30 registered political parties in the country have resolved to field and support one presidential candidate within the coalition for the 2019 general elections.
The parties under the aegis of Coalition for a New Nigeria (CNN) has Alhaji Abdulkadir Salam of the Labour Party (LP) as Chairman, Barrister Godson Okoye of the United Democratic Party (UDP) as Secretary and Dr. Yunusa Tanko of the National Conscience Party (NCP) as Spokesman.
This is coming barely two days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo asked President Muhammadu Buhari to forget a second term on grounds of non-performance.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Abuja, Dr. Tanko, a former National Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said the 30 parties were consulting widely to seize power from the APC in 2019.
Dr. Tanko specifically said the overall aim was to put an end to bad governance that had led to poverty, insecurity, nepotism, ethnicity in the country and strengthen the nation’s economy.
The political parties said the APC-led government has failed to take decisive action over killings in the country. They accused the government of allowing the nation to gradually slide into the state of anarchy adding that the APC had failed to fulfil its campaign promises to Nigerians.
"We are determined to take over power in 2019, and we are 30 political parties working together. We are concerned about the state of the nation.
"We are going to bring all the 30 political parties together on the 30th to show you how ready and prepared we are. We are working together to support a candidate within the coalition.
"We are political parties in this country and we have decided to chart a new course and if other individuals make statements supporting our course, it is a welcome development.
"Now that many individuals have started writing letters, it is very imperative for political parties to own up the space in which they are and that is why we don’t want any individual to hijack the process.
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"This is the only coalition that is geared towards winning elections in 2019," he said.
When Daily Trust sought to know whether the 30 parties were going into merger, Tanko said,"No, it’s not going to be a merger. Yes, some political parties are interested in merger, but most of the parties are more interested in alliance."
He added, "We will mobilise all Nigerians to see the difference. Mentioning only two political parties in this country is not good enough. We want to give Nigerians a better choice that can deliver to the people come 2019."
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