2019: PDP considers alliances, mergers to defeat APC

As part of its preparations for the 2019 General Elections, the Peoples Democratic Party may have concluded its scheme on how to work with other opposition political parties in a bid to tackle the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, 

IF feelers emanating from the fold of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is anything to go by, then the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the party may have bowed to pressures being mounted by some leading chieftains of the party who strongly feel the PDP needs to collaborate with other opposition parties if it is to achieve its aim of displacing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Aso Rock in 2019.

Talks about the possibility of the former ruling party merging with other political parties to form a mega party that can defeat the ruling APC in the forthcoming 2019 General Election have been on for a while with some of the suggestions put forward generating controversies within and outside the party. While a good number of party chieftains are enthusiastic about the merger, some are pessimistic, calling for some of the suggestions to be discarded.

According to reliable party sources, following months of extensive deliberations over an earlier proposal submitted by one of the numerous committees instituted by the Caretaker Committee, when it took office, to the effect that the PDP should seek alliances and mergers with other political parties and platforms ahead of the 2019 General Election, the party now appears ready for merger talks with willing political parties.

The Nation gathered that as part of efforts to reposition the PDP and make it more formidable, the party will soon open talks with some identified parties and groups across the country with a view to either enter into political alliances with them or absorb such parties into the PDP to form a stronger political opposition against the ruling APC.

“It is true that our party will be seeking some forms of collaboration soon. Plans are at top gear for a merger between the PDP and a number of political parties and groups in Nigeria ahead of the 2019 General Elections. There are also talks about alliances with some other parties and groups. There are even some socio-cultural organisations, which now want to work with the PDP to ensure that the APC is chased out of government in the country.

“The discussion over the issue has been on for a while and we all agreed to keep it guarded to forestall any smart move by our opponents. But recently, those who want us to explore the options of alliance and merger convinced the leadership of the party and it was agreed that the PDP should open its doors for other parties and groups to come in or work with us. The talks should start immediately after the convention baring any change in plans,” a party source said.

“One major bone of contention between the groups of those who want the merger and those opposed to it is the name of the party. There are those who strongly feel the PDP should not change its name for any reason. These are the people opposed to merger talks. They strongly feel the PDP’s name is a brand that shouldn’t be thrown away for any mega arrangement,’ a party source added.

The Nation further gathered that the party has mandated a committee, headed by Professor Jerry Gana, to identify and contact possible political parties and groups that the PDP can open talks with. “The committee is not new. It is the same committee put in place last November, following the emergence of the Caretaker Committee as the new leadership of the party,” a source added.

Jerry Gana committee

It would be recalled that the PDP Caretaker Committee, led by Sen Ahmed Makarfi, had in November 2016, shortly after it emerged as the new leadership of the party, inaugurated a 115-member Strategy Review and Inter-party Affairs Committee with a mandate to consider the possibility of bringing other opposition political parties into the fold with PDP for a possible merger.

Speaking while inaugurating the committee, Makarfi had revealed that the drive behind the alliance is part of their strategy to return to power in 2019 through every democratic means. The strategy committee was led by former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana. According to Makarfi, the committee is to, among other things, “explore strategies to engage all possible allies with a view to building positive relationship in overall interest and in furtherance of democracy in Nigeria.

“The committee is to consider and recommend strategies to reposition the party and recommend necessary amendment to the constitution of the party. You don’t remain docile and inactive; you don’t remain cornered so that you will not be toyed about with at the whims and caprices of anybody. Time is going, a lot of things are happening and our men and women are on their own and are beginning to do all sorts of meetings,” Makarfi said back then.

In February this year, the committee submitted its report and urged the party to open its door to alliances with other opposition political parties in its quest to return to winning ways. The committee, in its report, which was submitted to the leadership of the party in Abuja, also came with recommendations that would make the party stronger and better, and able to regain power in 2019.

Speaking on the possibility of the party entering into alliances with other opposition parties, the former Information Minister disclosed that his committee made effort to reach out to political parties and groups with similar objectives and that the initial contacts of the committee had yielded positive responses from seven people-focused and social democratic parties.

“This is nothing to do with the rumoured Mega Party, but a separate and highly principled initiative of the PDP. These parties and the PDP will soon meet in Abuja to discuss further. Our desire is to have all genuine democratic and friends of the people to flow together and provide a fresh and trustworthy leadership to promote and ensure people-friendly process of national development,’ Gana said.

