The emergence of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) involving 36 political parties which include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) and others, on Monday, sealed the hope of reconciliation of the warring factions in the ruling APC. Accordingly, APC leaders have lost hope of recovering the confidence of the protestant R-APC towards remaining in the party.
The emergent R-APC is expanded to include discontented APC members from the various legacy political parties, which include the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the co-opted New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) that formed the mainstream APC towards the 2015 general elections.
In a subtle expression of the frustration over the R-APC new alignment, APC leaders have been working on managing the consequence of the R-APC actions on the party’s political fortunes; indicating that no level of gang up can make APC government fail in the promises it made to Nigerians. APC leaders subsequently reiterated that that the R-APC is not a faction of the party.
Bolaji Abdullahi, APC National Publicity Secretary, in a statement on Tuesday, maintained that APC remains united under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abdulahi had declared; “On Monday July 9, 2018, a group of individuals under the so-called ‘Reformed All Progressives Congress’ platform purportedly joined a coalition of opposition political parties ahead of the 2019 general election,” the statement read.
“We respect the right of everyone to join any association or group. However, we wish to reiterate that the so-called R-APC is not a faction of our party. Our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) remains united under the leadership of our President, H.E. Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is also noteworthy that some political parties that have been named as signatories to the MoU have dissociated themselves from the publicised deal.
“We once again reiterate the commitment of our party to address real grievances of our genuine members. We call on them to take advantage of this opportunity while the windows for reconciliation are still open.
“We are confident that no level of gang-up can make our government under President Buhari to waiver in its promises to Nigerians to rid our country of corruption and improve the quality of lives for our people.”