Less than 82 hours after the historic merger by the opposition political parties in Nigeria came to reality on Wednesday, there are strong indications that the Presidency must have concluded plans to disorganize plans by the newly announced mega party, All Progressive Congress (APC), in order to consolidate on PDP’s strength in 2015.
Also, PDP must have resolved to do replace the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, to pave way for the ruling party to rig the 2015 general election, as the last option in the face stiff opposition.
A reliable source close to the Presidency disclosed to SATURDAY INDEPENDENT that the seat of power “laughed the merger party to scorn” because effort has been geared up to ensure that “such political conspiracy does not work in this country, at least not now”.
He said that PDP has planted some “valuable” fifth columnists in APC and that they will be reporting event of utmost importance to the PDP caucus for “strategic decisions that will counter their plans”.
“Some of those who rush to the mega party have presidential interest and when they are not allowed to pick up the ticket, they will become veritable tools for the PDP”.
PDP believes that the big opposition party will not carry the “enormous” differences existing among the various interest groups and individuals that formed the mega party, stating that while Mohammedu Buhari would want the interest of the northern region to be implemented on the platform of the party, other tribes will oppose to it.
“They will definitely not agree on the same issue. Self-centeredness will be their greatest undoing because all the tribes that played parts in the formation of APC will naturally want to take something home and that will not be possible”.
The source further hinted that the mere fact that the Peoples’ Democratic Movement, PDM, which has former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the leader, is not part of the mega party, makes it more “vulnerable” to the PDP threat.
Atiku was said to have given his nod to the mega party so long as it would be strong and “principled” enough to give the PDP a run for its money.
But the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said the move by the presidency would soon hit the rock. Speaking during an exclusive interview, the National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Ritimi Fashakin said “they are idle people of no concrete idea about how to move Nigeria forward. We are aware of their antics. We learnt that they went into a marathon meeting during the week brainstorming how to stop our merger plan. We are taking one step at a time.”
Adding his voice to the issue, the former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa said “the merger is one of the best things to happen to Nigeria polity. Definitely, it is the end of the road for PDP. The PDP people should not be allowed to consummate further their failed policies.”
“Nigerians should encourage the merging parties and ensure that it works at the end of the day so that the potentials of the country can come. This is what we have been advocating for. The media should also refrain from throwing up negative issues that would distract or collapse the merger plan,” Balarabe said..
According to the source, if the opposition against the PDP especially Jonathan’s candidacy for 2015 is more than expected, then the fall back action would be to “remove the INEC Chairman, Jega.”
He explained that government has sworn that no amount of opposition will cow Jonathan from seeking a re-election. “We are waiting for him {Jonathan} to just pick up a ticket and indicate his interest to run, then we will know where to head from there”.
Justifying why Jega may likely be “replaced”, the source said that the only way for the President to win the next election giving the avalanche of opposition against him is for “PDP to rig the elections”.
Apart from the fact that Jega would want to maintain his integrity by conducting a free and transparent poll, the ruling party may opt for something unusual.
More so, being from the north central where the President has the worst opposition, Jega may be under severe pressure from his northern people to do everything within his ability to conduct a free and fair election “because they believe that under an atmosphere of free poll Jonathan will not win.
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Source: Daily Independent
