2019 thickens, as Obasanjo’s letter strengthens Third Force against Buhari – Media Reports

*Gang-up not about ex-govs, ex-ministers but PMB not carrying his supporters along – Dansadau

*Third Force next political ship if APC fails to address puts its house together – Sani

*Buhari’s victory in 2019 is certain – Mr Osita Okechukwu

“The whole issue is not about survival of the fittest, but survival of democracy, and by extension, survival of Nigeria,” a former senator, who does not want to be named, said. “There is serious disenchantment in the Nigerian polity. We are in bondage. Since the time he won, Buhari has distanced himself not only from party politics but from an important constituency; those who worked for his success. They are not ready for a repeat,” he said.

Concerned with developments in the country, politicians are coming together with an option for Nigerians.

Throughout last week, Nigeria’s political landscape reverberated with debates and discussions over a letter former President Olusegun Obasanjo penned to President Muhammadu Buhari, asking the latter not to seek a second term in office in 2019.

Other than enumerating what he considered as Buhari’s failings, Obasanjo called for what he termed Coalition for Nigeria to rescue the country from its present predicaments.

“Coalition for Nigeria,” he said about the idea, “must be a movement to break new ground in building a united country, a socially cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making.”

Many Nigerians considered his advocacy for a movement to save Nigeria as the highest point of the former president’s letter.

But it was learnt that months before Obasanjo scripted the letter, powerful politicians across the country, who are “not happy with how things are going in the country,” have been holding meetings in a bid to forge an alliance that will provide a platform to Nigerians that will be capable of squaring up with President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC in 2019.

According to people close to this move, the idea of forming the group was to offer Nigerians an alternative that is neither allied to the APC nor the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through which they can run for elective offices.

Sources close to the promoters of the idea, which is referred to as ‘Third Force’, in their circles, disclosed that serving governors, lawmakers from the APC and the PDP, as well as former government ministers, have given their blessings to the alliance and have been actively supporting it.

The brains behind the initiative believed that the project was going to be accepted by Nigerians on account of what they said was disenchantment in the country.

A former governor, now a senator, claimed that the group was still working underground to avoid interference by elements that would not be pleased by the goals it seeks to achieve.

“The whole issue is not about survival of the fittest, but survival of democracy, and by extension, survival of Nigeria,” a former senator, who does not want to be named, said.

“There is serious disenchantment in the Nigerian polity. We are in bondage. Since the time he won, Buhari has distanced himself not only from party politics but from an important constituency; those who worked for his success. They are not ready for a repeat,” he said.

It was also learnt that the promoters of the Third Force were of the opinion that successive governments in the country had failed to deliver, arguing that the system needs a total overhaul.

This view was reinforced by Senator Sa’idu Dansadau, the national chairman of the newly registered National Rescue Movement (NRM), who said the country needed a change of its leadership recruitment process to be able to move ahead.

Confirming the Third Force move, the politician said it was being formed to wrest power from the ruling APC.

“It is true that a cross section of Nigerians, even before the announcement of the registration of new political parties, some prominent Nigerians who are concerned and disappointed about the performance of the APC administration, including many parties, aggrieved members of the APC and some sections of the PDP, have been thinking of coming together to form a new alliance that have the capacity to defeat the APC.

“But officially, our party has not been formally contacted for discussions. Our party is not desperate for power, but we are desperate to serve the people. We see power as a means of serving God and humanity,” he said.

In a recent media interview, the politician said Nigerians had learnt the hard way in the last 19 years from the poor performance of the PDP and the APC, adding that those failures gave them hope that their new party was going to succeed in rewriting Nigeria’s story.

“We have enough wherewithal, including human resources, to confront the ruling APC and the checkered PDP. It is dangerous to unveil some of the people you are working with at this stage because of the kind of government we have in Third World countries,” he said.

Dansadau promised that his party was going to provide a new set of leadership at all levels, maintaining that the present crop of leaders cannot change Nigeria’s situation.

How Third Force will be deployed

It was gathered that at various meetings of the proponents of the alliance, the nature and form of the platform were discussed.

It was also learnt that during such meetings, the idea of joining the PDP was advanced, on the ground that it is still the only party with national spread and structures that can be used to challenged the APC.

But majority of the supporters of the Third Force were said to have opposed the idea of joining the PDP, which they described as being the major cause of the problems in the country that their coming together was trying to address.

Another option that also came up was to pitch tent with the APC. This option was said to have been quickly rejected because of the near impossibility of any aspirant to beat President Buhari to clinch the party’s ticket.

