 |
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has predicted the birth of a
new mega party in 2017 to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive
Congress in 2019.
He also predicted that a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, would
quit the APC because of its deepening crisis and declare intention to
run for president.
They are among the 20 things Mr. Fayose predicted would happen in the coming year.
The governor said they were revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
He said he had similarly predicted 20 things that would happen in the outgoing 2016 and that 90 per cent of them came to pass.
“Fellow Nigerians, remember I predicted 20 things that will be experienced this year 2016. Almost 90 per cent of what the Holy Spirit led me to predict came to pass,” he said. “The Holy Spirit has once again led me to tell Nigerians what may happen in 2017. We therefore need prayer to avert further calamities in Nigeria.”
Mr. Fayose, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose
second term in office ends in 2018, did not however elaborate on how the
new party would emerge or those that would float it.
There are currently 40 parties in the country while the INEC, which
is constitutionally mandated to register parties, is processing
applications from 60 political associations to be registered as
political parties.
The governor had hinted last month that he might dump the PDP for
another political platform to prosecute his succession battle in the
2018 governorship election.
“I don’t know the platform I will use for the 2018 election yet and
at the appropriate time, I will tell you,” he told the members of the
Suppliers’ Association of Nigeria, Ikere Ekiti chapter.
“We are still studying the situation. We have to play the game left,
right and centre and whoever we are going to use and the platform, you
will all be part of the process because party politics is about the
people.
“You all saw how people sold their votes in Ondo State, I am
confident that that will not happen in Ekiti. I am close to the people;
you are the source of my strength. Even if it requires just 48 hours to
any election, if I tell you where to go, you will surely follow me
there.”
There have been speculations in some quarters that some members of
the ruling APC might quit the party to float a new mega party alongside
some faithful of the PDP, Nigeria’s main opposition, due to the
intractable crises in the two parties.
Media reports have repeatedly linked the move to a former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and Mr. Abubakar.
Also associated with the alleged planned party are members of the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP.
They had reportedly intensified efforts to float the new mega party
after the Ondo state governorship election, which the APC won.
Mr. Tinubu had publicly disclaimed the reports of his plan to dump
the APC, which was floated following the successful merger in 2013 of
some opposition parties.
The parties, now defunct were the Action Congress of Nigeria,
Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria Peoples Party and a section
of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
A section of the PDP, then in power, also fused into the APC, which
went to defeat former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP in the
March 2015 presidential election.
Mr. Tinubu, who was the major force behind the new party, said on his
tweeter handle earlier this month that he would not abandon a party he
laboured with others to build.
“This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the
national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s
desire,” he said.
“This is a party I laboured with others to build. We would not
abandon it for another. Millions of Nigerians who voted are watching.”
He had also said, “In our journey to national betterment, plans and
policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then
corrected…
“Achievements will be had and replicated. Through it all, I, Asiwaju
will remain true to the progressive ideals that fuelled the creation of
APC.
“I have devoted my political life to achieve what has been achieved.
My heart is too much of the people and my mind too fixed on establishing
positive historic legacy… rather than engage in destructive pettiness.
“This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the
national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s
desires.”
Mr. Abubakar also denied involvement through his media aide, Paul Ibe.
Despite the denial, there are speculations that the former vice
president would leave the APC for another platform to realize his
ambition, especially because the party might give President Muhammadu
Buhari its ticket for a second term.
The Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP faction, which has been a
loggerhead with the Ali Sheriff group, said through its Board of
Trustees (BoT) chairman, Walid Jibrin that it would never think of
forming a political party with the duo of Messrs. Tinubu and Abubakar.
Mr. Fayose belongs to the Makarfi faction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
PLEASE BE POLITE