The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has welcomed the call by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for the merger of opposition parties to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC).
This development was disclosed during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, where the Acting National Chairman NNPP, Abba Kawu Ali, commended Atiku.
Ali said the NNPP see Atiku’s call as a welcome idea and that the party is open to an alliance. He, however, stressed that the party is even more open to collaborating and welcomes any arrangement with any opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party and others.
He said: “Just recently, former Vice-President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was reported to have called for a merger of opposition parties to check the excessive drive of the ruling APC towards a one-party state and protect our hard-earned democracy.
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“The NNPP sees this call from Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as patriotic and a welcome development for which we unreservedly commend him.
“The NNPP, however, has modifications to that collaboration being proposed by Alh. Atiku Abubakar. We believe that such an arrangement should be all-encompassing and broad.
“To the former Vice President’s call, our party notes that this was the same bold initiative that the opposition parties signed up to in 2015 and enabled the merger that led to the defeat of the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“To that extent, the NNPP reiterates that the former Vice President’s latest call is a proposal we applaud wholeheartedly.
“However, as we stated earlier, while we fully embrace this initiative and applaud it as a matter of necessity, the NNPP is looking at this issue from a much larger perspective and considering all factors inherent in it,” the NNPP chieftain said.
Ali added: “Our party, without any iota of doubt, is open to collaboration, alliance and any arrangement with any of or all the political parties, including PDP, Labour Party, and APC, so long as such collaboration, alliance or arrangement will be in the utmost interest of the Nigerian people and the protection and consolidation of Nigeria’s democracy.
