A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, has said the third force being promoted to oust the major political parties in the country come 2023 will not fly.
There have been calls for a third force following the largely poor performance of the two major political parties in managing the country’s resources.
A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, recently asked Nigerians to reject the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general polls.
Jega, who supervised the 2015 general elections, said the two big parties have failed to engender good governance and development in the country.
The National Consultative Front (NCFront) co-chaired by Na’Abba and former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, was birthed in 2020 as a third force movement and a coalition against the existing political structure controlled by the APC and PDP.
Also in the coalition are Dr. Olisa, Agbakoba (SAN), Dr. Usman Bugaje, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, and Rev Fr. (Dr) George Ehusani, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, and veteran Wale Okunniyi who is the National Secretary, among others.
Na’Abba told Daily Trust that the quest to establish a third force may not be feasible now.
“It is still being explored but a third force is very difficult to attain as standard today. For that to be able to work out, it will entail massive appeal to the people and there must be a deployment of a high degree of material resources, which a lot of people that have been contacted were reluctant to give, given the nature of the political system.
“Already, distrust has been created by the way and manner the existing political parties have played out in the last 20 years. So it is, of course, getting difficult and it appears that the only recourse is for people of good conscience and mind to come into the main parties and attempt to reform them.
“As far as I am concerned, this is the only practical alternative that may be achieved in the short term,” he said.
According to him, the third force as a political party may not be realised because everything possible is absent.
“There are many willing Nigerians who desire a third force, including a lot of members of the two existing political parties. Unfortunately, the material resources necessary for that to work out has not been forthcoming, so it is hard to say anything has been achieved so far in that direction.
“As things stand today, I don’t know tomorrow or next but on the reality, that is the position.
“Yes people are pushing for it but it is not enough for people to push for something. People have to pay for it but they are not willing to pay for it, so that is the problem,” Na’Abba, who left the movement last month, following irreconcilable differences, said.
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