The New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP), has welcomed the call by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for the merger of opposition parties to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC).
The party’s position was made public in a press conference addressed by the Ag. National Chairman of the party, Abba Kawu Ali, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Ali said, “Just recently, former Vice-President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was reported to have called for a merger of opposition parties as a way of checkmating the inordinate drive of the ruling APC towards a one-party state and protecting our hard-earned democracy.
“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. It is our belief 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 which enabled the merger that led to the defeat of the then ruling People’sDemocratic Party (PDP).
“To that extent, the NNPP is reiterating its position 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.
“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