Nigeria’s political hemisphere was jolted last week when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rallied other opposition parties to oust the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.
About 33 other political parties, including the breakaway faction of the ruling party, Reformed-APC (R-APC), agreed to form the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari next year. The parties also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to present a common candidate in the 2019 presidential election.
The event attracted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other PDP presidential aspirants – Sule Lamido, Ibrahim Shekarau, Ahmed Makarfi, Kabiru Turaki and others.
Also present were Senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Dino Melaye, and leader of New PDP (nPDP), Abubakar Kawu Baraje. The Shehu Yar’Adua Centre, venue of the event, witnessed large turnout of politicians from the coalition parties.
Elated Prince Uche Secondus, PDP National Chairman, said the alliance marked the commencement of the determined effort to rescue Nigerians from sufferings and bad governance of the ruling APC.
National Chairman of the breakaway R-APC, Buba Galadima, said President Buhari would lose the 2019 election. Galadima added that his presence at the event was significant, and expressed delight at the presence of the crème-dela-crème of the Nigerian society.
The coalition said that it would, in due course, present to Nigerians a people-oriented manifesto meant to ensure that Nigerians feel the immediate impact of governance as soon the parties form a national unity government in 2019.
Chief Tom Ikimi, who read the terms of MoU, said the parties agreed to “promote a positive reaction to the failures of the present regime and to give hope to all our people.”
The parties in the coalition are: Action Alliance (AA), Alliance for Democracy (AD), Africa Democratic Party (ADC), Action Democratic Party (ADP), All Grand Alliance Party (AGAP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP). Others are Democratic Alternative (DA), and Democratic Peoples Party (DPC).
Others are Grand Democratic Party of Nigeria (GDPN), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), KOWA Party, Labour Party (LP), Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN).
Also in the list are National Conscience Party (NCP), New Generation Party (NGP), National Unity Party (NUP), Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM), Peoples Alliance for National Development and Liberty (PANDEL), Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), People for Democratic Change (PDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Providence People’s Congress (PPC), Reformed All Progressive Congress (RAPC).
Also included are Restoration Party of Nigeria (RPN), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), All Grassroots Alliance (AGA), National Interest Party (NIP), Nigeria Democratic Congress Party (NDCP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Young Democratic Party (YDP), among others.
Since the signing of the MoU, Nigerians had been wondering if the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) could succeed in its quest to defeat President Buhari and the APC in 2019?
APC Reacts
In its reaction, APC declared that Nigerians, not political parties, would decide its fate in 2019. Bolaji Abdullahi, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, said the MoU signed by the parties was a struggle for political power.
Abdullahi said: “How does it concern us. Were members of our party there? It is about the struggle of power, but Nigerians are the ones that would decide in 2019.”
APC Cannot Win, Unless It Rigs – Consultant
Julius Edore Ahamudia, a Benin-based chemical engineer and consultant said: “In a free and fair election, there is no way the APC can win the 2019 general elections, especially with the present security situation in the country.
“But, it seems they have finalised plans to rig the election against the people’s wish and the people will resist it for the first time in Nigeria history which, they are yet to be aware of.
“It is too glaring to every Nigerian that there is leadership failure, Nigeria as a nation is drifting in the past eight months. What the country required now is rescuers to savage what is left as quickly as possible to avoid the bobble being burst, which I believe the coalition has come to do.
“I strongly believe that it is either the President is not aware of the present situation in the country, because those around him are not feeding him with the right information about the situation, or, he is aware, but because of his mindset for a particular destination, he has arranged with his kinsmen to take the country to. He does not see anything wrong in all that have been happening in the past few months.
“What the Buhari administration is doing is a movement towards a destination known to him and his kinsmen only, which is no longer far off.
“I believe that the 2019 general elections will fast-track the journey, unless the President, seeing the hand writing on the wall, decides to advise himself to change the gear.
“What the initiators of CUPP have just done is a warning to the administration that the people are no longer at ease, especially with the security situation. It is the beginning of the mass movement of the people to take over from where the Buhari-led APC administration will anchor the country. This may not go beyond 2020 if the President insists on winning the election by all means.
“I am not a politician, neither am I a prophet. But, from my observations so far, I discovered that there is anger and bitterness in the land. Based on that, I can predict that the APC will rig the 2019 elections in its favour. But, the people will rise and take over the government from them.
“The people, no doubt, will exercise their franchise quite alright. But, the government will use state power to suppress them and their rights. At the end of day, the people’s power will prevail eventually because those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.”
CUPP Will Be A Huge Success – PDP Chieftain
Dr. Eddy Olafeso, PDP National Vice Chairman, South West, said: “The political parties came to the realisation that our nation is drifting. We have lost several thousands of souls. This tells us what will happen tomorrow. The President has actually lost control. The government can no longer secure the lives and properties of Nigerians. We die by numbers on daily basis. All they do is lift up their hands in despair and tell us that they would take control.
