Guardian

IT was a historic moment for the members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) when they converged in Gusau, Zamfara State, for a special convention to ratify and endorse the merger of opposition political parties into All Progressives Congress (APC).

The unprecedented crowd of supporters, which defied the security web that barricaded the Trade Fair grounds in Gusau town, venue of the convention, rallied in the VIP stand and the various pavilions and turned the exercise into a jamboree that spiced the occasion.

The use of fireworks by hundreds of supporters of the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, was part of the side-attractions, as shouts of “Change, Change, APC, APC,” filled the air.

Among the dignitaries that attended the transmuting exercise of the

ANPP into ACP were hundreds of opposition party legislators both at the state and federal levels, local government chairmen and councilors, former government functionaries, incumbent governors and party chieftains from the 36 States of the federation.

The presence of APC leaders from the Southwest, South-South and Southeast provided the needed impetus and solidarity for the party topshots in the North for the possible political change they aspire in 2015.

Among the southern delegations were Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); and representatives of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) and Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.

Host Governor Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar, going straight into the agenda of the day, which was to ratify the dissolution of the ANPP into the APC in order to provide a good political alternative for Nigerians in the 2015 general elections; expressed his appreciation for the huge crowd of party faithful and supporters.

“With what I am seeing today and with this crowd, I believe that Nigerians are fed up with the reign of the PDP in this country and it also shows the acceptance of the APC, which our party has decided to endorse and join,” Yari said.

“It is our intention to join the two parties, ACN and CPC, that are to come together as one party called APC. Today is a very important and special day for us. Important day for these three parties and important day for Nigerians and the true democrats.”

The governor queried: “Why I am saying that? It’s because we hope that with this process, the era of civilian rule as distinct from democratic rule in the past 14 years in the centre would come to an end.

“We are supposed to be in a democratic dispensation, and we expect Nigerians to enjoy the dividends of democracy; we expect Nigerians to have fundamental freedom, and we expect Nigerians to have adequate security for their lives and properties.

“Unfortunately for the past one and half decades, things have not been in good shape in Nigeria. We hope that with this merger, the era of confusion, maladministration at the centre and insecurity would come to an end in Nigeria.”

Governor Yari said he wanted to use the opportunity to inform the ruling party in the country that they (opposition parties) were following up their intentions and manoeuvres.

“I want to draw the attention of the PDP and its agents that have misruled this country to look at the crowd here today, and the yearnings and the cries of Nigerians, and that Nigerians today are saying no to injustice; we expect the rule of law to prevail in this country,” he said.

“And Nigerians are waiting to see their dreams of having a pragmatic party in power in 2015. Since we in the opposition in the CPC, ACN and ANPP have agreed to merge, the interest of Nigerians is foremost than any other persons or groups’ interest. And I believe that with what has happened here today, the change that we are waiting for as a country is almost at sight come 2015.”

The ANPP National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, debunked the misconception of some political gladiators, whom, he said, had been placing the party in bad light and thought that the members of the party were in romance with the PDP.

He said since the ANPP discovered that the PDP was on the path of misrule in the country and that the government was not ready to imbibe democratic principles that would lead to the development and growth of Nigeria, the members of ANPP decided to allow the PDP to run its show and sink.

Onu remarked: “For fourteen years, Nigeria has not known peace, yet she is not at war. Bombs explode at will, day and night, killing both innocent children and harmless women. Fathers leave their homes in search of daily bread not sure of whether they will return to their families alive.

“Families go to worship God in Churches and Mosques, unsure of whether they can return to their homes alive. Kidnappers now compete with armed robbers in making life unsafe for Nigerians. Poverty has ravished our people.”

The ANPP boss stated that the party leadership decided to join the merger to restore the wasted years by the PDP and return the country to the path of sanity in 2015.

“Our nation is reaping the bad and rotten fruit of one dominant political system,” he said, adding that, “it is sad but true that those who play opposition politics in our country are seen by those in power as political enemies instead of competitors.

“Everything is done to weaken, if not strangulate the opposition. In the process, the people suffer and the nation is worse for it. I know how those in opposition, particularly in states controlled by the ruling party, are denied entitlements guaranteed them by our Constitution. Yet, it is those in opposition that give credibility to democracy.”

Lambasting the PDP leaders on their boastful utterances that they would be in power for 60 years and above in Nigeria, Onu queried the credentials the PDP and its leaders have to justify such confidence.

“We in the opposition recognise that Nigerians are yearning for good leadership; we can offer that leadership but we cannot do it alone,” he said. “We need to work with others who think like us, as we all know that politics is largely a game of numbers. It is important that we work with other opposition parties.

“When the opposition parties come together, work together; when they merge, they can form a formidable platform that the ordinary Nigerian can trust to wrest power from the PDP. The formation of the APC will help us achieve that goal.”

Former presidential candidate of the ACN, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who led a delegation of the party, noted that, “we have embarked on this historic journey, the first of its kind in Nigerian political history.”

He said although we want to be recorded positively on the side of history, “we are, however, not unaware of the huge challenges we would face in this endeavour and the series of obstacles we are to cross in our common resolve to rescue this country from total collapse.”

He continued: “The most painful aspect of it all is that for about a decade since the PDP came to power, the development of this country has been arrested. The institutionalised style of governance has engendered general sense of helplessness, despondency, and inertia among the citizenry.

“Since the coming of the PDP government in 2011, all their records are tails of woes. Perhaps, apart from the Civil War period, the security of our country has never been as threatened as it is presently. Governance in the country today has been bedeviled with corruption and mismanagement at the highest leadership level.”

Ribadu, former chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said: “It is against this backdrop that we are gathered here today. For all the PDP years of misrule, we are offering a new regime of prosperity, discipline, security and a more emancipated society.”

“We have heard the clarion call of our people, and we have also resolved to protect and assume power at the centre. Our quest is to re-fix our nation that is richly endowed and that is why we decided to set aside our individual interests for a larger national one.”

Striking a similar cord, Governor Aregbesola noted that, “we have witnessed the rule of the PDP in the country for the past 14 years without any meaningful progress,” adding that, “all we see is violence, destruction, poverty and unemployment in all facets of the nation’s life.”

“Instead of electricity, we have darkness all over the country; instead of employment, we have unemployment and poverty among our people; instead of security, we have insecurity. The only thing that can solve our problems is for PDP to go in 2015,” he stressed.

Also, Governor Fayemi, in a brief solidarity message, said: “We should all stand up to rescue Nigeria from the oppressive rule. The coming of the APC is for the rescue mission and because APC is for change, the true change will sweep the PDP away in 2015.”