theconduct of the general election _ despite the pending debate at theNational Assembly over the contentious Electoral Act.
Though an internal worry in the PDP, the emergence of the consensuscandidate of the northern aspirants _ an exercise initiated by theNorthern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, led by the former FinanceMinister, Adamu Ciroma, which endorsed former Vice President AtikuAbubakar _ was also another exciting activity which heightened thepolitical tempo during the period in reference.
This is even more when the ambitions of heavy weights like formerMilitary President Ibrahim Babangida; erstwhile National SecurityAdviser, Mohammed Gusau, and incumbent Governor of Kwara State who alsodoubles as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Bukola Saraki,were sacrificed for Atiku.
The implication of the development is that the coming elections wouldbe a keen contest. PDP has within its ranks a lot of rivalries tocontend with, particularly with the vexed issue of the zoning which hasdangerously gravitated towards ethnic colouration of who flies theparty’s flag.
Deployment of strategies
However, the most worrisome is the potential of opposition parties tosupplant PDP in the coming election, deploying whatever strategies; beit through alignment, merger, coalition, alliance, union or whateverterminology they choose.
The tempo has indeed heightened in the last couple of weeks and givenvent to the discourse on probable alliances against the PDP in a bid towrestle presidential power from President Goodluck Jonathan.
Of all the alliances, however, the one that appears to be the greatestthreat to the PDP is the merger or alliance talk between the ACN andthe Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, championed by twoheavyweights, Senator Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State andunarguably the current strongest man in Southwest politics; and GeneralMuhammadu Buhari, former military president, who today holds therecord of the only Nigerian who has consistently but unsuccessfullysought to rule Nigerian in the last three general elections.
Though, it appears that the merger talks have witnessed many hitches,signals point to the possibility that both men are exploring othersynergies to form a formidable force to confront their common foe.
Spokesmen of both parties, Lai Mohammed, ACN; and Denis Aghanya, CPC,agreed that there were irreconcilables over merger arrangement, butnoted that the chances that alliances would sail through was apossibility.
The fact that ACN holds sway in the South West and are having seriousimpact in the South_South while CPC is the party to beat in the North,gave a ray of hope that there indeed was a possibility to wrestle powerfrom PDP come 2011.
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