Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and some political parties have been meeting as part of moves to strategize for the 2019 elections,
In one of such meetings, which held at Protea Hotel, located at 42/44 Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, Obasanjo was said to have met with 35 political parties under the aegis of the Coalition for New Nigeria.
Others at the meeting included the Co-Chairmen of the Nigerian Intervention Movement, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and Dr. Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa, one of the children of Nigeria’s post-independence first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa.
A former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; a former Governor Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and a former Special Adviser to Obasanjo, who is the spokesman for the CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, also attended the strategic meeting.
Some of the political parties represented at the meeting included the Social Democratic Party, Labour Party, Alliance for Democracy, Democratic People’s Congress, Action Alliance, Progressives People’s Alliance, Democratic Alternative and National Conscience Party.
Others, who attended the Lagos meeting, were Mr. Kenneth Udete, who represented Action Alliance Party; and Mr. Okey Chukwuendu, who represented the All Grand Alliance Party.
A source, who attended the meeting, told our correspondent that Obasanjo emphasised the need to work together ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The source, who is close to Obasanjo, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the coming together of the various interest groups and individuals had become necessary as that was seen as the only way to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2019 elections.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said, “The meeting was summoned by Obasanjo. He noted that both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party have failed Nigeria and there is a need to come together. He said his association, Coalition for Nigeria Movement, and the NIM should form a merger.”
When asked why Kwankwaso was invited to the meeting despite being a member of the ruling APC, the source noted that Kwankwaso had always been an Obasanjo loyalist.
“Have you forgotten that Kwankwaso was appointed the Minister of Defence by President Obasanjo in 2003? The former governor was not invited because of his ties with the APC but because he also has a huge movement known as the Kwankwasiya in Kano and its environs. Kano is a very strategic state,” the source, a top member of one of the groups, stated.
“The meeting is not just a political one but an attempt to come up with a unified ideology and strategy for 2019.”
PUNCH