Receiving the report, Makarfi described it as “excellent work” that could not be rejected by any organ of the party. He said that the report was part of the activity of the Caretaker Committee towards moving the party forward. Makarfi said the party leadership would forward the report to the party’s organs for critical analysis as well as due process in implementing the recommendations.

“We are going to work to make sure that we reconnect to Nigerians. This report has laid the path for correcting those past mistakes. Though PDP had many remarkable achievements in its 16 years of ruling the country, the party members regret and apologise to the electorate for its past mistakes. We appreciate the effort of this committee and we will utilise the report well,” Makarfi added.

Controversy

In spite of the many problems it was confronted with following its sack by the Appeal Court, which declared Senator Modu Sherif as the authentic chairman of the PDP, the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee worked hard on the report of the Gana Committee. According to findings by The Nation, the report was subjected to further scrutiny by other organs of the party and the idea of working with other political parties and groups was accepted.

But party sources claim no sooner has another committee put in place to see to the implementation of the report started reaching out to political organisations that controversy started over the process. While some people wanted to know what will happen to the PDP’s name and logo, others insisted the party should not, for any reason, have anything to do with certain groups and individuals.

“Chieftains of our party were sharply divided over some of the recommendations of the implementation committee. Even members of the initial committee objected to some of the plans that the new committee had. This, as well as the leadership crisis, occasioned by the then legal tussle between Makarfi and Sherif, delayed further actions on the suggested merger and alliances,” a source said.

The first sign of controversy came from Prof. Gana himself shortly after feelers emerged that the PDP and some other opposition party may be mooting the idea of a mega party. Speaking on the possibility of the PDP entering into alliance with other parties, Gana said that the party’s relationship with other political parties would be based on principle and cleared ‎guidelines.

“On the progress of the alliance, I will not like to give details of what is being recommended, but the PDP is desirous of attracting all lovers of democracy across the country as we move forward. There are details I cannot divulge at the moment because the committee’s recommendations will be passed on to the party leadership. It will not be wise to disclose the details before we submit the report.

“On the issue of mega party, we are not yet aware of PDP’s involvement, but all we can say is that the party wants to relate with lovers of democracy in all the parties. We have a syndicate committee working on this, chaired by former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu. They are to give us the guidelines for any re-alignment plan and the number of parties that are willing to join us.

“Our engagement will be based on principle and cleared ‎guidelines. PDP is the only party that can be found in every ward; it is the only party that has not changed its name, and we are not going to change the name of our party. Democracy in Nigeria is under threat and we must rise and defend democracy, because that is the best form of government for humanity now,’ he said.

Progress

Meanwhile, reliable party sources told The Nation that the party has finally resolved the grey areas in the recommendations and may have embarked on talks with selected political parties and groups. It was also gathered that some political bigwigs currently in the APC are also on the list of those to be approached for possible alliances.

“All issues concerning the merger and alliance talks have been resolved and we are moving very fast with underground consultations and talks. We are doing it underground because we do not want the process to be hijacked or truncated. We are politicians and we understand the effect of surprise attacks. When we eventually come out with what we intend to do, people will marvel,” a chieftain of the party said.

The Nation gathered that political parties allegedly in talks currently with the PDP over possible merger and or alliances include the newly registered Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance, (APDA). Party sources claim talks between the PDP and APDA has reached advanced stage with the possible outcome that the later will fuse into the PDP ahead of the 2019 General Election.

“With the APDA, I can conveniently tell you a lot of progress has been made. Soon, we will be announcing the merger of the APDA with the re-invigorated PDP. Don’t forget that the APDA is currently home to a lot of PDP chieftains who left because of the then unending leadership crisis. It is no surprise that the two parties are now considering coming together,” a source said.

Other parties currently on the radar of PDP’s merger talks, according to sources, are  Labour Party, (LP), Social Democratic Party, (SDP), Accord Party (AP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and the  National Democratic Party. The party, it was gathered, is also talking with some political groups across the country with a view to bringing them under the umbrella as part of the PDP.

“The ongoing effort is aimed at repositioning the PDP into a mass based political platform that is capable of mobilising Nigerians across the country from all walks of life. It is beyond the usual gathering of political parties into a merger. We are looking at a mass movement that will offer Nigerians a virile alternative to the APC in the 2019 General Elections.

“Beyond political parties, we have various groups and organisations coming forward to say they want to work with the PDP to oust the inactive administration of the APC from government. We have farmers’ group, civil society organisations, student bodies, youth groups and a lot of other such organisations clamouring to be part of the movement we are building,” a chieftain of the party explained.

 

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