Latest update as the political platform called the ‘Third Force’ by former President Olusegun Obasanjo is set to collapse into a formally registered political party.
Indication towards this emerged on Wednesday at the formal launch of the platform called Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNN).
The coalition drew attendance from politicians from both the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In fact, former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, at the event openly declared his readiness to quit the government of President Muhammadu Buhari if need be for the actualisation of the dream of making the coalition work.
It would be recalled that Obasanjo had in his caustic letter to Buhari announced the need for a third force in the political setting of the country that will take over power in 2019, pushing aside the ruling APC and the opposition PDP.
At the well-attended event, aside Oyinlola, another notable member of the APC at the event include a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the APC, Buba Galadima, while former National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, led the cream of PDP members to the event.
Giving a hint of its readiness to transmute to a political party, Oyinlola, who is coordinating the movement, called on other groups and movements in the country to become a formidable body that can seize Nigeria from its present crop of leaders.
He said clearly that the movement “is not a political party but may metamorphose in near future”.
He denounced the insinuation that the group is just echoing the mind of Obasanjo and will be a lackey of the former president.
“To say that we are legitimising Obasanjo’s legacy is wrong. I think what he has done is steering us from slumber.
“However, nobody can fault Obasanjo’s letter. We are not a political party for now. Our aim is to help Nigerians take the country from those who take the country as business. It is not the destiny of Nigeria to remain in crisis and in the doldrums”, he said.
He noted that if Nigeria must be rescued from its present crop of leaders and taken to where it ought to be with the help of the young men and women “there is need to have a synergy between all the groups.”
He asked Nigerians to be committed to the movement while assuring that the youth will lead while they (the old) will follow.
“There is no other assurance for this movement other than your commitment. Don’t say we are going to carry you along, no, you are the one (the youth) who will carry us along.”
When asked whether he was ready to quit Buhari’s government to achieve the desire of the movement, Oyinlola said that he was willing to give up his chairmanship position on the board of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure that CNM becomes a success story.
“I am not tied down to a political party. This is a part time commission which means I have only four meetings in a year but get it straight. I joined a political party to serve my country and my service in NIMC is to my country and countrymen.
“If my being chairman will rob off my desire to see this movement to its greatest height, then the chairmanship will yield. The style of convening this movement is noble and it is quite different from any other we have had in this country.”
In his remarks, former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, who is also a co-convener, said that the movement has received overwhelming support since it came on board, saying that the present hardship in the country is as a result of long years of bad government.
“Forget about the story that we are the largest economy in Africa, it is an imagination of numbers. There are so many people in Nigeria and even if we are doing nothing, it will still be the largest economy but in terms of productivity, we are nowhere.”
Speaking with newsmen, a Board Trustee member of the ruling APC, Buba Galadimma, declared his support for the coalition, saying it does not go against his membership of the APC.
“It is not a political party. It is a movement being put together to salvage our country from the verge of disintegration”, he said.
Similarly, former President Obasanjo is set to flag off the registration of the proposed Coalition for Nigeria today, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
This was contained in a short message made available to newsmen through the former president’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi.
The flag-off, according to the message, will begin at the Ogun State Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Iwe-Iroyin, in Abeokuta.
The ex-president promised to bow out at any stage the movement wishes to metamorphose into a political party so that he could continue to maintain his non-partisan position.
He had said: “We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the Promised Land. And that is the coalition of the concerned and willing – ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement.
“We need a coalition for Nigeria. Such a movement at this juncture needs not be a political party but one which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong.
“That movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and economic well-being and progress.
“Coalition to salvage and redeem our country. You can count me with such a movement.
“Of course, nothing should stop such a movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for election.
“But if at any stage the movement wishes to metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring movement for elections, I will bow out of the movement because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position.”
