In a bid to dislodge the ruling party, All Progressive Congress, APC in the 2027 General Election in the country, major opposition political parties have resolved to merge through a strong coalition.
By Ademu Usman Idakwo
The parties involved in the coalition project are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP.
The movement tagged ‘the Coalition of Concerned Political Parties (CCPP)’ was formed in Abuja on Wednesday at a meeting attended by leaders of the seven political parties at the National Secretariat of the SDP.
The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, had recently called on the opposition parties to come together to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.
Atiku, who was also a former Vice President, speaking when he hosted the National Executive Committee of the Inter-Party Advisory Council Nigeria (IPAC) in his house on November 14 at Abuja, alleged a likelihood of Nigeria slipping to a one-party state and urged the opposition to close ranks.
The other two leading opposition parties: the Labour Party (LP) and the NNPP had, in their separate remarks, said the call ought to be given serious consideration.
Shortly after the meeting of the seven political parties in Abuja, the chairman of the SDP, Shehu Gabam, disclosed that the coalition was neither a merger nor was against the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).
The acting National Secretary of the PDP, Setonji Koshoedo, who represented the acting party’s national chairman, Umar Damagum at the meeting, explained before the journalists that the coalition wants to offer strong opposition for the good of Nigeria.
“We must offer alternative solutions to government policies. We must safe our country and return power to the people in 2027 “. He stressed.
Speaking in the same direction, the national chairman of the ADC, Chief Ralph Nwosu, said the idea behind the coalition is to strengthen the democracy, adding that they have seen that people in government are trying to discourage viable opposition which he claimed is not healthy for the democracy.
Equally, the national chairman of the APM, Yusuf Dantalle, said there were other parties in the coalition that were not at the meeting, but despite their absence, they are still speaking and moving towards the same direction of rescuing the country from misgovernance of APC.
Apart from Gabam, Koshoedo, Nwosu and Dantalle, the acting national chairman of the NNPP, Abba Kawu Ali; the national publicity Secretary of the YPP, Egbeola Martins and the national secretary of ZLP and other party representatives were in attendance.
On the immediate demands of a new coalition, according to Gabam, the new coalition demands the judiciary to strengthen their conviction towards delivering judgments that can stand the test of time, referring to the recent judgements of the Court of Appeal on Zamfara, Nasarawa, Kano and Plateau states, where the candidates of the coalition members lost out to the candidates of the ruling party on mere technicalities.
The coalition expressed deep concern about the insecurity in the country, adding that it was getting worse and deteriorating every day.
The coalition also lamented on the prevailing hardships facing Nigerians due to the removal of fuel subsidies without any commensurate step to caution the effect.
The All Progress Congress, APC is yet to respond officially to the new coalition plotting to oust them out of power in 2027.
