Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar’s party, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), registered recently by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) is making incursion into Igboland and is currently into talks that would probably lead to alliance with Orji Uzor Kalu’s Peoples Progressive Alliance(PPA).
Abia State Chairman of PPA, Chief Emeka Okafor told newsmen that his party and the PDM have started informal discussions on the possibility of alliance.
Okafor, a former commissioner of trade and commerce in Abia State, stated that the proposed strategic alliance between PPA and PDM is a calculated effort to wrest power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party in 2015 general elections.
“PPA as a party is responsive to change in the interest of the nation. We are ready to collaborate with other political parties that believe in our manifesto for the betterment of the nation. We have consulted widely on the proposed merger and in the next few weeks will be setting up different committees to spearhead the new arrangement”. He explained that PPA and PDM share a common ideology which makes the arrangement realistic as an alternative party to fix Nigeria.
He also noted other political parties’ intention to join the new alliance as a catalyst for attracting wider followership in the six geopolitical zones of the country. “The arrangement has received the blessing of nine PDP serving state governors, former governors and top political figures in the country”, he said.
Okafor commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for the registration of All Progressive Alliance (APC), Independent democrats( ID) and Peoples Democratic Movement(PDM) describing the move as timely and good for Nigeria’s growing democracy. He called on members and supporters of PPA to remain calm and committed as the party has mapped out pragmatic approaches to winning forthcoming elections.
