A new political movement operating under the African Liberation Movement (ALM) has started mobilising Nigerians to form a “credible platform that will liberate the country from the current economic woes.”
John Enemari, the national organising secretary of ALM, in an exclusive chat with BusinessDay in Abuja on Tuesday, said the movement plans to transform into a political party soon, in preparations for the 2027 general election.
Enemari, who berated the existing political parties for their inability to tackle the nation’s myriad challenges, said the internal wrangling within the parties showed that their foundations were faulty and therefore, could not provide answers to the challenges facing the nation.
He said, “A political party’s foundation is very important as it is based on revealed values. Nobody should be above the party, not even the president.
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“Political parties must run on the will of justice, fairness, equal opportunities for all members and operate on the principles of strong internal democracy.
“We believe that even the programmes of Mr. President must first be subjected to the party’s manifesto, from where the president derives powers.
Enemari did not reveal the identity of those behind the moment, but said, “We know that God Almighty is behind the movement, adding “Financing the movement is still in God’s hand.”
“We cannot tell you the identity of those behind the movement now, but that will be made known in due course. However, just know that God Almighty is behind us because He sees the sufferings Nigerians are being subjected to daily.
“If we go ahead to unveil their identity, the government might try to stop our registration. We are being careful, some of us came from other parties, we are doing our things silently.
He noted that the “movement is spreading like wildfire”, adding that “As we speak, we have structures in all the states in Nigeria; and most of the local governments have embraced the party.”
Enemari also noted that the current leaders are 40 years of age on average, adding that the movement is leveraging its connections with Nigerian youths.
“This is going to be a different party when we are finally registered because we are trying to avoid the pitfalls of the past where looters hijack a party and use it to entrench themselves using their ill-gotten wealth.
“We know those who brought Nigeria to her knees, and we will avoid them like a plague. The youths are all holding leadership positions in the party.
“We are being careful to make sure that party discipline is number one. We must make sure that the constitution of the party is supreme. We are out to avoid the looters who have entrenched themselves into the existing parties.”
The movement which met in Abuja recently, already has acquired a building at Utako, Abuja as its national headquarters.
“If registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it will join the existing 18 political parties like the Action Alliance (AA), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressive Congress (APC) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among others.
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The new movement is also coming on the heels of reported plans by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, of the PDP, Peter Obi, of the Labour Party (LP), and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), are reportedly working on alliance (mega party) to dislodge the ruling All Progressive Congress ahead of the 2027 election.
The new ‘mega-party’, BusinessDay gathered, also has the buy-in of Nasiru El Rufai the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, with notable northern political gladiators also waiting on the fringes.
Ibrahim Abdullahi, PDP deputy national publicity secretary, made the revelation when he appeared on Channels Television on Monday.
He expressed optimism that if they could pull through with the plans, they will easily reverse the one million vote advantage enjoyed by the ruling APC in the 2023 general election.
