The National Chairman, Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) , Dr Jay Osi Samuel, has dissociated the group from the loose alliance of 30 parties formed by the Peoples Democratic Party on Monday.
He said the party walked out of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) because the two parties have different ideologies.
“I was invited for a meeting which I wasn’t properly briefed about the agenda of the meeting, and when I got to the meeting and I saw the attendance and what was being discussed, I wasn’t comfortable because what was being discussed did not represent what Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) as a party believes in, ” he said.
“So, I decided to take my leave. I didn’t even have any idea of what they were there for but I knew I was informed but when I got there, I was sweating and I finally took the decision of not participating in the meeting.”
Dr. Samuel made this known during the party’s NEC meeting and the declaration of intention by its presidential aspirants on Wednesday in Abuja.
“ANN is clearly focusing on what we believe in and why we came up as a party. From the very beginning, we were coming to wrestle with any of the current major political parties whether it is APC or PDP.
“We wanted to create our plans. Our agenda is to create a new voting bloc not the currently existing crop of leaders and do away with current leaders.
“What I saw in that room was the same people that we are committed to retiring. We have our hashtag, we have been running almost to a year now to replace. So, I wasn’t comfortable coming to a room where I saw all the grandfathers and the grand patrons of all and everything that has been wrong with Nigeria politically in a room,” he declared.
The ANN is the second major group to sever links with CUPP.
On Tuesday, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the national chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party also denounced CUPP, for being an opportunistic alliance.
He said his party was not part of the group.
“I don’t think a coalition like this which is opportunistic will be able to defeat the governing party that is, the All Progressives Congress (APC), ” Musa told NAN.
“Remember, the reason for coming together is simply because they have lost the opportunities for sharing power.
“It is not because of anything which they can do which APC didn’t do. No, it is not because they have a different ideological position.
“There is no fundamental difference between them and the APC; they are just an electoral gang to defeat the APC. I don’t think the coalition is enough,” he said.
According to him, what is needed is an alliance which is ideologically more focused than the APC and not just an aberration of what APC stands for.
“In any case also, they have to contend with other alliances. I don’t think it will make any difference at all”, Musa said.
