INSISTENCE of General Muhammadu Buhari on retaining the presidential ticket of the planned merger party has created another hitch in the merger talks.
Inside sources familiar with the merger talks told the Nigerian Tribune that the talks was suspended for two weeks, with Senator Bola Tinubu reported to have told Buhari and his team that all positions including the presidential ticket are open in the new merger talks.
Both the All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change are reported to be angling for the presidential ticket of the yet to be formed party with the ACN said to be caught in between the two old rival political parties with strong bases in the Northern region of the country.
The Katsina General was said to have mandated his team to start the merger talks from the pre-2011 agreement between the CPC and the AC N, a move openly seen as implying that the CPC will retain the presidential ticket in the planned grand opposition party.
Other alliance partners are said to have interpreted the CPC position as excluding other parties such as the ANPP and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) from vying for the presidential ticket while retaining the Vice Presidency slot for the ACN.
It is recalled that in the pre-2011 arrangement, the CPC was allotted the presidential ticket while the ACN was given the vice presidential slot, an arrangement General Buhari is reportedly insisting on in the new merger talks.
Tinubu was however said to be uncomfortable with the CPC position, especially as reports indicated that the ANPP has already moved far in related merger talks with both Governors Rochas Okorocha and Peter Obi of APGA.
Investigations showed that the ACN leadership wants a merger involving all the four leading opposition parties, while the CPC is angling for a direct merger with the ACN.
Nigerian Tribune was told that the matter got to a head recently when at one of the merger talks in Abuja, it was resolved that a letter should be written to General Buhari, rejecting his position on the presidential slot.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the letter which was reportedly signed by Tinubu categorically rejected commencing the talks from the pre-2011 point, affirming that the merger talk was starting afresh.
The letter was said to have reminded the General that the new merger goes beyond CPC and ACN, declaring that pre-2011 agreement is not binding on the new merger partners.
Top flight source within one of the parties told the Nigerian Tribune that the CPC team at the merger meeting were then told to go and resolve the issue with General Buhari before the meeting reconvened in the next two weeks.
Worried about the effect of Buhari’s position on the planned merger, it was gathered that the former Lagos State governor proceeded to brief other merger partners with insistence that everything will be open for discussions in the merger talks.
Meanwhile, both CPC and the ANPP are courting the Tinubu-led ACN for the number one slot in the new party, with the ANPP justifying its claim on the ground that it controls three states in the North compared with CPC’s one.
Details of the office sharing formula in the planned party is however still sketchy even though it is strongly believed that the ACN will get the Vice Presidential slot as was the case in the pre-2011 arrangement.
However, the on-going merger talk may result in the affected parties adopting a new name latest June this year.
This is coming as ACN gathers its governors, leaders and party officials in Abuja on Wednesday to hold its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to be directed by its national chairman and former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande.
According to a source, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, the Abuja meeting has as part of its agenda to consider the progress made so far by the merger committees set up separately by the parties in the talk.
The meeting is said to be resolved not only to discuss the proposed merger, which sources say had gone beyond mere rhetoric, but give approval to its 19-member committee headed by former minister of foreign affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that Ikimi was only given an administrative approval at inception but still required the approval of NEC as enjoined by ACN constitution.
It was gathered that the party is quite optimistic that given the tempo at which the parties in the proposed merger had been going, it is considered that the ACN, ANPP and CPC will adopt a new name by June 2013 to contest the 2015 general election.
“I can confirm to you that by June, we are going to change our name because everything about the merger is on course. So far, we have nothing of concern to make us think otherwise. We are set to contest the 2015 and win and form a government at the centre,” a source said.
He, however, did not give the new name or whether the parties would adopt one of the names on list of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) registered parties.
Spokesman of ANPP, Price Emman Eneukwu, told Nigerian Tribune on phone that the committees were already doing their job and expected to submit their report at the end of the exercise.