Ahead of 2019 general elections, 15 registered political parties have formed a new political group, under the aegis of Coalition for a New Nigeria (CNN) with the aim of fielding a consensus candidate in the next presidential election to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The 15 political parties include, Labour Party (LP), Alliance for Democracy (LD), Democratic Peoples Congress (DPC), Action Alliance (AA), Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), Young Democratic Party (YDP) Democratic Alternative (DA) and National Conscience Party (NCP). Others are People Democratic Change (PDC), United Democratic Party (UDP) and National Action Congress (NAC).

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, during the official public presentation of the new group yesterday, the national chairman of LP, who also doubles as the coalition’s chairman, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, said all the parties involved will work together to ensure its common candidate emerges victorious at the next election.

“After several consultations on the political and economic situation of the country, we, the following political parties to be known and addressed as Coalition for a New Nigeria have decided to chat a positive course for a new Nigeria,” he said.
Another member of the coalition and the national chairman of the DPC, Olusegun Peters, said the intention of the coalition is to field a consensus candidate for the next presidential election.

“This coalition has been working and strategizing for three months to see how we can run a successful government in Nigeria to effect the real change in the country. We are working on how to present a credible presidential candidate for the 2019 general election. So, we are not working in collaboration with either the APC or the PDP, but this coalition will present a credible presidential candidate for Nigerians in the next election,” he said.

On whether the coalition would later metamorphose into a merger, Abdulsalam said: “It will remain a coalition and we are not contemplating a merger, each party remains independent and autonomous, but we are to come together to support a new government in 2019 at the centre.”

The coalition’s leader also said the group is committed to pursuing economic, political and internal restructuring of Nigeria,empowerment of youths, women and persons with disability.

He added that the body would strive to respect the rule of law and other democratic institutions so as to build a nation of great dreams “where equity and justice shall be the guiding principle.”

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