Lagos – When former president, Olusegun Obasanjo formally announced his membership of the Coalition for Nigerian Movement (CNM) last month, he promised to quit membership of the movement the day it transmutes into a political party.
According to the former president, “The CNM will remain a popular socio-economic Movement open to all Nigerians who believe in the greatness of Nigeria and are ready to contribute to it,” he wrote in another press statement he issued on Thursday.
“I am happy to be a member of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement. The movement is a pressure point towards good governance. This is the commencement for our popular and grassroots association.
“Of course, the membership will be free to collectively decide on whether CNM becomes a political party. If the Movement decides to transform itself and go into partisan politics, I will cease to be a member”.
However, a recent development within the polity seems to belie Obasanjo’s statement on the transformation of the CNM into a political party. It was already a public knowledge that CNM is already in talks with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which has been described as the Third Force movement. The former president who announced his retirement from partisan politics before the 2015 general election was reported to have met with 35 political parties in Lagos last week.
Political leaders present at the meeting it was learnt include the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the Co-Chairmen of the Nigerian Intervention Movement, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and Dr. Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa, one of the children of Nigeria’s post-independence first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa.
Others are a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; a former Governor Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Keneth Udeze of Action Alliance, Okey Chukwuendu, who represented the All Grand Alliance Party and a former Special Adviser to Obasanjo, who is the spokesman for the CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun.
Also, some of the political parties represented at the meeting included the Social Democratic Party, Labour Party, Alliance for Democracy, Democratic People’s Congress, Action Alliance, Progressives People’s Alliance, Democratic Alternative and National Conscience Party.
Speaking with DAILY INDEPENDENT on the outcome of the meeting, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, national chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP) said his party has not joined Obasanjo’s CNM and was never a part of the meeting .
Tanko said he was surprised by a report claiming that the NCP was among 35 political parties that had a meeting with the former president last week.
He also said Labour Party was also listed as one of the political parties that attended the meeting but the party had also come out to deny the claim.
“ We were not at the meeting with Chief Obasanjo. Nobody from NCP attended any of the meetings. Though I know some members of Coalition for New Nigeria which NCP is a part of attended the meetings”.
“ They tried to reach out to CNN members and I heard some of them attended but nobody from NCP was at the meeting” he said.
Also denying taking part in the meeting, Labour Party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Ebere Ifendu, said ““The attention of the Labour party has been drawn to a story published in the Punch and some national dailies about the meeting held in protea hotel, Lagos, anchored by former president Olusegun Obasanjo with former governors Rabiu kwankwaso (Kano) and others with the representatives of 35 political parties.
“Of concern to us is the inclusion of the Labour Party as part of the political parties in attendance.“As a party held in trust for the generality of the people of this great country, it is important for us to quickly debunk this falsehood and set the record straight.
“We categorically declare our inclusion as false, Labour Party had no representatives in the said meeting and has no association with the coalition for Nigeria Movement in respect to the 2019 general elections. We are not part of any political merger.
“We immediately request an amendment to the story as earlier written to reflect our parties position.“We also enjoin our media friends to endeavor to confirm such stories or any other sensitive information from the official spokesperson of the party before going to the press.
“Our party is currently repositioning for the onerous task of presenting Nigeria with a better alternative to the present government that has not satisfied the yearnings of the majority people.”
However, while it remains unclear if Obasanjo will come out of political retirement if eventually the CNM merges with SDP, a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran who is already a member of SDP said it is unlikely Obasanjo will join the party.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a statesman. He is an elder statesman. We do not expect him to be involved in partisan politics. But we expect him to continue to be interested in salvaging the country. And in that regards, it is expected that the effort of those who are committed to rescue the country would be reinforced by his moral weight. He is the father of all, but then those who believe in his philosophy of rescuing the nation, of ensuring that things are done in a better way, that there is justice, that there is progress and that there is peace would certainly have his moral backing. But we shouldn’t expect him to be partisan in his approach” he said.
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