While President Muhammadu Buhari is busy fighting corruption and concentrating on governance, the political class is playing a dangerous game ahead of 2019 polls. The common understanding among the political class, including the president's party members, is that Buhari should not be returned in 2019, even if he so desires.
New Telegraph reliably learnt that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has launched an infiltration agenda into the governing All Progressives Congress (APC)'s fold.
The continuous influx of PDP members into APC, almost on a daily basis, is not due to any attraction to the ruling party, but a part of the larger agenda, the sources said. The defection of PDP leaders and members to APC has taken place in all the 36 states of the federation.
It was learnt that the defection of prominent PDP leaders is expected to continue. Just on Saturday, former deputy governor, ex-ministers and party leaders abandoned the PDP for APC in Benue State. It was the same trend in Cross River and Rivers states at the weekend.
The target is to sufficiently infiltrate the ruling party and take over its structures ahead of 2019. After series of strategic meetings by some forces in the PDP, influential party leaders, including serving and former public office holders, have been recruited into the plan.
Their mission is to defect to APC with their loyalists or encourage their supporters to join the governing party and, in some instances, fund the plot. Already, four scenarios have emerged in the ongoing scramble for the soul of the APC by PDP and its elements.
One, the massive defection of PDP members to APC is to hijack the structures of the governing party ahead of its congresses and convention and 2019 polls. Two, the defection is to have enough people to build an internal opposition in the APC. The third scenario is using defection as a safety valve from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by those who have corruption cases. There are others who, for sheer opportunism, have defected to the APC.
At present, the structures of the APC are being shared by the three legacy parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). Apart from the PDP masterminding these massive defections, the other gladiators involved in this plot are power brokers, especially presidential aspirants, who are interested in controlling APC structures.
