CNPP to Coalesce for 2007
From Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Apparently, to check the dominance of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and what it says is the nation's gradual slide into a one-party state, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday agreed to form a coalition ahead of the 2007 polls.
It, is, however, not clear what form and nature the coalition will take. The CNPP, an umbrella organisation of opposition parties in the country, is not a registered political party.
Also, the Conference resolved to back the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in its bid to stop the passage of the Labour reform bill that would decentralise organised labour.
These were the highpoints of the CNPP meeting in Abuja presided over by its Chairman, Alhaji Balarabe Musa of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
Speaking to THISDAY on the outcome of the meeting, Balarabe said that it was agreed that a strong coalition of the progressives within the Conference be set up for the purposes of standing up to PDP in the 2007 polls.
"We are worried at how the opposition is being stifled in this country and something must be done, unless we (would) end up as a one party state," Balarabe said
To this end, he said that a meeting of the national chairmen of political parties under its umbrella would soon be convened.
The former governor of Kaduna State disclosed that in furtherance of this, an electoral reforms committee has been set up to determine the nature and form of the electoral alliance against PDP.
Chief David Ukaeje of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) heads the electoral alliance committee, while the National Chairman of the Peoples Liberation Party (PLP), Alhaji Wada Nas, heads another committee on the restructuring of CNPP.
Balarabe said that the Nas Committee would also look into the allegation that over $100 billion wealth has been siphoned outside the country.
Osita Okechukwu, National Coordinator of the Missing Fund Project, said in a position paper that "CNPP has come to the inevitable conclusion that a country, that has over $100 billion illicitly siphoned into foreign land and is today groaning under economic recession, has only one viable option of appealing to friends of Nigeria who do not want Nigeria to slide into further morass, to bail the country out of this quagmire."
CNPP quoted a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) report, which said, "By 1999, Nigeria has an estimated $107 billion of private wealth held abroad.
"This was a far larger account than the value of private wealth invested in Nigeria. Indeed about 70 percent of Nigeria's private wealth was held outside Nigeria. This is both a symptom that something was radically wrong."
The CNPP also resolved to support the NLC in its quest to stop the decentralization of labour movement in the country.
Balarabe said that the CNPP views the labour reform bill "as an evil, which will not help the growth of labour movement in Nigeria."
It described the Trade Union Bill currently before the National Assembly as an exercise in vendetta and against the right of Nigerians to demonstrate against bad policies of government.
The Conference called on the National Assembly to be on the side of the greater majority and NLC by not passing the bill, as history will not be kind with them if they do otherwise.
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