NEW TELEGRAPH
Some top politicians who have taken a break from politicking are expected to resume after the Christmas and New Year festivities and unveil the much-talked Alternative Force, designed to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sunday Telegraph can now reveal.
Multiple Sources said barring any unforeseen circumstances, the platform on which they would achieve this would be officially revealed in the first quarter of 2025.
The sources who spoke with the Sunday Telegraph on condition of anonymity said that immediately after the New Year celebrations, the political landscape will become busy with interactions in the first quarter.
It will start as an amorphous association and it will transform into a full-fledged political movement by the end of the first quarter of the year.
The Source said: “The plan is to look for a party without baggage. They believed that the PDP has some baggage; the LP has some baggage, the NNPP has some baggage, and of course, the APC too is not left out. They are looking at some of the parties that are fairly without any trouble.”
Meanwhile, they argue that they do not want to seize any existing party, but will try to register a new one and will resort to Plan B if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fails to register them.
But the Plan A is to register a new party and the process is ongoing and they are crossing the ts and dotting the is. If everything works well, they will call it an association of like minds and by the end of the first quarter of 2025, it will transmute into a full-fledged political movement and party.”
However, there is also the idea that the PDP, the APC, the LP and the NNPP would form the pivot of the new movement. The essence is to provide what they call a credible opposition that can stand against the APC.” You would not be surprised if some of the key leaders of some of the parties we have mentioned play a very prominent role in the unfolding scenario because there is no way for people like Atiku to contest. He can only play an advisory role. They are not going to allow any old politicians to dominate it like they have done in the other parties,” another Source said.
Where it becomes a little bit tricky is how they are going to bring in notable politicians like Governor Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), and the governor of Bauchi (Bala Mohammed).
They said they can be brought in if they are given prominent roles to play. They are trying to see how they can also woo them. But for now, those ones are still in their party.”
Further, the Source said: “The other option would be to take the PDP and ensure that some of the people, the tendencies. They believe that there is no way the PDP can work with the stranglehold of Atiku and the dominance and the domineering position of (Nyesom) Wike (former Rivers governor and FCT Minister).
“They do not know how to solve that problem. Since they do not know how to solve that problem, that is why they are now saying ok let’s look for a brand-new platform. They believe that it is not possible to drive that without bringing in a new platform and I can assure you so many displeased members would come on board. There are speculations that some of those who would join the new party would shock some Nigerians because they are seen as the loyalists of Mr. President and the APC.
They believe that the crises within the PDP, the crisis within the LP and the crisis in NNPP are APC induced.
Since it is APC induced, they can only fight from another platform. “Buttressing the first Source, another Source close to a former South West Governor also said that between January and March, the first quarter of 2025, there will be feasibility of what he called like minds.
“They do not want to rush what they would do. Initially they tried to do the party of the North before the crisis in NNPP (New Nigeria People’s Party) erupted, but on introspection they said they are unable to use it now because there is also crisis in the party. They are going to use one of the parties that have been established but less controversial. They said they are looking for a neutral party that everybody would agree with.
“They do not want a party where somebody would say it is our platform. They believe that the only way this would not happen is if Atiku Abubakar is persuaded not to run. They believe that unless the Wike problem is solved. That is the only way that the PDP can be resuscitated. When you see the body language of Wike, yesterday (Thursday), he went to visit the President with his two children. The photo is everywhere,” the Source added.
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