Atiku, Yari, and Ningi Explore Formation of New Political Party

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.

The source said Atiku and his allies are mulling the repeat of the 2013 scenario to form a mega party.

He said: “They have gone far in the arrangement. They believe that the country is in the same situation as it was in 2014 during the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s era, hence, their decision to form a mega party to wrest power from Tinubu.

“Ningi’s statement on the BBC Hausa Service was one of the moves of the promoters of the mega party. They want to create problems in the National Assembly and set the lawmakers against each other and the Presidency.”

A southern senator said majority of his colleagues were aware of the plot to return power to the North, if they succeed in destabilising and weakening Tinubu’s government in 2027.

He added: “We know their game plan. We are watching them. We have since returned to our political arsenal to thwart any move to create enmity between us and the Executive and destabilise the government.”

Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District, had told BBC Hausa Service that the NSF would tackle the Presidency.

He said: “Indeed, we don’t attack the government as the opposition is supposed to do. But this is a result of the situation and the government we have. These so-called leaders they forced on us were not voted by us.

“They brought religious issues, ethnic and tribal issues into the process. They used propaganda, saying no Hausa/Fulani would be trusted to lead the opposition because there would be no peace.

“If you look at it from this scenario, the majority of those in opposition are from the Northeast and the Northwest. But we were not allowed to be the leaders of the opposition in the Senate.

“This is one of the reasons we said we would go back and look at what is happening under the umbrella of the Northern Senators’ Forum, which is under my leadership.

Source: The Nation