Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) yesterday unveiled members of its steering committee, with former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as chairman.
Apart from the unveiling of the steering committee , which is saddled with the task of co-ordinating the affairs of the coalition in the build up to the election, the CUPP secretariat located in Wuse, Abuja was also commissioned.
Other members of the committee are: former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Secretary, Senator Ben Obi, chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), Buba Galadima, and former former Education Minister, Professor Tunde Adeniran among others. The CUPP, a coalition of 40 political parties comprising the PDP, R-APC, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and 36 other opposition political parties, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to field a joint presidential candidate in the 2019 general election.
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Speaking at the inauguration of the steering committee in Abuja, Oyinlola noted that the task ahead of the CUPP is enormous, and charged all the political parties in the coalition to brace up for the challenges ahead.
He said that the quest by the 40 political parties to sack President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 is akin to plotting a coup, stating that failure could be very disastrous. Consequently, the former Osun governor said efforts must be intensified to ensure that CUPP achieves its objective.
On his part, former Secretary to Government of the Federation and leader of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae urged all the parties in the coalition to gear up for the challenges ahead.
He said in as much as several persons have hailed the initiative by parties in the coalition to collaborate for the purpose of winning the next presidential election and forming a Government of National Unity in 2019, there are people who wants the coalition to fail.
According to him, “we should be conscious that not everybody in Nigeria wants us to succeed. The APC is working overtime to make us fail.”
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On his part, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus charged members of the coalition to be prepared for the task ahead, noting that the journey to sack the ruling APC is going to be tortuous.
Secondus berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for allegedly acting as arms of the ruling APC. He warned that if they think that they could be partisan, they should know that they will have to account for their actions in no distant time. Also speaking, Galadima said the task before the coalition is enormous, noting that they cannot afford to fail. He said : “We should know that what we are trying to do, to take over from a retired general is not a small task.”