WE 'LL DISLODGE PDP, WITH OR WITHOUT ALLIANCE -ACN
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has warned the PDP not to gloat over the truncated alliance between the ACN and the CPC, saying with or without the alliance, the ACN will dislodge the PDP in April's general elections.
In a statement issued in Ilorin, Kwara state yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered why the PDP took it upon itself to celebrate the failure of the alliance, which ordinarily should not be its business.
'It is a mark of the idleness of the folks in charge of the PDP that they will resort to issuing a statement over the problems with the alliance between two opposition parties, when they should be busy strategising on how to save their party from an imminent doom,' ACN said.
The party expressed shock that the minders of the PDP can be beating their chest about conducting transparent primaries, when no other party is in a bigger mess than the PDP following the confusion arising from its primaries. 'From Kwara to Ogun, Kogi to Oyo, the PDP is in a big mess, having been unable to organise successful primaries. Thank Goodneess, Nigerians know which party has defied the law by organising primaries long after the statutory period has expired. Such is the lawlessness and anarchy for which the PDP has become popular!
'No one is deceived by the facade put up by the party at its presidential primaries in Abuja, where delegates were left almost constipated with inducement cash! In fact, the primaries were so tainted with obscene money and underhand tactics that even PDP faithful like Senator Wake have publicly denounced it,' it said.
ACN said while it does not owe the PDP any explanation on its failed alliance with the CPC, it will like to explain the reasons for the failure to Nigerians – who are the ones actually rooting for it because they believe it will help in dislodging the do-nothing PDP and save the country from the kind of crisis sweeping across North Africa.
The party said the main reason the alliance failed was the recalcitrance and unbending attitude of the CPC, led by its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. 'For purely patriotic reasons and in the national interest, we made a lot of concessions to make the alliance work, but the CPC simply stuck to a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, behaving all through the talks as if it was the senior partner in the alliance.
'We invited Buhari to run for the presidency on the platform of our party. That means we were willing to even sacrifice our own candidate for the good of all. But the CPC insisted that not only must the alliance field Buhari, he must run on the platform of the CPC.
'We thought this demand was quite unreasonable, considering the pedigree of the ACN. Yes, CPC may be a popular party but it is largely untested. On the other hand, ACN is not only popular but it is well tested. We have four state governors, many Senators and House of Representatives members, huge number in the state houses of assembly and many council chairmen. 'Going into April's election, we have a Plus 3 Advantage, in that three of our governors will not contest and two will remain in office till 2014!
'But the people in the CPC want us to not only concede the presidency, but also to lose our identity, when they bring little to the table. Of course we rejected that demand, which will be akin to committing political suicide. It was difficult enough having to explain to our members why we are offering to sacrifice our own presidential candidate for Buhari.
'To even assure Buhari, who is apparently smarting from the backstabbing he suffered from his former party, ANPP, we said if and when he wins the presidency, we can go to congress and change the name, logo and other identities of the ACN to reflect the new reality brought forth by the alliance. Again the CPC refused. We were left wondering whether indeed the people in the CPC believe in their candidate and want him to become President.
'Well, we can tell Nigerians that we have made the biggest sacrifice by offering to bring Buhari on board at the expense of our own candidate – just to save Nigeria from the stranglehold of the PDP. The offer we made to him is a great risk. After all he can ride on our back to become president and then defect to another party or jettison the alliance. Didn't the governors of Zamfara, Bauchi, Abia and Imo defect to the PDP? Didn't a sitting VP decamp to our party?