Reliably, it was gathered that the members of the movement may likely settle for a newly registered political party or an existing party that can be propped up to appeal to Nigerians.

“Obasanjo’s call for a coalition has opened a new chapter in the whole narrative of finding a viable option for the country. But we are being cautious with the former president’s invitation because his antecedents don’t support the position he is touting.

“First, he did not play any role in the formation of the PDP, the party that brought him to power for two terms. He got the presidential ticket on a platter of gold, so he doesn’t have the experience of starting a party from the scratch.

“Secondly, after serving two tenures as president under the PDP, he abandoned the party to its fate at a time it was drowning in problems. If he was a good party man, the time he dumped the PDP was the time for him to remain and salvage it. So, with his background, Obasanjo is not the type to start a movement that will eventually become a political party. He does not have it,” a serving senator said.

However, there are reports that seven governors and about 20 senators have responded to Obasanjo and are joining him to actualise the coalition.

Why ex-governors joined the Force

One of the former governors who spoke in confidence said Buhari would not get their support again in view of his attitudes towards them.

In a chat, the former governor said the sharp division created by the support they gave Buhari in their forum had not been mended.

“We supported him against one of us, but as soon he was sworn in, they started chasing us like common thieves. If we had stolen money as they claim, it is the money that we stole that we used in bringing him to power,” the ex-governor said.

“Let me tell you, we fought with Kwankwaso when we told him that he should drop his ambition for the presidency and support Buhari, he left and became angry. We mobilised against him (Kwankwaso) and that was why he lost the primary in Lagos. Now, they are mocking us that the person you supported is now paying you back with arrests and all sorts of ridiculous things,” he said.

Other ex-governors and their supporters in the group accused the present administration of not being sincere with its anti-corruption fight, suggesting that the war was replete with double-standards.

“The worry is that there is no sincerity of purpose in the corruption fight, which is Buhari’s purported selling point. Anti-corruption fighters are only inciting the electorate against the former governors, and they want to fight back; they have the money and they still have their political bases” said an aide to a former governor.

However, a ranking senator and member of the APC said the gang-up is not about former governors or ministers, explaining, “It is about those who invested heavily in the emergence of Buhari but are not being carried along.”

The lawmaker, who is close to the Villa, told Daily Trust on Sunday that those who are benefitting from the administration had no investment saying, “They don’t even have electoral value.”

According to him, “The anger against Buhari is not about former governors or ministers alone, it is about those who invested human and material resources in 2015 to ensure his victory. These people are angry and are not ready to invest in the campaign this time around.

“Like in other sectors, politicians invest in a candidate at an election for profit which can be in form of contracts, appointments and recognitions. What has Buhari given to those who God used to make him president? It is only blackmail and nothing more.

“Yes, Buhari has been winning elections previously, but that has not translated to victory until resources were mobilised across all camps,” he said.

He said those who are being carried along in the government are those who lack electoral value.

“They are reaping from where they did not invest. Look at the way I contributed, none of my friends have been given appointment or contract. So, you are expecting me to invest again? Let those who are benefitting do it this time around. As you know, I won election, not because of Buhari; I have been winning elections since 2003. Allah has been doing it for me,” he said.

Warning President Buhari to make amend before intense politicking commences, he said any further delay would shock him “because of the level of hunger among the masses, who he said were the secret of his victory.”

“He (Buhari) will be shocked because the masses are divided, including those in the North, which is his support base. Even if they voted for him, the people that did the magic in 2015 won’t be there for him in 2019. These former governors know how to do the manipulation,” the ranking lawmaker said.

Duke, Ezekwesili, Agbakoba, Utomi for another Third Force

Besides registered political parties, some like-minds have come up with the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) to wrest power from both the APC and the PDP.

Handlers of the movement said they were not partisans but out to change the old narrative of deception that laced the two dominant parties in the country.

The movement, which has been viewed to have be coming out with colouration of an Igbo agenda, has former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, and Prof. Pat Utomi.

It would be recalled most of the names being paraded by NIM were those that stood behind Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), now outlawed and categorized by competent court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as terrorist organisation in the country.

The NIM group said 2019 was the time to rescue Nigeria. It is not clear how they would succeed since the movement has not been registered as a political party yet and the Nigerian constitution does not give room for independent candidature.

A former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, is also a member of the group. Others are former Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jnr, Col. Abubakar Umar (retd), Ayo Obe, Rabiu Ishyaku Rabiu, former presidential adviser, Akin Osuntokun, among others.

