Ahead of the proposed merger of the opposition political parties to upstage the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by 2015, indications have emerged that there are simmering issues which are creating a gulf among the key merging parties- Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA).
Pointblanknews.com checks reveals that the lingering ambition of the presidential candidate of CPC in 2011 election, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, to run for president in 2015 and his distrust for the ANPP, a party under whose platform he run for president in 2003 and 2007 has created a major concern for the merger process.
While former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the ACN is favorable disposed to having all the opposition parties in the merger process, Gen Buhari is said to be against the inclusion of the ANPP.
The merger process has been suspended for two weeks to resolve the issues.
According to sources knowledgeable of the merger process they noted that CPC presidential candidate still nurses an ambition to run for office, which is “making other political parties a bit uneasy” a source said.
Another member of the CPC however told pointblanknews.com in confidence that the reluctance of Gen. Buhari to allow the ANPP join the talks was influenced by the “experience the General went through while he ran under their platform particularly in 2007.
“In fact the then leadership of the ANPP, under the late chairman, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke aided by the governors, who were sponsored by the PDP betrayed the general and scuttled the move to reclaim his mandate at the court after the election which he clearly won.
“Even though this is a new leadership, the General still believes that the hawks that betrayed him are still in the party and they are open to the recruit of the PDP to scuttle the process” the source said.
But pointblanknews.com can also reveal that the tussle goes deeper than that. It was gathered that the refusal of the CPC to involve ANPP in a more central way in the merger is connected to the clamour for the presidential ticket provided the merger works out.
But even within the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), there is a rising disagreement within the party as some party faithful are advocating for the Gen. Buhari to take a back seat and not contest for election.
Pointblanknews.com gathers that this does not go down well with the camp of Gen Buhari, who still nurses the ambition to contest the presidential election in 2015.
For members of his party opposed to his contesting, they advanced that the stigma of an Islamic fanatic resulting in his poor acceptability in the Southern part of the country remains high.
They underscored that the perception that he in some way provoked the last post-election crisis, which claimed a lot of lives, would work against him and the party.