2015: Buhari’s ambition threatens merger talks •Candidacy not yet on table -CPC

The statements credited to General Muhammadu Buhari over the 2015 presidential race is already generating ripples among partners of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the ongoing talks to form what is tagged “granite coalition,” Sunday Tribune can report.

The apprehension of coalition partners is coming as the CPC`s statement issued in a bid to clarify Buhari`s assertion has only served to further compound the controversy.

Checks with some leaders of political parties in talks with the CPC on Saturday showed fears about alleged mindset of the CPC leader, Buhari, which they blamed for the collapse of the talks before the 2011 polls.

“The statement is coming at a wrong time. We have made our reservations known to the CPC leadership. We don’t intend to say more than that so as not to play into the hands of the PDP,” an opposition leader involved in the talks confided in Sunday Tribune.

Two other leaders contacted on telephone over the comments promised to raise the issue at the next round of talks even as they expressed surprise that Buhari could pass such comments at a time they said the merger talk was reaching a crucial stage.

Meanwhile, the CPC has clarified the comments made by Buhari, admitting that “it is our considered opinion that it would be rather preemptive to speculate at this time what the choice of these coalition partners shall be.”

According to the party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fasakin, Buhari had stated, inter-alia, that “owing to the leadership deficit and the truncation of the hope of the common man through the pervasive injustice in the land, he would continue relevant political activism in the run to the 2015 general elections.”

While admitting that Buhari had earlier promised not to seek the Presidency again, the party noted that “it is almost a year ago since he made that statement during which he said “the Nigerian nation has been tottering as a result of incompetent political leadership.”

The statement said it was the party’s leadership that brought immense pressure to bear on Buhari to rescind his earlier stance on Nigeria’s tempestuous politics even as it confirmed that “the CPC is in alliance and possible merger talks with other progressive coalition partners in order to give true meaning to democratic governance within the Nigerian polity.”