Opposition parties conclude merger, float APC
After several weeks of meetings, the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have finally resolved to emerge as the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The adoption of the new name is to satisfy the urgent national need for a party that will give the disillusioned citizens of the country a recipe for peace and stability,” a communiqué signed by representatives of the four political parties said yesterday at the conclusion of a meeting which they started earlier on Tuesday in Abuja.
Stressing its commitment to the principles of internal democracy, the party said that it would focus on issues that concern the wellbeing of Nigerians.
The communiqué also affirmed that the party is determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end and that, “part of its priority will be to grow the economy and create millions of jobs through effective education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth, and this will check the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among Nigerians.
“The resolution of these issues, the restoration of hope, the enthronement of true democratic values for peace, democracy and justice are those concerns which propel us.”
The party noted that it was set to occupy the Presidency in 2015 and will, “restore the dignity and position of Nigeria as a country of pre-eminence among the committee of nations.”
The merger initiative was postponed on Tuesday owing to the demand by members of the ACN and CPC merger committees that the representatives of APGA and ANPP be involved, to give the resolution a national outlook and acceptable to all the stakeholders.
Ten governors from across the opposition political parties including Rochas Okorocha of APGA, all the ACN governors in the south west, Kashim Shetima of ANPP, among others had met behind closed doors on Tuesday in Lagos, where they endorsed the merger plans.
According to Shetima of Borno state who read the communiqué on behalf of his colleagues, “we, the governors of Borno, Ekiti, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Yobe, and Zamfara, rose from a meeting in Lagos House Marina (Tuesday), having reviewed the situation in our country, and we resolved that to rescue Nigeria is a task that must be done.”
The new party is expected to be registered after formal presentation of the resolutions to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
