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It did not come as a surprise. Before the announcement, Wednesday, it had been hinted that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) was going to adopt Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
It would be recalled that sometime this year, some parties had also agreed to work together against the incumbent in 2019, but hardly had the ink dried on the paper on which the MoU was signed than some of the parties decamped, announcing that they would rather go it alone, and accusing the PDP of trying to swallow them up.
“I think that is the best thing to do. If you look at the 91 political parties, it is only the APC and PDP that is on ground; all others are still fringe parties. Many of them are not even prepared to field any candidate during the 2019 general election. So, the honourable thing to do is what they have done. The coalition is sure to weaken the APC base. If all these parties decide to work together indeed, APC is a goner,” an analyst said.
At a recent media event in Lagos, Olisa Agbakoba, chairman of the Third (3rd) Forcepolitical parties and former president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), hinted that a coalition was in the offing. He also said that the person to emerge would be one adjudged to possess the wherewithal to do battle against the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There are four political trends. Two are obvious, which is the PDP and the APC. These 91 political parties, what are they doing? But don’t forget that there is something called the CUPP. It is the Coalition of United Political Parties, and all, except three belong to it. Oby Ezekwesili does not. Sowore does not and Kingsley Moghalu. So, there is Ezekwesili, Sowore and Moghalu (in one group) making three, then (CUPP, four); interestingly; all the parties are there except APC, Ezekwesili, Moghalu and Sowore,” Agbakoba said.
Reason for the coalition
Agbakoba pointedly said: “We clearly understand that to win the forth-coming election, we require a united opposition. So, all the parties are simply presenting their presidential candidates. Some like Atiku, have presented their manifestos; but by January, the (CUPP) will formalise its own consensus candidate. It may not be Atiku; it is possible; it may be Atiku; but the person who will win it, is the person who shows what I like to call the “heavy lifting”.
He must be able to show that he can get the work done. So, personally, I am pro-Atiku because I think he has the heavy-lifting.
“But I will not preempt anything by saying that others should not go. We are all united in a mantra; in a swan song around our campaign, that is, ‘Anybody but Buhari!’”
On why the CUPP decided on collaborative work, he said: “We are making sure that the four locust years – from 2015 to 2019 – will never repeat itself in Nigeria.This has been the worst government in the Nigeria’s history. Unemployment rate at 20 million; youth unemployment is so high. Inflation is raging at about 18 percent. Borrowing requirements and interest rates is at about 28 percent; nothing is working; and I am sure you know that. So, we need to do something to reclaim our country.That’s the message. The clear message is that we can only do that in a united opposition party which we now have.
Obasanjo’s own is ADC. I am affiliated with the People’s Trust and all of these come under the umbrella of Third (3rd) Force. That is the resolve of the campaign to ensure that we carry ourselves forward.”
The done deal
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former governor of Osun State and convener of CUPP, announced Tuesday at a world press conference in Abuja, that the group had settled for the former vice president.
Oyinlola said that Atiku met the criteria used in the choice of a presidential candidate for the coalition. He noted that CUPP, an umbrella body of 45 registered political parties in the alliance, arrived at the decision, based on Atiku’s experience in administration, economic management and politics. “After a painstaking assessment of what we have across the coalition parties and after processing the candidates’ suitability, using these criteria, the steering committee, hereby, submits that a former vice president and candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is the best and his party the most virile of all the options before us,” he said.
According to him, “We, therefore, chose him as CUPP’s candidate for the 2019 presidential election.”
Criteria that won Atiku the pie
While announcing Atiku the preferred choice of the CUPP, Oyinlola said: “We graded the candidates of all the parties using these criteria: national acceptability of candidate and party, strength of the structure of candidate and party across the country, competitiveness of the candidate’s party vis-a-vis our major challenger, the APC. Financial strength of candidate and party, access to financial resources, capacity and readiness to prosecute the election across the about 120,000 polling units in the country. Competence, capability, and credibility of the candidate, acceptability of candidate locally and internationally, candidate’s experience in administration, management of economy and politics.”
Walk your talk, Oyinlola tells members
Oyinlola reminded the CUPP members that it was time to move into action.He charged them to hit the ground running; reminding them that their main challengers were already in war mood, having launched what they called ‘THE NEXT LEVEL’.
“We must prove to them that we are the masters in this enterprise and tell them that Nigerian people would not follow them (the APC) to ‘THE NEXT EVIL’ scheme they have designed for our country.
Kudos, knocks trail development
As expected, divergent views have continued to trail the adoption of Atiku by CUPP. While some believe it is a positive development, some others say it is self-serving and would not produce any worthy outcome.
Speaking with BusinessDay, a politician, Timothy Enoch, said the decision was the most rational thing at this material point in time, but expressed fears that some of the parties may not be altogether sincere.
“I congratulate the parties for the bold step taken. I particularly express my sincere gratitude to the leaders that pulled off this arrangement. It is not easy to bury one’s ego in political race. Many of those in the race now are aware that they are going nowhere, but their pride would not allow them to come clean with the stark realities. Tell me who among the other 40 and above political parties fielding presidential candidates that can defeat President Buhari? My only fear is that some of those who may have signed the MoU to adopt Atiku may, in the days to come, begin to pull back. We have seen it done before. This is not the first time such alliance was entered into, but before one knew it, many of them started saying another thing. I hope it works this time around. My advice to Atiku is that he should not put his hope on this arrangement; he should go on with his plans and programmes as if there were no coalition. This is not the time to rely on anybody; people are slippery, particularly, politicians,” Enoch said.
Badmus Gafar Dolapo believes that some of those in the coalition are simply looking for money.
“To me, I believe that CUPP is looking for money for settlement, few months ago, same Atiku blastedthe group as having no without structure, now they have adopted him as their sole candidate. Bunch of hungry people!” he said.
Ganiyu Maroof, said: “CUPP or COUP or what they call themselves, they’re bunch of expired set of people without any reasonable agenda for the country and if we should ask them their plan I believe they’ll have nothing to say. Even if they’re more than 100 parties coming together to form what’s more than CUPP, they’ll be defeated and lost at the poll.”
Belluchi Belluchi, in his reaction on his facebook wall, said: “These must be acting based on personal interest; every patriotic Nigerian that has the interest of this country at heart knows that the former vice president and his party are the cause of some of the challenges we are facing in this country and do not meet the criteria used in the choice of a presidential candidate.”
