2023 polls: Opposition parties ready to kick-start campaigns

 

 

Cyril Mbah, Abuja.

 

There are strong indications that the sixteen smaller opposition political parties in the country have reached various levels of readiness in their for the 2023 general elections and are warming up to kick-off nationwide campaigns for votes as preparations for the nation’s next polls gather momentum.

 

A random sampling of the opinion of some opposition party leaders in Abuja showed a heightened state of anticipation by principal officers and excited expectation among supporters but some level of anxiety was also noticed, especially on the side of leaders still grappling with serious party conflicts.

 

It was observed that many of the smaller parties are also embroiled in heightened internal disputes, like the two dominant political parties, the All Progressives Congress [APC] and the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] and the disagreements may seriously interfere with the smooth progress of their promotional drive when INEC lifts the ban on active campaigns by political parties this month.

 

For example, while leaders of the crisis riddled African Democratic Congress [ADC] have threatened to deal with some recalcitrant members, including its suspended presidential flag bearer, using legal and democratic instruments, stakeholders in the Allied Peoples Movement [APM] are hoping their protesting members will see reason to allow peace to return to the party.

 

National Chairman of the ADC, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu, who spoke on the crisis in the party said: “I have briefed my lawyers to take appropriate actions against the former presidential candidate. We would deal with the monsters this time and the group being used to defame our character. It is easier to destroy than to build but we have built a formidable party in ADC that has become the envy of many.”

 

Nwosu spoke in an interview at the ADC Headquarters after the party presented certificates of return to Senate and House of Representatives candidates of the party from the 36 states and Abuja to enable them mobilise and prepare for their campaigns on the journey to the National Assembly.

 

The ADC chairman challenged the suspended presidential candidate to show the nation, like presidential candidates of other political parties, the structures he put in place for his campaigns such as bill boards, posters, manifesto and campaign office among others, rather than working hard to tear the party apart.

 

Nwosu said emphatically that the rift in the party will not affect the chances of the ADC to win seats during the 2023 elections, pointing out that those creating problems in the party have been shown the way out.

 

“We have evolved after more than 15 years to become one of the leading political parties in Nigeria. It took very hard work for us to achieve what we have achieved. However, some people who joined us in the past one year could not fit into the party and were shown the way out.

 

“I want to assure party loyalists that it is better we deal with these monsters at this time to enable us focus on the elections. We must deal with the monsters that have come to disturb us and the moment we do this, our candidates would be more focused on the target. Whatever you are seeing now, we are dealing with it. Some parties pursue court cases even one week to elections but it will not be so in this case,” he assured.

 

He stated that the party has concluded its preparations for the elections adding further that the success of the ADC at the 2023 polls will dazzle its detractors and those who do not wish the party well.

 

African Democratic Congress candidate for the House of Representatives election for Bwari/AMAC Federal Constituency of the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], Barrister Juliet Isi Ikhayere also said in an interview that the party would bank on the votes of women and youths and she hoped the electorate would key into the social and economic upliftment programmes of the party.

 

“ADC has recognised the importance of the youths, the women and the disabled in the society and this is why we would concentrate on providing democracy dividends for them. My call on the people of Bwari/AMAC and FCT in general is to remind them to remain united and vote for the right candidates who will make and fulfill their promises,” Barrister Ikhayere said.

 

National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party [NNPP], Dipo Olayoku also stated that the party has completed arrangement to flag-off its promotion programmes as soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission blows the whistle for the commencement of campaigns.

 

He said the structures of the party are intact throughout the 36 states of the federation and stressed that there will be no problems with mobilising supporters to move from state to state to canvass for votes.

 

The Allied Peoples Movement [APM] has meanwhile placed its members on standby, according to the National Secretary of the party, Mr. Oyadeyi Ayodele Adebayo who told our reporter that APM strongholds in the south west have intensified contacts, consultations and mobilisation of voters in the zone.

 

“APM is not a new party. We have been on ground and we won some seats in the state assemblies. We are prepared for the campaigns. We are just waiting for the ban on campaigns to be lifted. Our presidential candidate has also stepped up preparations,” he said.