THE NATION
Opposition figures are planning to form a new party to tackle the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next general election, The Nation learnt yesterday.
Ahead of 2027, sources said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last year’s election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has set in motion the machinery for the proposed party in collaboration with some members of the National Assembly.
It was learnt that Atiku’s camp is wary of the disunity in the leading opposition party, thinking that should it persist till 2027, the party may not be able to wrest power from the ruling party.
A source told The Nation that the former Vice President has been liaising with ex-Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, who contested for the Senate Presidency and lost to Senator Godswill Akpabio.
The Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF), Abdul Ningi, may have also been recruited to serve as a foot soldier in the Senate to actualise the plan.
Ningi’s statement last week has created confusion in the National Assembly.
According to observers, there appears to be a move to replicate the 2013 scenario where some governors and federal legislators rebelled against the PDP and teamed up with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The ruling APC was formed in February 2013, following the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and what was called the new-PDP.
Atiku, who was one of the leading figures in the formation of the APC, was defeated during the presidential primary of the party in 2014 by General Muhammadu Buhari.
He returned to the PDP to contest against Buhari in 2019. Last year, he slugged it out with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the presidential election.
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