ACN/CPC merger: Invitation open to APGA —ACN

The Action Congress of Nigeria has said the All Progressive Grand Alliance could be part of the planned merger between it and the Congress for Progressive Change, if it follows the right channels.

The National Secretary, APGA, Dr. Sani Shinkafi, had earlier said the party was keen on joining the merger.

“We are forming the national government come 2015; if the ACN and the CPC extend invitations to us in their merger talks, we are going to join them to transform the country in 2015.

“Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the CPC and the leader of the ACN, Ahmed Tinubu, are all political gladiators. They are progressive-minded. Therefore, if Buhari and Tinubu invite the APGA to join hands with them, we are going to embark on that to transform the country.”

Reacting to Shinkafi’s statement, the National Publicity Secretary, ACN, Mr. Lai Mohammed, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the merger was open.

He said, “If they (APGA) want to be part of the merger, they know the right channels to follow. They are politicians, they should not wait for an invitation; they know what to do.”

He declined to disclose the channel.

However, the former acting National Chairman of the PDP, Kawu Baraje, described the planned alliance as “a day dream and wishful thinking.”

Mohammed replied that the PDP was jittery about the challenge the merger might pose to it.

He said, “I think it’s his (Baraje) opinion. What is clear is that there is a panic in the PDP. When Buhari visited Tinubu in Lagos, it was worried. After Tinubu visited Buhari in Kaduna, the party attempted to destabilise the CPC.

“If the merger plan does not pose a threat to them, why are they fretting? Why the burial before the death? Why are they worried?”