Disagreements over whether or not the anti-corruption fight and social welfare policy should form the cardinal selling point of the proposed All Progressives Congress (APC) has dogged negotiations on a common manifesto by the opposition coalition parties.
The unyielding position of the merging opposition parties comprising the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), is coming on the heels of a legal lacuna raised by a lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, that the parties might have an uphill task concluding their merger as the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act did not envisage the merger of political parties.
THISDAY gathered that discussions on the draft manifesto of the new coalition party ended abruptly last week, following some unresolved issues, especially as it concerned giving prominence to the fight against corruption as a key feature in the manifesto.
The opposition coalition had while kick-starting its talks, expressed its resolve to take the anti-corruption crusade to the next level and the issue had occupied the premier position in the draft manifesto of APC.
As a sign of the seriousness attached to eradicating corruption in the land, a proposal was made to place the war against corruption in the first chapter of the draft manifesto, which was circulated to members for final consideration.
The leaders of the three merging opposition parties had reasoned that not mustering the political will to wage a stringent war against corruption would distort any envisaged development programme by the group.
However, at the resumed talks of the joint merger sub-committee on the manifesto later in the week showed that some of the parties’ bigwigs and those regarded as “conservative” elements were on collision course with the “progressives” over adopting the war against graft as its cardinal programme.
It was learnt that those who are not comfortable with the anti-corruption image of APC had argued that the posture was capable of scaring away notable politicians from supporting the opposition’s efforts.
They also argued that laying too much emphasis on the pursuit of and exposure of corrupt leaders will most likely deny the new platform of the chance of attracting aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into its fold.
THISDAY also gathered that another issue that has generated debate is whether to allow a dominant role for the private sector in the economy or more public sector intervention in economic development, especially in capital-intensive areas.
The situation has thus pitted the conservatives against the progressive elements involved in the merger arrangement with each group pressing hard to get the upper hand in the final manifesto of the proposed coalition.
As a result, the meeting of the merger sub-committee on the manifesto earlier scheduled for last Friday was shifted to today to allow for further consultations on areas of disagreement.
Leading the conservative elements are former Chairman of the ACN Merge Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, and former Governor Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, while Audu Ogbeh, Osita Okechukwu and Garba Gadi, are said to be holding forte on the side of the progressives.
A leading figure in the effort to package the APC manifesto, Ikimi told THISDAY in a telephone interview that what his group was pushing for was to have a definite approach to dealing with the malaise.
He said the matter was subject to further consideration by the parties, adding that it would be premature to reach a conclusion about what was still in the works.
“We are yet to conclude discussions on the APC manifesto. On the contrary, people want a very definite position on the way corruption can be tackled. I chair the meeting and if there is anything we feel the people will like us to adopt to fight corruption, we will definitely do that,” he said.
Ikimi said regardless of any move to the contrary, a majority of APC members were ready to do what it takes to make sure that corruption is stamped out in Nigeria.
While denying that a conflict had arisen over the manifesto, a member of the CPC Merger Committee, who also serves in the manifesto sub-committee, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said his party was very committed to the issue of the fight against corruption and would do everything possible to see that it forms a major plank in the policy thrust of APC.
“There is no manifesto war. We are an assemblage of progressives, which underscores our ideology of social democracy. We are also strongly committed to the war against corruption, for without which all our cardinal programmes will fail like that of the PDP. For the rot in the system is pervasive and endemic,” he said.
Okechukwu explained that in arriving at the name APC, which the parties collectively chose without a disagreement, it was also agreed that the new party would have policy thrust that must be distinctly different from PDP's inchoate economic policy.
“We never agreed that private-sector investment in critical infrastructure is business we shall abandon,” he said.
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner and Executive Director of Egalitarian Mission for Africa, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, has described the on-going merger negotiations between CPC, ACN and ANPP as nothing but a farce.
He said as a senior lawyer of many years standing, he did not think the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act envisaged the kind of merger being canvassed by the three parties.
“The cosmic and community reading of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Electoral Act of 2011 reveal this. I insist that the promoters of the so-called merger should be honest enough to tell Nigerians what actually they are doing.
“The three parties in the merger process were once of the same party, APP, before Chief Bola Ige and others first pulled a faction out to be registered as AD which metamorphosed to AC then to ACN,” he said.
While still maintaining that the Nigerian polity desires a genuine merger of political parties of like minds to champion the emancipation of the people and meet their aspirations, Ajulo expressed the view that the proposed merger of the three parties was “nothing but a farce, a make believe of an improbable situation which will not come to fruition.”
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