BUHARI TINUBU MOVE TO REVIVE ALLIANCE

 

A meeting on Sunday between Buhari and Tinubu in Lagos was meant to revive alliance moves between the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change, party officials told Daily Trust in Abuja yesterday.

Retired General Muhammadu Buhari visited ACN leader Bola Tinubu at his residence in Lagos, where they met behind closed doors.

Sources close to the two leaders said they discussed the political future of the two leading opposition parties, especially how to restart consultations towards merger or alliance ahead of 2015.

The meeting came as, according to one source, some People’s Democratic Party leaders who are angry over the outcome of the party’s recent convention consider working with the opposition parties to confront the ruling party.

Sources in CPC and ACN said the Buhari-Tinubu meeting discussed a possible alliance that would include the other main opposition party, All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).

National secretary of CPC, Buba Galadima, told Daily Trust yesterday in Abuja that the two leaders had “fruitful discussions” on alliance and workable plans ahead of the next general elections. He said they also reviewed some of the issues that scuppered previous alliance moves before the 2011 elections.

For his part, CPC spokesman Rotimi Fashakin said, “The visit is part of the ongoing cooperation among progressives in breaking the primordial barriers of yore and ensuring that the yearnings of the people for a stable, virile and just nation are satisfied.”

Spokesman for the ACN, Lai Mohammed, was not available for comment yesterday.

But two top ACN officials told Daily Trust that there had been moves for Buhari and Tinubu to meet and that a birthday event both of them attended in Abuja last week was used to facilitate the Sunday meeting.

“We are starting early to avoid the pitfalls of previous meetings and talks,” one ACN official said. “We want to be sure we got it right this time around, dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s; moreover that we have some aggrieved PDP members giving us vital information on their parties internal wrangling and how we can overcome our own differences.”

ANPP’s spokesman Emma Eneukwu, was not available for comment; he had however told our reporter earlier in an interview that the party “is in serious talks with other opposition parties ahead of the 2015 elections.”

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