“They told us that they had technically defeated Boko Haram. Now the herdsmen came killing our people every day. Yesterday 42 people died in Taraba State, 12 villages were burnt down. The United Coalition of Political Parties (CUPP) you saw, all believed in one thing. We believe in restructuring our parties to give it a strong platform that can usher in a new nation.
“Rawanda rose to become a force to be reckoned with in Africa. Their nation is beginning to bubble again. That is what we at CUPP is trying to do. Unless you suffer under one umbrella and go through some level of indignity that has actually visited the Nigerian people, you will then have the opportunity to know what happened.
“What happened on Monday in Abuja is the beginning of the birath of a new nation and we will go against all odds to make it successful. We have to bury our selfish interest to be able to build a better Nigeria and I am sure it will be a huge success.”
Nigerian Voters Don’t Understand A Coalition – Veteran Politician
Nzeh Nnakwe Mbadike Ezukwu is a Second Republic politician, and member, Advanced Congress Of Democrats (ACD). He said: “The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) is an assemblage of the opposition parties angling to dislodge the APC from power in 2019.
“But, I am afraid they may not make any headway because, as the saying goes, experience is the best teacher.
“I was one of the key players when the late Chief Sam Mbakwe ruled the old Imo State under the then Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). The NPP went into alliance with the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. But, at the end of the day, what happened? Did Shagari not win in 1983? The CUPP is an embodiment of strange bedfellows and they are parallel lines that cannot meet.
“They cannot oust Buhari and his APC from power next year because the average Nigerian voter cannot fathom what you call coalition.
“Here, in Imo State, Governor Rochas Okorocha is doing everything he can to ensure that his APC retains power and the coalition lacks the capacity to garner the necessary resources and manpower to challenge him.
“The coalition cannot speak with one voice to realise their dream because of their different political ideologies. It is the voters that can remove the APC from power if their votes count and not the coalition.”
Nigerians Are Itching For A Change – YPP Chief
Nzeh Kelvin Iwejuru Okedinobi of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) maintained that the coalition is made up of formidable redoubtable seasoned politicians, who know the system with the necessary capacity to liberate Nigerians from the APC bondage.
According to him, “If they can put their house in order, sink their different political leanings and present a common credible presidential candidate, they will definitely defeat Buhari and his APC next year.
“As things stand now, no body is happy with the APC and the people are itching for a change. I wish the coalition good luck.”
CUPP Can Unseat Buhari, APC – Businessman
Abdullahi M. Sani is a Minna-based businessman. He said he believed on the possibility of the newly formed alliance, Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), could defeat President Buhari and the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2019 general elections, even though it might not be easy due to the fact that they came from different political backgrounds and ideologies.
“If they can understand themselves by being united in their resolve to pursue the common agenda of changing President Buhari, the APC and their so-called Change, the CUPP will succeed.
“The APC did the same thing to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 by mobilising other political parties to form an alliance and pulled out some members of the PDP who we now refer to as the n-PDP, while some prefer to go by the name, Reformed-APC or r-APC, if you like.
“The CUPP can unseat President Buhari and the APC if they come up with well articulated idea and plans different from the agenda of this present administration, but which can easily be bought by Nigerians ahead of next year’s elections.
“Part of the resolve is to ensure they present the best to Nigerians, a person who is without records of corruption, because, that was the basis why Nigerians massively voted for Buhari only to discover now that the administration under him is even more corrupt than the one we voted out.
“The CUPP should resist fighting over leadership positions as the APC did and is still doing. They should agree on a particular Presidential candidate and vigorously campaign for the person. I believe they can retire Buhari since he has refused to respect his age and his words. Nigerians are already pushed to the wall by the sufferings inflicted on us by this government.
“So far, the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus and Secretary, Ologbondiyan, Ekiti State man, Governor Ayodele Fayose are all doing well by speaking out and exposing the dirty corrupt tendencies of this government that were swept under the carpet.
“It is a question of having more voices from the opposition added to these people and telling Nigerians the true picture of what this government has done or is doing. If the APC succeeded in sending the PDP packing in 2015, I am very positive it will be easier for the PDP with other allies to do the same through the same alliance by exploring the numerous weaknesses this Buhari’s APC government has exhibited in the past three years.
“But, they should first agree on a particular powerful candidate with no record or least record of corruption and then call for a, ‘Change-the-Change’. In doing so, they don’t need to make so much noise of their plans, but more of actions by putting such plans into action. When the APC government begins to see things happening, they will have no place to run to.”
The post CUPP: A ‘Coup’ Against Buhari, APC? appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Daily Independent
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