MOVES to ensure a merger of the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) ahead of the 2015 general
elections appeared to have reached a peak last week following agreements
that the General Secretaries of the two parties would resign their
positions anytime soon to pave the way for the emergence of a unified
Secretary General,
just as there are strong indications that Mallam Nasir el-Rufai may emerge as the new party’s secretary
It was gathered that a meeting of the leadership of CPC held on May
29 briefed some chieftains of the party on the conclusions reached with
the ACN on the planned merger ahead of 2015.
The meeting, held in Abuja, had intimated some members of the
National Executive Committee of the CPC that agreements have been
reached with leaders of ACN, which would see the General Secretaries of
the two parties resign their positions and pave the way for the
emergence of a new Secretary General for the emerging party.
Leaders of the two parties believe that with such a merger, a
presidential ticket of General Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Bola Tinubu
could then be feasible in 2015, while el-Rufai, who is believed to be
nursing presidential ambition, is wooed with the position of Secretary
General.
The said meeting, which was briefed by the national chairman of the
CPC, Prince Tony Momoh, was said to have informed participants, of the
outcome of negotiations between leaders of the CPC and the ACN.
According to a source at the meeting, one of the key decisions
reached with leaders of ACN was that the General Secretary of each of
the parties “should resign their respective appointments, as part of the
moves towards the planned political alliance/merger.”
Sources also confirmed that the CPC National Chairman told the
meeting that Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has been proposed as the new
Secretary-General when the envisaged political merger eventually sails
through. The ACN is expected to produce the new National Chairman.
But the moves was said to be generating tension within the ranks of
the embattled CPC, as some of its chieftains bent on sacking the current
leadership were said to have intensified their actions.
Sources also said that the incumbent General Secretary, Alhaji Buba
Galadima, a key actor in the party, was opposed to the proposed merger
as he was of the view that any merger with the CPC would work in favour
of the uprising led by Senator Rufai Hanga.
Sources close to the party said that the planned merger was already
being threatened as a result of Galadima's opposition and that when
issues of Galadima's conduct was raised at the meeting, the whole show
came to an abrupt end. Galadima and his followers were said to be of the
view that dissolving the CPC into ACN could play into the hands of the
Senator Hanga-led opposition.
According to sources, Galadima and his close associates were pushing
the position that it was too early to be calling for a merger between
the CPC and the ACN.
Their position according to sources is hinged on the fact that if the
move goes ahead, it would mean that, the attempts by Senator Sani Rufai
Hanga and his group to see an end of the CPC, have eventually
succeeded.
The Galadima loyalists in the party were said to have raised the
alarm that Senator Hanga and his supporters might be playing to the
tunes of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), which was alleged
to have funded some dissidents within the CPC.
...Niger ACN, PDP trade words over merger talk
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Niger State chapter of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN,) Captain Abubakar Isah Mokwa (rtd.), has
described the planned merger between the party and the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) as the only way that the needed change within
the nation’s polity could be achieved.
Isah,who spoke to journalists last weekend in Minna, said that the
nation’s woes could only be addressed if there were changes rather than
a political party that constantly rigged her self to power.
He said that the state chapter of ACN was ready for the merger if the
talks between the two leaders of the parties worked out as anticipated.
The chairman noted that even before the merger talks, the party and
CPC have been having a very good working understanding because it was
obvious that such understanding was the only way to save Niger State
from the clutches of the ruling PDP.
“You can see that because we are not happy with what is happening in
Niger State, we called meetings of stakeholders from across the 25
local government areas of the state to discuss the way forward. We can
not keep quiet to allow things to go bad,” he declared.
He said though 2015 was a long way off, the party had decided to plan
properly ahead so that the party would not be taken by surprise.
But in a quick reaction, the state’s chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) argued that no amount of gang up could stop it
from winning future elections in the state because the party was firmly
on the ground.
The party stated this through its publicity secretary, Alhaji Hassan
Saba, while reacting to plans by the opposition parties in the state
to team up against the PDP for the 2015 general elections.
Saba however stressed that the PDP was not moved by the plan
because similar arrangement in 2011 did not only fail but the working
alliance played up by the parties threw up the greed between the
leaderships of the parties.
He described the PDP as a grassroots political movement loved by the
masses because of the brilliant performances of its elected and
appointed representatives at all levels.
“Some of these so called politicians cannot deliver their wards not
to talk of their local government areas. How can such people uproot the
PDP?” Saba asked.
Dissolution of national executive: cpc alleges plot to destabilise party
Meanwhile, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has accused the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of precipitating crisis within the party
as a ploy to disorganise the CPC before the 2015 election.
Apparently reacting to the dissolution of the national executives of
the CPC and composition of another one, the Plateau State chapter of the
party in a statement signed by its chairman, Alhaji Mubbashiru Aliyu
said the PDP perceived the party as an albatross to checkmate it ahead
of the 2015 election.
He said the PDP was afraid of the recent rising profile of the party
and believed that the only option in taming it was to sponsor internal
crisis within the CPC and felt that this was the appropriate time.
Alhaji Aliyu added that the positive move by the CPC to form a
formidable merger with the Action Congress of Nigeria was giving the PDP
some worry hence, the plan to frustrate the merger.
“When General Mohammadu Buhari boldly and clearly stated that the CPC
will no longer tolerate or allow unconstitutional act in the conduct of
the 2015 general elections and any attempt to do so would meet stiff
resistance, the PDP became jittery and felt the earlier they struck the
better, hence their action,” he said.
He said the Plateau chapter of the CPC has disassociated itself from
the group that branded itself the new executive of the party at the
national level, adding that the state chapter remained loyal to the
legally elected leadership of the party under the chairmanship of Chief
Tony Momoh
Said he: “Happily, the disgruntled elements have disclosed that they
would seek redress in the court of law. We wholeheartedly welcome the
idea but we are bold to say that they have put the cart before the horse
and the court is willing and ready to interpret same.”
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