The ex-members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have collectively said that the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) in Borno state is
responsible for all the misfortunes of the state in the past four years, including the Boko Haram-induced insecurity bedeviling the state.
The two parties that are currently coalition members of the newly registered political party by INEC, All Progressives Congress (APC), had at their last all political parties stakeholders joint meeting and press conference held in Maiduguri saturday at the State Hotel Banquet Hall, ahead of their much expected proper formal merger process in the state with the state's ruling ANPP, expressed doubt over the merger as opposition political parties and possible disassociation.
"We all know that Borno state problem is the ANPP; since 1999 to date, the ANPP has ruled Borno state and the dividends of democracy ANPP is giving Borno people is the present insecurity and instability', the state chairman of CNPP, Comrade Babagana Musa said in his speech.
"The incompetence of the present ANPP government in Borno state leads to so many hardship; so many pledges made by the present ANPP are not fulfilled; and due to lapses of the ANPP government, they cannot show a single project that they have executed in the past two years," Musa added.
The CNPP State Chairman's comment was however rejected by other chairmen of the merging parties who quickly pointed out to newsmen that 'all said was the personal opinion of Musa and not the opinion of the meeting'.
While fielding questions from journalists after the well attended post APC registration meeting, the Borno state chairman of the CPC said, "they can only vouch for their parties' sincerity in the merger, 'but we cannot speak for the ANPP on this merger". However, the PPA and CNPP State Chairmen, Comrade Babagana K. Musa stated that, "there is no doubt to say the least that hurdles await APC in Borno state as one of the ten challenges ahead of the APC is the 'threats from smaller political parties'.
APC must not take for granted, the threats posed by less small opposition political parties, some of whom are under-rated in the merger process. Those seemingly insignificant political parties could easily constitute a stumbling block to APC. In view of this and many more reasons, our advice is not to underrate these political parties".
"But rather work with them to galvanise their support to provide a formidable opposition to the ruling PDP. Analysts believe that this is one sure way that the APC would still maintain an alliance with less stronger parties rather than leaving them at the mercy of the PDP that could easily use them to their political advantage. In view of the above, we are extending hands of friendship and alliance to APC if we are very much indeed important and relevant in Borno state politics,"
Musa said earlier that, the chairman of the defunct Borno CPC, Ibrahim Elzubairu, who chaired the meeting that was tagged 'Fusion of CPC/ACN in Borno', noted that the new APC in Borno 'is a new beginning, politically, free from the divisive, restricted politics of recent past, characterized by fear and hero worship'.
While in his speech, the State Chairman of the defunct ACN, Alhaji Kawu Tijjani, pointed out that 'the APC should not be seen as a mere change in name for any of the parties in the merger project'. 'We should not forget that the emergence of the APC is a voluntary collaboration of three major parties in Nigeria, which comprise of the ACN. ANPP, CPC and other splinters of DPP and APGA'.
The former State Chairmen of ACN, Kawu Tijjani and that of the CPC, Alhaji Ibrahim El-Zubairu in Borno state, had however earlier commended their respective national leaders of their party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and stakeholders of their political parties and both, however, commended Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, for what they described as his 'timely support for the merger alongside his courageous colleagues in the progressive governors' forum'.
Culled from leadership newspaper
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