2015: Presidency Behind Registration of New Political Parties to Checkmate North – Source

Amidst the denial by some governors in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP believed to have floated a new political party and applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Registration of Voice of the People, VOP, indications have emerged that the proliferation of the new parties is being masterminded by the Presidency with a top shot of the party as the arrowhead.


The presidency’s game plan, according to an impeccable source, is to encourage the emergence of ‘at least three presidential candidates from the north’, a report the Political Adviser to the President, Ali Ahmed Gulak, described as untrue.

The source according to Leadership said the need to be ‘pro-active’ became necessary when ‘the so-called aggrieved governors’ did not show signs of truce with the leadership of the PDP and the Presidency.

The excitement that greeted the recent registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) is a pointer that something was amiss.

Aside the registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC confirmed that it currently has 10 application from political associations seeking to be registered as a political party, even though it cannot confirm the details of the application or those behind it.

“In politics, you don’t underrate anybody; I think that was the reason the president and all concerned leaders of the PDP tried as much as possible to ensure that areas of conflict are resolved and settled with the so-called aggrieved governors.

“But when things became more difficult, of course, there had to be some pro-active measures; after all, they are all politicians who know the game well. If you recollect, you would observe that rather than being disturbed, the president’s men were happy that PDM was registered to, at least, increase the number of possible northern candidates aside the PDP; and now, VOP has come on board. If you are on ground, you would know that there is something more than the ordinary in the game we are witnessing. Forget all the abuses you see on the pages of newspapers between one leader of the PDP and PDM, they are all one I can tell you,” the source noted.

He mentioned an unnamed top shot of the PDP as the brain behind the strategy to prop up at least three northern presidential candidates to distract President Jonathan’s opponents from the region while he has a field day in the south.

For instance, the source mentioned a particular inner caucus member of the PDM as not only an ‘avowed supporter’ of Jonathan, but a kinsman of the president who has several times made his pro-Jonathan position known in the press. The said PDM chieftain is from Rivers State and has served in the Management Committee of the PDM prior to its being registered as a political party.

But Political Adviser to the President, Ali Ahmed Gulak faulted the report that the president was behind the registration of new parties, describing it as baseless.

He said: “It is most unfounded, mischievous and untrue in all respects. Nigerians should by now know that politicians, particularly those who have tried all means to discredit the president but failed, can go to any length to achieve their aims.  “Before now, the story was that President Jonathan was stopping APC from being registered as a party; now that APC has been registered and new ones coming on board, the story has changed, that the president is behind the registration of more parties to whittle down the opposition. These are unserious talks from unserious quarters that cannot be allowed to distract the president; it is most untrue and fallacious,” he said.