A recent statement from the NIM secretariat in Abuja described the group as a pro-democracy movement and pressure group of like-minded Nigerians who are committed to changing the political order which has failed to fashion a Nigeria that works for all.

“The NIM is concerned that the political elite, since independence, and particularly since the exit of the military from visible power in 1999, has proved that it is ill-equipped and unprepared for the challenge of transforming our nation from its underdeveloped status to one that is prosperous and can create a veritable environment for the realisation of its citizens’ potentials and wellbeing.

According to the statement, “It is clear that the political elite, as currently represented by the two dominant political parties, the PDP and APC, among others, have failed Nigerians, for lack of clear ideology and principle on how to run the country.”

Former ministers to prop up PRP

Also gathered was that a group, comprising former ministers and party leaders will start a series of activities next week that will eventually culminate in their joining the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and the emergence of a presidential candidate for the party in 2019.

According to some supporters of the group, the plan was to repackage the PRP in line with the ideologies of its founding father, Malam Aminu Kano and the progress made by its current national chairman, Malam Balarabe Musa and field a presidential candidate that would challenge President Buhari, in the event that he decides to contest.

It was gathered that while the PRP was seen as a regional party during the Second Republic, the idea this time around is to give it a national appeal. Already, many politicians, especially from the South-East are buying into it, even though they have set conditions before they would guarantee their support.

“There are different forces, depending on how you look at them, but the ultimate goal of all of them is to have an alternative to the APC,” a former minister who does not want to be named said.

According to him, the argument of propelling the idea of PRP is that the party “has created a brand for itself” since the Second Republic when it won elections in some states.

Another source said the PRP was probably the only surviving political party from the Second Republic and still maintained solid structures in many states in the North, including Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara among others.

“For now, many ex-ministers, ex-elected officials at states and national levels, former military officers and intellectuals are all part of the PRP movement,” another source said.

Third Force is next political ship – Sen Sani

If the APC fails to address the internal wrangling within its fold, the Third Force is the next political ship, chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna) said on Saturday.

Responding to questions on the new alliance that is said to be in the works, Sani described it as a welcome development.

“Third Force is a welcome development if that will help in ensuring that people in power are held to account,” he said.

The senator, who said he was unaware of the fact that 25 of his colleagues had thrown their weight behind the said build-up, added, “What I can assure you is that all kinds of meetings are going on, and there is a seeming anger and discontent among the legislators.

“If the ruling party addresses its internal crisis it will avert an implosion. If it doesn’t, then the Third Force will be the next political ship,” he said.

On the special press statement of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he said: “Former President Obasanjo is entitled to his opinion and it’s wrong and immoral for some people to insult him, just because he expressed a contrary opinion.”

‘Buhari’s victory in 2019 is certain’

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Osita Okechukwu, however, dismissed the possibility of an arrangement that can take over power from the APC in 2019, saying there would be no mass defection from the ruling party.

“No one can deny the fact that there are certain actions that didn’t go down well with many that we need to open the frontiers of the inclusion door. However, our democracy has reached the zenith of sustenance. In other words, history is a witness to the truism that whenever two major political parties dominate a multiparty system, it is very difficult to construct a Third Force.

“What this means is that the chances of winning elections are skewed in favour of one joining either the APC or PDP. Therefore, if you can’t defect from the APC to PDP, or vice versa, you’re constrained invariably to remain where you are. This forecloses the permutation of pundits of mass exodus from the APC or PDP,” he said.

He added, “Outside the partisan arena, some of the factors that will gladden the people’s heart are what I call the RRAP – Rails, Roads, Agro and Power Projects – which President Buhari engineered. He has painstakingly gone round the world and has assembled the most ambitious and massive critical infrastructural renewal in the annals of Nigeria’s history. He behaved like a good father, who in the midst of dire financial circumstances, went round to borrow over $30 billion from neighbours and friends of Nigeria to upgrade our families.

“RRAP will, no doubt, provide millions of our unemployed youths with jobs, directly and indirectly, wipe tears out of our face by halting excessive food importation and creation of certainty. The expansion of Lagos-Kano old gauge rail line to standard gauge, the construction of standard gauge Eastern Corridor – Port Harcourt- Maiduguri and coastal rail line will definitely engage millions. The agrarian revolution is turning smallholder farmers into millionaires; and electricity, we all know, induces private sector growth and industrialisation.

“To be frank, in the midst of gloom and season of discontent, one believes that President Buhari would not, in the fullness of time, disappoint Nigerians. He cherishes his image, his uncommon integrity quotient, and he loves his countrymen. Though a converted democrat, we should not blame him in this discipline.”