2015 Elections: Opposition Lawmakers Optimistic on APC Victory

National Assembly

Two opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives have expressed confidence that the All Progressives Congress ( APC) will make a remarkable impact in the 2015 elections. 

The lawmakers, who spoke in separate interviews, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that the merger became necessary to form a formidable opposition to the ruling party.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), had on February 6, agreed to a merger to form a formidable opposition to the PDP. 

The aim of the merger, according to the parties, is to wrestle power from the ruling PDP.
Hon. Mohammed Monguno (ANPP- Borno) said that the merger was solely formed to give Nigerians an alternative government. 

Monguno said that the parties involved in the merger were mindful of the timing to avoid  running behind time before the 2015 general elections. 

He noted that previous merger failed to produce the desired result because it  was done close to elections, adding that the “nitty gritty of it could not be clearly sorted out’’ before the election.

“I can assure you with all sense of seriousness and sincerity that this merger will not go the same way the previous mergers had gone. 

“From the way we are gathering momentum, we will form the central government come 2015 and that is why we commenced the talks so that we can meet up before 2015,” he said.

In his remarks, Hon. Lanre Odubote (ACN-Lagos), said it would be difficult for the opposition political parties to form the central government without merging. 

“There is no way you can gain power from the ruling party without forming a single bloc,’’ Odubote said.
Odubote urged the various leaders of the merging parties to put away their selfish interests and work for a common goal of providing dividends of democracy to Nigerians. 

He said that selfish interests had been the bane of leadership in the country, adding that genuine alliance could only be achieved if zoning, ethnicity and religion were played down in politics. 

He added that one of the greatest challenges of the merger had to do with the inordinate ambitions of the leaders of the merging parties. 

“Our greatest challenge is to be able to convince our leaders to see reason for us to work together as a party and win the 2015 elections,’’ he added.