The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to Professor Pat Utomi’s call for the merger of three major opposition parties in the country.
Utomi had said that three presidential candidates in the last election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, have agreed to form a formidable party that will remove the APC from power in 2027
However, in a statement released by the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the APC categorically dismissed Utomi’s proposal, labelling it as an “unmitigated delusion of grandeur.”
Morka said that Utomi, known for advocating mega parties in the past, lacks credibility due to previous unrealised plans. The APC pointed out Utomi’s attempt in 2021 to launch a people-centered ideological mega party under the National Consultative Front (NCFront), which failed to materialise beyond the headlines.
He said, “Now in 2024, Prof. Utomi is touting a possible collaboration among LP, NNPP and PDP, vastly political parties, according to him, that are bereft of any ideological orientation or did not manage to create an alignment with the Nigerian People to improve the quality of their lives.”
“One can only infer that Prof. Utomi may be positing that his personal involvement in the proposed alliance will transform the same parties, he has adjudged to be decadent and anti-people, into bastions of political and economic liberty for Nigerians,” he added.
