•Incorporates principle of first refusal for first term president, governors
•Governors on edge as new party limits influence on election
The mainstream of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP aligned to the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee, NCC is set to trigger the alternative option for political survival by fusing into the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance, APDA.
The APDA according to news reports on Friday was one of five political associations that got the nod of the Election and Party Monitoring Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to formalise its registration with the Commission.
Sunday Vanguard sources disclosed that the move to proceed with the new option follows continuing damage the lingering leadership dispute with the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff led leadership of the PDP was causing those of them attached to the Makarfi faction. Last Thursday’s decision of the Supreme Court to defer hearing on the case to May 25, Sunday Vanguard learnt may have been the final trigger to unveil the APDA as the alternative for the mainstream of the party inclined to the Makarfi group.
Sources close to those behind the move told Sunday Vanguard that all the major organs of the party are in league with the plan. To strengthen the base of the party, some smaller parties who have recently had interactions with the Prof. Jerry Gana-Strategy Review and Inter Party led committee are also to fuse into the APDA.
It was gathered that those behind it want the party to be fully involved in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State coming up later in the year.
The interim national chairman of the association as it is technically defined is Mallam Kabir Shittu, a member of the PDP Rescue Group and former chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC. The interim national secretary is Dr. Emeka Okengwu.
APDA, Sunday Vanguard learnt, was one of three political associations promoted by some PDP chieftains who refused to align with Sheriff and it is said to have received the backing of some of the governors.
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