FROM ADE ALADE and IHEANACHO
NWOSU, ABUJA
The intrigues and political manoeuvring
that will shape the 2019 general
elections have begun to unfold with
revelations that some serving ministers
and governors on the platform of the two
major political parties are deeply involved
in the formation and funding of the much
touted mega party; Action Democratic
Party, ADP, which this week began its
registration process.
Saturday Sun gathered that beside the
serving ministers and governors, a former
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Dimeji Bankole, his father, Chief Alani
Bankole and a minister of state for
Agriculture under President Goodluck
Jonathan, Alhaji Awodele Najeem
Adewale have been named among
notable promoters of the emerging party
from the Southwest zone.
One of the top leaders of the yet to be
registered party from the North who
pleaded anonymity, told Saturday Sun on
Thursday that “our support base cuts
across party lines and cadres” when
prodded to name some of the ministers
involved in the party, said “it would be
suicidal to mention their names now. But
they are people not happy within the
system but should they be dropped in the
imminent cabinet shake-up, Nigerians will
surely know them.”
On the governors in secret romance with
the party, the source gave the same
excuse “for fear of persecution.”
Further investigations by Saturday Sun
however, revealed that a prominent All
Progressives Congress, APC governor in
the Northwest and another Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP governor from the
South-South are among the chief
promoters of the party , aside their
colleagues in the two major political
parties.
Most of the big personalities involved in
the new party, who are chieftains of the
ruling APC, it was learnt are still playing
hide-and-seek with the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, in
order to avoid any backlash.
However, operatives of some security
agencies who are fully aware of the
clandestine moves, have continued to
trail the “big actors involved, especially
the movement of money to fund the new
party and may move against them
anytime soon.” According to a security
source, “ we are on the trail of the
party’s sponsors still hibernating in APC
and others. When we start asking for the
source of the funds they are moving
around, we hope they won’t start
shouting political persecution, that is if
the party’s registration even scales
through.”
Nonetheless, those saddled with the
responsibility of organizing the party are
pushing fast by setting up physical and
administrative structures for the party
across the country. On Tuesday this
week, it was gathered that its protem
national officers had relocated to Abuja
to prepare for the party’s registration and
national convention. This followed the
zoning of positions in its National Working
Committee, NWC and that of the National
Executive Committee to the various geo-
political zones of the country. According
to the new party, the National
Chairmanship position has been zoned to
the North Central; South west gets
Deputy National Chairman; South East,
National Secretary; National Organising
Secretary goes to the North West, South
East gets National Legal Adviser, while
the South South gets National Treasurer.
The new party also made provision for
two zones to produce the position of
Deputy National Chairmen as it was
during the early days of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, just as it created
a novel office, National Diaspora Adviser.
According to the breakdown, North
Central has the National Welfare
Secretary; National Vice Chairman; Vice
National Organising Secretary; Deputy
National Woman Leader; Assistant
National Secretary; Deputy National
Treasurer; National Vice woman leader;
National Vice Youth Leader and ex-
official. The North West aside the
position of National Organising Secretary,
has the positions of National Woman
leader; National Vice Chairman; Vice
Publicity Secretary; Deputy National
Secretary; Deputy National Youth Leader;
Deputy National Welfare Secretary;
National Vice Woman Leader and Ex-
Officio. The allocation also shows that
the North East has the positions of
Deputy National Chairman; National Vice
Chairman; National Auditor; Deputy
National Financial Secretary; National
Vice Woman Leader; National Vice Youth
leader and Ex- Officio.
APC KICKS, SAYS MEGA PARTY
ALREADY DOOMED
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has
shrugged off the speculation that some
of its governors and chieftains are
discreetly promoting the planned mega
party, Action Democratic Party of Nigeria
(ADP).
National Publicity Secretary of the APC,
Bolaji Abdullahi said the rumour that
some APC bigwigs are secretly funding
and promoting ADP has not elicited the
attention of the leadership of the party
and dismissed it with a wave of the
hand.
