African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Thursday convened a summit of six political parties, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in a bid to form a merger of formidable opposition party to wrest power away from APC come 2027.
The gathering of the politicians tagged ADC Democracy Summit Kaduna 2024 was attended by opposition parties such as New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), People’s Redemption Party (PRP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), KOWA Party, IPAC and CUPP with a view to merge into a stronger party structures ahead of the 2027 general elections, as a means of taking back power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Chairman of the Summit, Malam Lawal Nalado, while lamenting what he described as the unbearable hardship faced by Nigerians across the country, hinted that the gathering was called to discuss the nation’s barrage of problems and to chart the way forward for citizens to make informed decisions ahead the next general elections.
Nalado, who insisted that the summit was not convened to form a merger or a coalition amongst parties, gave an assessment of the present All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in Abuja, saying it could not solve Nigeria’s problems but rather ended up creating new ones.
He said opposition parties needed to mobilize voters at the grassroots by way of reaching out to the downtrodden with political enlightenment messages, capable of changing their mindset that politics should not be about money, religion or ethnicity but voting the right candidates to uplift social and economic status of the society.
The National Chairman of PRP, Alhaji Falalu Bello, in his remarks, advocated for effective mobilisation of the electorates by opposition parties, adding that fielding credible candidates was not enough to win elections, thus the need for mass mobilization. Bello, who was represented by Prof. Sule Muhammad, listed inadequate resources, lack of internal democracy, decayed transparency, interference by ruling party among others as problems bedeviling opposition parties in the country.
IPAC National Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle called on opposition parties to adhere to principles of accountability, transparency and diverse effective means of holding government accountable, saying it would go a long way in putting elected and appointed officials on their toes in ensuring delivering of dividends of democracy to citizens.
The National Chairman of KOWA Party and spokesman of CUPP, Malam Seidu Bobboi, challenged the opposition parties on the need to be active and vocal in pointing shortcomings and lapses of the government in power so the ruling party would rise to its duties and responsibilities to the people.
Kaduna state Chairman of ADC and IPAC, Malam Ahmed Tijjani, said the summit aimed to chart a course to address socioeconomic challenges and problems facing political parties with the view of proffering realistic solutions.
“This is not a gathering for merger or forming a coalition ahead of 2027 but rather a summit conveyed to discuss our common problems and suggest solutions of addressing them.
“It is not early to start off as we have done here because our people said a Friday that will be good could be predicted from Wednesday. We hosted a collection of strong opposition parties and youth group in addition to putting heads together for our country. Nigerians must be informed and carried along by political parties if we really want to keep citizens’ loyalty intact ahead of the next general election. We will call you again by tomorrow to read out our communique which will be a summary and possibly a mini working document of solving our problems ahead 2027,” he said.
