According to reports that surfaced a few days ago, the presidential candidates of the three major opposition parties in the nation the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) are discussing forming a coalition or even merging to challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the aforementioned source, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso were meeting to discuss the prospect of forming a coalition to unseat the APC in the 2027 election in the event that a court ultimately rules in the governing party’s favor on their legal appeals.
According to the article, the three leaders have decided to wait and see how the court rules on the election petitions, which will determine what they will do next.
The report was released less than six months after the February 25 presidential election, which was ultimately won by President Bola Tinubu of the APC.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, Atiku and Obi placed second and third, respectively.
Kwankwaso of the NNPP is ranked fourth as a consequence of the INEC’s final results announcement.
Platinum Times reminds readers that Atiku and Obi are currently contesting the results in court, with the tribunal having already reserved judgment after the parties finished their oral arguments and turned in their final written responses.
The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, hinted at a potential alliance with the candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, before the 2023 general election, but it never materialized, according to Platinum Times.
On the other side, this was in addition to a failed attempt at an alliance between Peter Obi (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP).
In response to the rumors that he was in talks with Atiku and Kwankwaso about forming a coalition to unseat the APC, Obi declared that his party was dedicated to creating a better and new Nigeria in which they would transition the country from one of consumption to one of production.
Prior to the State’s local government elections, the former governor of Anambra State addressed LP’s big event in Edo State on Monday. He reassured party followers of his dedication to the organization.
He informed a large crowd of party members that some of the rumors they had been hearing were untrue.
“Labour Party will continue to grow. We will continue to get stronger (and) better. Half of the things you are hearing everywhere are rumours, don’t listen to them.
“We are committed to building a better and a new Nigeria where we will move Nigeria from consumption to production,” Obi said to loud cheers from the crowd.
Yunusa Tanko, one of the spokespersons for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC), also while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, described the rumoured merger between the PDP, NNPP and the LP as unattainable.
Tanko added that discussions with political parties of like minds who believe in the party’s ideology and principles remain open, reiterating that there was no foreclosure on the matter, but that they have had discussions.
“When you talk about merger, it means that political parties from different parts of the country submit their document to INEC, and then they will be pronounced as a new political party, which isn’t obtainable at the moment.
“So, the merger is out of the question technically. But, when you talk about the discussion of the possible working alliance with the political party – very true, that is possible,” Tanko said.
He, however, acknowledged that talks about a possible merger were ongoing even before the election but could not happen.
When Platinum Times reached out to him through a phone call on Tuesday, Yunusa reiterated that an alliance is possible as he had earlier stated on national television.
On his part, a former National Chairman of the PDP, and ex-Governor of old Anambra State, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, told DAILY POST that the three parties (PDP, LP, NNPP) have realised they made a mistake.
Nwodo believes that if the parties had remained together, they would have been able to beat APC hands down in a landslide victory..
He said, “Well, I don’t think there is talk of a merger, but I think the three parties have realised they made a mistake. If they had remained together, they would have been able to beat APC hands down.
“It would have been a landslide victory for them. Therefore, it makes sense, if there is a rerun, for them to begin to think about how to cooperate. That is simple arithmetic.”
The Spokesperson for the Forum of State Chairmen of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Dada Olayinka Olabode, also reacted to the report, dismissing it as a figment of the imagination of the discussants.
In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Tuesday, Olabode acknowledged that the party had been inundated with reports on merger talks amongst the PDP, LP and NNPP.
He, however, said that it would amount to a sell-out to think of a merger or alliance without proper consultation with the different organs of the party structure.
Olabode noted that NNPP is a growing political party whose prospects have brightened with mass acceptability amongst Nigerians.
The Forum of State Chairmen of the NNPP dissociated itself from what Olabode described as “the self-serving agenda of the arrowheads of such merger talks”.
He insisted that the party has procedures which must be followed in arriving at such decisions and considerations.
He said, “We have been inundated with recent reports in the media on merger talks amongst the PDP, LP and NNPP being orchestrated by former Presidential candidates of the three political parties.
“First, we would like to dispel such rumours as a figment of the imagination of the discussants.
“Our party, the New Nigeria People’s Party, is a national political party that contested elections at all levels in the just concluded 2023 general elections.
“The results, as announced by INEC despite obvious infractions, put our party at number four amongst the eighteen registered political parties that contested elections into the various offices on performance rating.
“Secondly, as a growing political party whose prospects brighten by the day with mass acceptability amongst Nigerians, it would amount to a sell-out to now think of a merger or alliance without proper consultation with the different organs of the party structure.
“Thirdly, only gangsters will collaborate against the wishes of their party members in mooting an idea of a merger even when election petitions at various tribunals are yet to be dispensed with. It is, at best, a gang-up against the ruling government and an attempt to undermine the fragile peace, unity and sovereignty of Nigeria.
“The Forum of State Chairmen of our party wishes to dissociate from the self-serving agenda of the arrowheads of such merger talks.
“For us in NNPP, there are procedures to be followed in arriving at any of such decisions and considerations.
“The involvement of Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso is nothing other than self pursuits laced with vengeful intent. We are not unaware of his desperate plans and will not allow any individual whose stake or claim to the Presidential seat has long been traded for ministerial consideration all for himself.
“As Chairmen in our various states, it is a well-known fact that our disagreement with Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso centred on his avowed pursuit of self-interest against the desire of the party members who are daily consolidating on a membership drive and repositioning the party to democratically form a government through People’s mandate in subsequent elections.
“May it be known to the proponents of the afterthought merger or alliance that nobody in NNPP has the exclusive right to negotiate on behalf of the party without the consent and permission of the founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam.
“Any discussion, therefore, suggesting the contrary is an attempt to pull the wool over People’s eyes. This forum will resist such.
“Finally, we wish to remind the self-acclaimed leader of NNPP to tread with caution and warn the general public to be wary of nomadic politicians whose sole interest is to engineer a crisis in the political space of our nation.
“Our focus at the moment as a party is to rebuild and weed out political traders from our great party. This we are committed to doing without any compromise.”
Peter Obi has been instructed by Ohanaeze Ndigbo to work with President Bola Tinubu rather than Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso, the candidates from the Peoples Democratic Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, respectively.
The factional Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, claimed in a statement on Monday that the putative alliance would fail as soon as it arrived because Nigerians would reject Kwankwaso or Atiku.
According to Isiguzoro, “Nigerians know that Atiku Abubakar of the PDP’s uncharitable disposition and desperation will never allow him to support Peter Obi to be the leader of the Nigerian opposition.”
“The misguided journey of Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso will crumble in the future,” he predicted.