Ahead of 2023 general elections, seven political parties have joined forces to battle the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Allied political parties and the National Consultative Front, which includes six parties, decided to combine forces with the Labour Party to offer a joint Presidential Candidate for the 2023 elections after 15 months of deliberation and agreement.
According to MS Bello Bilikis, a spokesperson for the National Consultative Front (NCFront), the ‘3rd Force’ Movement’s formal endorsement of the Labour Party stemmed from recent meetings and activities of separate political commissions of the NLC and the TUC, as well as their allies in the Civil Society, such as Femi Falana’s The Political Alternative Movement, TPAM, aimed at repositioning the Labour Party as a “alternative platform for rescuing Nigeria from bad governance.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, African Democratic Congress, ADC; Social Democratic Party, SDP; Allied Peoples Movement, APM, People’s Redemption Party, PRP, Labour Party, LP, and National Rescue Movement, NRM are the parties that make up the coalition.
Professor Attahiru Jega of the People’s Redemption Party, Prof. Pat Utomi of the Labour Party, and Senator Saidu Dansadau of the National Rescue Movement, NRM, are also on board with the arrangement and have been told to build a Mega Electoral Alliance and adopt a single line of candidates among the seven allied parties involved in the ‘3rd Force’ alliance talks for the 2023 elections.
“With the novel synergy between the Labour Party and the NCFront, the convening platform of the 3rd Force Movement, which is also today the country’s largest political mass movement, Nigerians can be assured that the glorious future we all desire for our dear country is now achievable by 2023, especially with the brewing implosion hovering over the ruling cartel of APC and PDP, which will soon burst into unavoidable disintegration after their party primaries.
Nigerians can “To that end, after the conclusion of all party primaries, an inclusive Consensus Technical Committee to screen presidential candidates and other candidates of ‘3rd Force’ allied Parties in order to adopt a single line of candidates across all 2023 elections is expected to be established next month.”
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of National Rescue Movement, Hon. Ambassador Isaac Udeh, has urged the general public to disregard the reports on some online media that seven parties have joined forces with Labour Party against All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting to the report, Hon. Udeh stated categorically that the National Rescue Movement was not part of the coalition of allied parties and would never be a party to such arrangement.
NRM, according to him, is the third largest political party in Nigeria and has the capacity to take on and wrestle power from APC.
He further said NRM has come a long way and was not ready to identify with any party on basis of any coalition, adding that he will address a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 to further clear the air on this issue.
Ambassador Udeh in a ground-breaking event on Monday at NRM headquarters, Abuja welcomed into her fold over 16,000 members from the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) and some structure of immediate past exco of NNPP from 17 states ably led by Rev. Emmanuel Olorunmagba.
Also, during this event, a presidential aspirant, (Dr. Solomon Uchenna) picked up an expression of interest form and a party nomination form to run for the exalted position. Hon Udeh told the new NRM members to disregard such rumour making the rounds and that Nigerians should not believe such reports on coalition in the social media.
