Aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who constitute the newPDP bloc in the ruling party appear set to re-enact their pre-2015 election feat that led to the destabilization and eventual defeat of the then ruling party, PDP.
This time however, the APC may be the loser.
Leaders of the nPDP bloc will soon lead hundreds of their followers and supporters out of the ruling party back to the PDP at the “injury time.” Beside Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and House of Reps Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Daily Sun gathered that five serving APC governors, 28 Senators and 70 members of the green chamber of the National Assembly have joined forces with the nPDP bloc to move en masse from the APC in a matter of weeks.
Reliable sources within the group told Daily Sun in Abuja on Friday that two of the serving governors are from North Central, another two from North East and one from North West (Their names withheld by us). It was further learnt that talks are still on to get at least three more APC governors to bring the total number to eight.
The calculation within the group, it was also gathered, is to move into PDP and have at least equal number of state governors with the APC, if not more ahead of the 2019 polls. By the arrangement, the bloc will also give PDP the majority in both chambers of the National Assembly.
Two dates have already been set for the mass defection. The first is immediately after the APC national convention at the end of this month. The party had in May scheduled the convention for Saturday, June 23.
A statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi also added that “inauguration of new party executives will subsequently hold on Monday, June 25, 2018”.
The party has had difficulty picking a date for its convention with the exercise having being postponed about five times in one year. Before now, the party had reportedly settled for June 2 for its national convention but some stakeholders were said to have pushed for the new date.
If the mass defection fails after June 25, leaders of the bloc alongside their supporters will announce their decision towards the end of July, when lawmakers will embark on their annual break.
Meetings scheduled for Mecca
To perfect some of these arrangements, Daily Sun gathered that the ongoing lesser hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia has provided a great opportunity for the coalescing political forces to hold meetings far away from preying eyes in Nigeria. It was gathered authoritatively that most of the meetings will hold at different venues between Monday June 4th and Wednesday, June 6th in Mecca.
It was also learnt that the annual Islamic prayer event will equally give pro-Buhari forces the time to plan their counter offensive. While confirming the meetings in Mecca, a top leader of nPDP told Daily Sun on Friday that “the lesser hajj this year has turned to a perfect opportunity for various groups to consolidate political meetings because the President is not the Buhari we voted for. All is not well at all.”
Legal tangle
Part of the political machinations against the control of power by APC in 2019, Daily Sun learnt is the barrage of cases already filed against the ruling party in various courts across the country.
As at yesterday, it was gathered, the party’s national legal adviser, Dr Muiz Banire, SAN is contending with 17 suits, all of which are challenging the outcome of the recently held party congresses across the states.
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