BY PAUL EJIMKONYE
The All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are the two major political parties in Nigeria.
Proponents of the new mega party contend that their desire to float another national party is anchored on the fact that the PDP’s electoral value has diminished and the party has been battered as a result of the arrest and trial of some of its key members involved in corruption.
Driving the move for another national political party with PDP members forming the core membership is a top south East PDP chieftain who claims to have muted the idea to other party members in the North and South West.
The mega party, according to the PDP chieftain, will be made up of PDP members particularly those who are unhappy with the mindless fraud and corruption perpetrated by some of its members during the era of former President Goodluck Jonathan and exposed by the ongoing war on corruption.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh is facing trial for collecting N400 million naira from the $2.1 billion arms procurement funds from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki.
Other top leaders of the party such as Chief Anthony Anenih and former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Baffarawa have also been fingered in collecting various sums of money from the arms funds.
Another top key PDP member behind the formation of the new mega party told INNONEWS.COM last week in Enugu that “the need for another party that will draw its core membership from the opposition party PDP is to separate the contaminated PDP members from the non- contaminated ones.
He said “the new party will give those set of PDP members a fresh air from the stench of fraud and corruption oozing out from the party.
“Nigerians will not feel comfortable to associate with the PDP in the next elections. Buhari’s war on corruption might be selective as only PDP members are targeted, but you cannot divorce the fact that all the allegations of fraud and corruption leveled against those corrupt PDP members has not been disapproved any of those apprehended by the EFCC for corruption.
He continued “When the next elections come in 2019, you will see that Nigerians will not align themselves with the PDP anymore. Colossal failure stares on the face of the party.
“The people have realized that they were only getting crumbs when the PDP was in power. And we are convinced that the APC which is noted for its hyper active propaganda will certainly drum it into the ears of the electorate that the PDP is a party of fraudsters whose 16 year reign led to massive looting of the nation’s treasury.
“How can you convince Nigerians to vote for a party of thieves and fraudsters? You can see how astonished Nigerians are when they heard the billions of dollars alleged to have been stolen by some PDP top leaders during the last elections. Nobody will want to associate with such a person or group of persons
“The PDP has an image problem now. Rebranding the party will be a herculean task. How do you tell the sophisticated Nigerian electorate to vote for a party that has impoverished them and stole the nation blind? For us, the only option is to float another national party that will separate the corrupt PDP from the non corrupt.
This newspaper gathered that the promoters of the new party have held several meetings in Enugu where they have rolled out plans to reach out to those “reformed PDP members who have left the party or are on the verge of leaving the party.
“In the states, we have large number of party members who are aggrieved over high level sabotage by some PDP leaders who worked for the APC. They are still bitter about the situation.
“We have set up a Contact and Mobilization Committee that will to the travel the nooks and crannies of the country to preach the gospel of a new party to PDP members.
This newspaper gathered that the committee is headed by a former senator from one of the South West States and deputized by a former governor in the South East who decamped from the PDP.
"However, we are not zeroing the membership of the new party on only aggrieved members of the opposition PDP. We will also reach out to some of our founding fathers who left the party a long time ago. Some of the PDP State governors who are not pleased with the stench of fraud perpetrated by leaders of the party in the last dispensation will also be approached to join us.
“Some of them are enthusiastic about the idea. We also intend to expand our catchment process. We will reach out to those who share and believe in our philosophy and ensure they are accommodated” he stated.
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