General Muhammadu Buhari, a major actor, who had just declared his presidential ambition in Kano penultimate week is believed to have refused the fusion of his party, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) into the planned mega party.
After several months of hard work by different opposition political parties to float an all embracing platform to be known as mega party, in-fighting occasioned by the refusal of actors to surrender their party platforms had led to inability of the mega party to stand despite such hype on its birth.
Buhari, is said to have disagreed bluntly with Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over who flies the flag at the presidential election. The release of the INEC timetable for the general elections in 2011, it was gathered hastened the decisions by groups within the party to declare their stand as far as presidential election is concerned.
Another prime mover of the mega party but who is yet to make his position known is the former Sokoto Governor, Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa whose party, Democratic Peoples Party is neck deep in the Sokoto gubernatorial election challenge at the Election Petition Tribunal.
In a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja, Mr. Aghanya said that the CPC is not willing now to fuse with any other political party, at least for the purpose of contesting the 2011 general elections.
He said rather, CPC’s leaders are dialoguing with other political parties that have compartable political ideologies to form a broad-based platform on mutually agreed terms, for the purpose of re-defining and balancing political competitions in Nigeria, on ideological basis.
He explained that the implication of the discussions it has so far held with other groups, is that “there may be some alignment of political forces at certain levels of the polity. But if for further understanding, the parties involved decide to fuse into one political party, it will be a welcome development.”
He denied publications in the media that the groups in the mega party arrangement have agreed to fuse into one party.
“These publications on the pages of newspapers are false and contrary to the point. The CPC is more concerned with the establishment of its structures in the 774 local government councils of the federation and the wards too.”
“Our party is new by name but old by structure. The Buhhari Organization (TBO) which was transformed into CPC, existed in 36 states of the federation, plus the FCT, Abuja. That was why we survived the struggle under the ANPP,” Aghanyan said.
Investigations revealed that attempts to float the mega party were mainly frustrated by the desire of the other major parties in the alliance, especially the Action Congress (AC) to suck in the Buhari group.
The failure of Buhari’s men to yield to the AC’s pressure to team up with it, may have led to the collapse of the mega party objective.
Source: Sun News By FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja (Thursday, March 25, 2010_
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