8 April 2009

Lagos — The new mega political party would be built on a clearly defined ideology to which the masses could subscribe, and will offer Nigerians the alternative hitherto lacking on the political scene, Muhammadu Buhari, an arrowhead of the alliance by the opposition, has said.

The two-time All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate, however, stopped short of calling the alliance a left-leaning one, but said a government run by the party would keep a close tab on the economy and will not pander to the whims of selfish market forces.

Asked what the structure of the party looks like, Buhari said: "The stage we are in now is that we have taken a resolution that all of us at the meeting agreed to establish a mega political party or electoral alliance to confront the ruling party. We also emphasised the need for all political platforms to be ideologically underpinned, so that Nigerians can be given choice of choosing between political ideologies, one ideology, which is people-oriented led by us and another led by the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), which is the conservative and hegemonic group."

The former military Head of State spoke with Saturday Independent through his spokesman, Sule Hamman. In a tacit rejection of the current capitalist arrangement, Buhari said the ruling PDP has failed to protect the masses from the extremism of the capitalist class and pledged that the mega party would seek a clean break from that tradition.

He, however, offered a role for the private sector in whatever government formed by the alliance. His words: "Clearly, the bankruptcies of the PDP economic programmes are there for everybody to see.

Everybody now agrees that market forces-dictated economic programmes lead to failure of any economic system today. Clearly, economic system that has promise for workability and prosperity is one that is entered on government-guided regulations and partnership with the private sector and initiative. It is also therefore one that places man at the centre of all government programmes."

Buhari also sidestepped questions on the name and programmes of the new party, saying: "We have set up criteria that will produce recommendations in terms of the names of the party, its constitution, manifesto, and its programmes. When the report is ready it will be approved by the summit of all those that are promoting the party. We have set machinery in motion, and we will be meeting on April 17 in Lagos. There will be a preliminary report to be presented at the meeting, but I am not sure the full report will be ready then. I doubt it."