Laleye Dipo in Minna
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it is working with other opposition political parties to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State.
The alliance, according to the PDP state chairman, Alhaji Tanko Beji, would see to the parties in the coalition fielding common candidates and their supporters voting for the candidates fielded by the coalition.
Beji made the disclosure in Minna at the weekend after the flag off of a youth group called Naskoniyya Movement established for the realisation of 2019 governorship aspiration of the party’s 2015 governorship candidate, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Nasko.
The PDP chieftain said the alliance was a necessary force to dislodge the APC from power in the state because it was the party in government.
He said: “Nigerlites have suffered enough and are still suffering under the current leadership of Governor Abubakar Sani Bello who has failed to provide the required dividends of democracy to the citizens in the last three years.
“Nigerlites know the situation in the state and when the time comes, they will decide what is right. We are working out partnership with other opposition parties at both the states and national level and when it’s time we will dislodge the ruling APC.”
He therefore asked the Naskoniya movement to embark on very serious sensitisation and mobilisation of the youths in the 25 local government areas of the state, urging them to also be in the vanguard for the acceptance of the alliance across the state.
Beji, after inaugurating the 25 local government coordinators of the movement, declared his support for the organisation, saying: “Umar Nasko is dear to us. He has proven to be an exemplary character in Nigeria. This project is an an acid test for his (Nasko) popularity in the state.”
In his remarks, the patron of the movement, Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed Baba, charged the youths not to be intimidated by anyone but that they should remain “fearless despite witch-hunt, blackmail from some quarters”.
He disclosed that Nasko, a one time commissioner and chief of staff in the administration of former Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, “will soon declare his intention to contest the 2018 governorship election in the state”.