20 political parties join forces with APC to ‘fight’ CUPP [SEE LIST]

A group of 20 political parties yesterday joined forces with the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to form the Coalition of
Progressives Political Parties (CPPP).

This political development came barely 24 hours after a group of 38
parties announced the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) to
wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari.

The chairman of the coalition, who is also the National chairman of
PDM, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, told reporters after hours of
meeting at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja that the coalition was made up
of like-minded political parties who believe in Nigeria's unity and
stability.

He claimed that the coalition was formed in 2014 ahead of the 2015
presidential election in support of the candidature of President
Buhari, then APC candidate.

Ibrahim said the coalition was merely resurrected to counter the
orchestrated PDP coalition against the APC-led government.

Berating the PDP coalition, he said the parties were driven by
selfishness and hunger to capture power in 2019.

He explained that the parties that formed the coalition with the PDP
lacked the agenda to drive a new Nigeria.

The PDM chairman alleged that most of the parties in the PDP coalition
were fraudulently included to sign the MoU to deceive Nigerians.

He noted that while the Accord Party chairman and his party, the PDM,
among others, abstained from the PDP meeting, their parties' names
were listed without their consent. This, he said, raised doubts about
the credibility of the coalition.

He said: "Yesterday (Monday) we woke up to a new development where PDP
outside power has now managed to create another coalition. As facts
continue to emerge, they listed 36 political parties. Our analysis of
that coalition reveals that a number of political parties were
included in that coalition fraudulently.

"Part of the 42 political parties they listed is Accord party and the
chairman of the party is here with us. If you are creating a
coalition, you need to be honest about it as to who and who are
members of the coalition.

"As of today, the membership of that coalition is in doubt. Two
members also listed at that coalition are here. We are not part of
that coalition because we represent a political type of politics which
is in total contradiction of what they are doing.

"We do not believe that our country should be governed by people whose
only objective is to capture power. For what purpose is that coalition
built? Is it for the purpose of taking Nigeria back to 1999 and 2015
or is it for the purpose of building a new Nigeria?

"That purpose has not been stated, even their in their memorandum. The
only thing in their MoU is to agree to capture power in 2019. Their
programme has not been made known to the Nigerian public . We will not
be part of a coalition that does not have a programme for Nigeria."

On the objective of the CPPP coalition, Ibrahim said it was to
mobilise Nigerians to play a greater role in political activities and
ensure that they are given the right to elect their leaders in a free.
fair and credible electoral process.

He said the agenda included to monitor and exert pressure on INEC to
uphold the sanctity of elections and to help identify security threat,
among others.

The secretary of the Coalition and National Chairman of the Advanced
People's Democratic Alliance (APDA), Shittu Muhammed Kabiru, noted
that the coalition was to advance the course of democracy and to
stabilise the economy which was mismanaged by past PDP- led
governments.

Shittu said the coalition would bring Nigeria out of economic impoverishment.

"We want Nigerians to know that our coalition is for a new Nigeria and
to advance the cause of Nigeria and democracy and also to change the
country from impoverishment to economic prosperity.

"We want Nigeria to survive. We will do everything to defend the
economy of this country; we are concerned about the unity and
stability of Nigeria," Shittu said

There are 68 registered political parties and the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) is considering the application for
registration of about 138 others.

The political parties in pro-Buhari's CPPP which met in Abuja
yesterday, are: All Progressives Congress (APC), Accord Party, Peoples
Democratic Movement (PDM), United Progressive Party (UPP), Advanced
People's Democratic Alliance (APDA), Hope Democratic Party (HDP),
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

Others are: Freedom Justice Party (FJP), Fresh Party (FP), New
Nigeria's Peoples Party (NNPP), Nigeria's Peoples Congress (NPC),
Nigeria Peoples Movement (NPM), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria
(ACPN), National Action Congress (NAC) and NDLP.