Boko Haram may make 2015 elections a mirage – Senator

ANPP plans to merge to with other political for 2015 elections.

 

A Senator representing Yobe State, Bukar Ibrahim, has warned that unless the Boko Haram menace is resolved, the 2015 general elections may never hold.

Mr. Ibrahim, a two-term former Yobe State Governor stated this in Enugu at the Zonal Summit of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP.

“Let us pray that this Boko Haram problem will stop in Nigeria before the next elections, otherwise I do not think there will be any election,’’ the senator said.

Mr. Ibrahim prayed that God assists Nigeria to end Boko Haram menace.

The Boko Haram insurgents have carried out terror attacks that have killed several hundreds of people in Northern Nigeria. Their main base is the North Eastern part of the country, particularly Yobe and Borno States.

 

ANPP plans 2013 merger

Meanwhile, the ANPP said it has commenced merger talks with some political parties including the Congress for Progressive Change,  the Action Congress of Nigeria, and the Democratic People’s Party, DPP.

The National Chairman of the Rebuilding and Interparty Contact Committee of the party, Ibrahim Shekarau, made this known in Enugu on Thursday at the party’s South East Zonal Summit.

Mr. Shekarau, former governor of Kano State and the party’s presidential candidate in the 2011 elections,  said the party will conclude its planned merger with other political parties by the first quarter of 2013.

He said that the conclusion of the merger is imperative to enable the ANPP to “aggressively face the 2015 elections”.

He said the 21-man committee, set up by the party, would come out with the new identity of the merger by 2013.

“This committee was put up by the party to catch up with the views, aspirations and visions of ordinary Nigerians for change for the better.

“People are clamouring for alternatives. What is happening today is a situation of making the available the desirable since the desirable is not available,” he said.

He said the committee was in the South East to gather the observations, criticisms and advice of party members with a view to rebuilding the party.

He listed the committee’s terms of references to include looking at the party and recommending ways to make it more attractive.

He added that the committee would look into ways of making the party leaders show more interest in participating in the party’s activities and to exhaustively discuss issues of party funding.

Others terms of references include bringing back party leaders who left the party and did not join other parties.

Mr. Ibrahim, also a member of the committee, said that a merger is the only alternative for a substantive change in the 2015 elections.

 

We should retain values

Some of the members of the party who spoke at the summit supported the merger plan; adding, however, that the party should not lose its value as a result of the plan.

A Board of Trustee member of the party from Imo, Comfort Okafor, called for more involvement of women in the party affairs.

“ANPP is not gender friendly. We want a situation where women will be involved in the party affairs,’’ she said.

A party member from Abia, Christian Ukpabio, held that a critical look at the welfare of youth in the party would enable the party to make a head way.

Party members from the five South Eastern states were present at the summit

NAN