Gen. Muhammadu Buhari

A new political party will soon be floated by General Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters in the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as an alternative platform for the General to contest the 2011 presidential elections should he fail to secure ANPP’s ticket, Daily Trust learnt in Kano yesterday. Buhari, a former military Head of State, was ANPP’s presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections.   

A knowledgeable source close to The Buhari Organization [TBO] said the new party is set to apply for registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as the constitution that will regulate the new party’s affairs is now in place. He however declined to give the party’s name, saying however that the faction “has gone far in this regard” of adopting the name.   

He said the new party’s flag will have green, black and white colours. Initially, he said, the colour of the party’s flag was green and white but it was later changed to green, black and white on the advice of legal experts, who said the green and white colours will resemble the national flag of green-white-green. He also said the party’s logo will be a pen and an inscription, meaning that the party’s major focus is education.   

Former senator for Kano Central Alhaji Rufa’i Sani Hanga was also said to have been tipped for protem chairmanship of the party. The source said the new party is being formed in response to calls from General Buhari’s supporters for him to quit ANPP and join the proposed mega party or float a new party altogether.   

When contacted yesterday, chairman of the Buhari Network for Change Alhaji Abdulmajid Danbilki Commander declined comment on the new party, saying he was not in the best position to comment.

When contacted yesterday, TBO’s Director General Alhaji Sule Hamma told Daily Trust that he is not aware of such moves. He said General Buhari “is still in consultation with relevant organisations and individuals and that when the time comes, the outcome of the consultations would be made public.”

He added, “I am not aware that Gen. Buhari is floating a new party. We are still in the process of consultation as we earlier said. It is after the consultations and when the time comes that we would let the whole world knows about it.”

Another senior official of TBO told Daily Trust last night that some elements of Buhari’s supporters are vigorously pushing in that direction, but that the moves are not yet conclusive and no firm decision has been made to float a new party.

According to him, serious discussions have been held with various elements within and beyond ANPP as to what to do in the run-up to 2011. He said some political parties and other groups have asked for more time to make wider consultations before a firm decision is made.

General Muhammadu Buhari himself was attending one of such meetings last night when Daily trust sought to speak with him. His aide said the meeting would last far into the night, but that he did not know what it was all about.

Speculations that Buhari would float a new party gained currency earlier this year when his rift with the ANPP leadership led by Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke appeared to ne unbridgeable. Though Ezeoke was Buhari’s running mate in the 2007 polls, he led ANPP to enter into a Government of National Unity [GNU] with President Umaru Yar’adua’s PDP government soon after the polls. ANPP also withdrew from the suit instituted by Buhari against Yar’adua’s election and let him fight it alone up to the Supreme Court. Buhari’s politics now mostly revolves around TBO, the group of close associates that first launched him into politics in 2002.