“It is all hearsay, we have not discussed
the speculation”, the ex-minister of
Sports told Saturday Sun . He added “
APC is focusing on delivering good
governance to the people but not
listening to hearsays.”
He described APC as a great party and
wondered why key members would go
and promote another party. The APC
spokesman stressed that there had not
been any report that any of the governors
or chieftains are engaging in anti-party
activities which he said, supporting or
funding the new party would amount to.
He said “ there is no case of anti party
activities by any of our governors and
stalwarts which what you are talking
about represents. It is all hearsay”.
This is the same way the National
Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-
Oyegun recently declared that the ruling
party does not feel threatened by talks of
the formation of a mega party that will
wrestle power from it, advising
proponents of the emerging party to
focus on providing formidable opposition
to his party.
He also absolved a leader of the party,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar from the
rumoured formation of the planned mega
party, recalling that he had met with
some of the leaders of the APC,
including the leadership of the National
Assembly and the former vice-president.
His words “We don’t feel threatened at
all. I don’t know where the name mega
party suddenly came from in the lexicon
of politics in this country. When two
people gather to have a meeting, it is a
mega meeting.
“We don’t feel threatened, we will in fact,
encourage a mega party because with
the gradual collapse of PDP, we want a
party that can make us sit upright and be
on our toes in terms of delivery of
services to our people.”
MEGA PARTY, DEAD ON ARRIVAL –
SULE LAMIDO
A former Minister and immediate past
governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, in
his reaction to the emergence of the
new party, said it was dead on arrival
because it was built on betrayal.
“You see, to be honest with you, those
who are talking about mega party are
just reckoning by the mood of the
moment. They are just trying to indulge
in some kind of self-help or what you call
escapism. And they are even calling
names, some even say those who left
the PDP to join the APC, want to return
to the PDP, but would prefer to return on
a different platform, because they are
probably ashamed of returning to the
PDP. So, those of us who stayed back in
the PDP are shameless?
“Has the APC mega party worked? It
cannot work because it is a party that
lacks history, and hurriedly put together,
just for the purpose of election. The
formation was driven by anger. But the
Nigerian problem is still there. It has
been there before, and it will still be
there. So, whether major or mega party,
Nigeria’s problem is still there. The
challenge is to face it.
“When they talk about change, Nigerians
fell for it. Where is the change today?
They said everything under PDP was evil,
yet the so-called mega party, that is
today in government is doing worse evil.
When Jonathan increased pump price of
petrol by just N10, there was a protest
led by Buhari and the APC chieftains,
saying, fuel subsidy was a fraud. So,
under Jonathan, because it was PDP, a
party of evil, the increase too was evil.
But when Buhari increased it, by over
100 percent, over and above what
Jonathan did, they said because it was
coming from a pious person called
Buhari, if you come out to demonstrate,
they would beat you.
“Today, the mega party has introduced
the culture of coercion and intimidation,
as an act of governance. Whereas,
leadership should instill trust, respect and
confidence, what we have today cannot
do all that. When you fear leadership,
there is a problem. There is no trust, no
respect, no faith, since all that you do is
based on fear, not out of love for the
leadership. And fear, has its own
limitation, because by the time you know
what is called fear, you’ll no longer fear
again. When you are about to be
circumcised as a boy, you get scared.
But after going through it, you discover
it’s no big deal and you no longer fear
again. “ I doubt if Nigerians will be afraid
of any mega party again today. Two,
rather than indulge in self-help, I think we
should face the country’s challenge
squarely and solve it because from what
we have seen so far, solving the problem
does not require the coming together of
any mega or major party. Three, which
parties will the PDP merge with to form
the mega party? There is no partner to
merge with, so merger, for the PDP, is
out of it”, Sule Lamido who is poised to
contest the 2019 presidential election
declared.
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