Governors, legislators and political leaders cutting across the two major political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) met recently at an undisclosed location to continue discussions on the formation of a new major political party expected to wrest power from APC in 2019.
The nocturnal meeting came hours after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s bombshell in the form of an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, advising him not to re-contest the 2019 presidential election.
But sources as saying that the recently meeting was a follow-up to previous meetings held by the amorphous group of political leaders in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and London, with the objective of forming a “third force” that can meet the aspirations of its members.
The source explained that the concept of a third force in the political firmament has two strands.
His words: “One is the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) that is not a political party but is trying to galvanise professionals, civil society groups and activists to support credible candidates in different parties.
“The second is an amorphous group of political leaders, serving and former governors and National Assembly members of both parties, as well as retired military leaders who have been meeting in places like Dubai, Saudi Arabia and London to fashion out a modus vivendi for the new party that will challenge both the APC and PDP.”
The source, further explained that even though the political leaders had bought into the formation of a third major party and were waiting in the wings to step out once it is formed, they are conscious of the fact that there may be insufficient time to get it registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the elections.
“Since time is of the essence and most of the politicians who want to dump the APC and PDP for this new party know that there might not be enough time to get it registered, they are also on the hunt for one of the already registered political parties that they can use as a platform to actualise their goals,” the source added.
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