APC counters PDP, joins forces with 20 parties to form CPPP

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in efforts to ensure the party and President Muhammadu Buhari remain in power beyond 2019, has joined forces with 20 other political parties to form a Coalition of Progressives Political Parties (CPPP).

This was apparently to counter the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which recently entered into alliance with 38 political parties to form a Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) with the sole aim of producing a single presidential candidate to wrest power from Buhari.

The PDP and the 38 political parties had formed CUPP on Monday; on Tuesday, the APC also met with 20 political parties to form CPPP.

Parties that make up CPPP are the All Progressives Congress (APC), Accord Party, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), United Progressive Party (UPP), Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance (APDA), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

The rest are Freedom Justice Party (FJP), Fresh Party (FP), New Nigeria’s Peoples Party (NNPP), Nigeria’s Peoples Congress (NPC), Nigeria Peoples Movement (NPM), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), National Action Congress (NAC) and NDLP.

The coalition chairman, who is also the national chairman of PDM, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, said that the coalition was made up of like-minded political parties who believe in Nigeria’s unity and stability.

He made this known to newsmen after hours of meeting at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, where the coalition took place.

“Yesterday (Monday) we woke up to a new development where PDP outside power has now managed to create another coalition. As facts continue to emerge, they listed 36 political parties. Our analysis of that coalition reveals that a number of political parties were included in that coalition fraudulently.

“Part of the political parties they listed is Accord Party and the chairman of the party is here with us. If you are creating a coalition, you need to be honest about it as to who and who are members of the coalition.

“As of today, the membership of that coalition is in doubt. Two members also listed at that coalition are here. We are not part of that coalition because we represent a political type of politics which is in total contradiction of what they are doing.

READ ALSO: OSHIOMHOLE: CUPP is an alliance of dead parties

“We do not believe that our country should be governed by people whose only objective is to capture power. For what purpose is that coalition built? Is it for the purpose of taking Nigeria back to 1999 and 2015 or is it for the purpose of building a new Nigeria?

“That purpose has not been stated, even their in their memorandum. The only thing in their MoU is to agree to capture power in 2019. Their programme has not been made known to the Nigerian public. We will not be part of a coalition that does not have a programme for Nigeria,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) chairman and former Kaduna State governor, Balarabe Musa, has described the coalition against Buhari “as an act of opportunism.”

He said, “I don’t think a coalition like this which is opportunistic, will be able to defeat the governing party that is, the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

According to Musa, the reason for coming together was “simply because they have lost the opportunities for sharing power” and not because of “anything which they can do which APC didn’t do.”

Also, the Rivers State APC publicity secretary, Warisenibo Chris Finebone, has said that the CUPP is a poor copy of APC.

He said that the coalition was “structurally and methodologically different from the coalition between some parties that led to the formation of All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, at least, for now.”

 

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