The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has predicted the birth of a new mega party in 2017 to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive Congress in 2019.
He also predicted that a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, would quit the APC because of its deepening crisis and declare intention to run for president.
They are among the 20 things Mr. Fayose predicted would happen in the coming year.
The governor said they were revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
He said he had similarly predicted 20 things that would happen in the outgoing 2016 and that 90 per cent of them came to pass.
“Fellow Nigerians, remember I predicted 20 things that will be
experienced this year 2016. Almost 90 per cent of what the Holy Spirit
led me to predict came to pass,” he said.'
“The Holy Spirit has once again led me to tell Nigerians what may
happen in 2017. We therefore need prayer to avert further calamities
in Nigeria.”
Mr. Fayose, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose second term in office ends in 2018, did not however elaborate on how the new party would emerge or those that would float it.
There are currently 40 parties in the country while the INEC, which is constitutionally mandated to register parties, is processing applications from 60 political associations to be registered as political parties.
The governor had hinted last month that he might dump the PDP for another political platform to prosecute his succession battle in the 2018 governorship election.
“I don’t know the platform I will use for the 2018 election yet and at the appropriate time, I will tell you,” he told the members of the Suppliers’ Association of Nigeria, Ikere Ekiti chapter.
“We are still studying the situation. We have to play the game left, right and centre and whoever we are going to use and the platform, you will all be part of the process because party politics is about the people.
“You all saw how people sold their votes in Ondo State, I am confident that that will not happen in Ekiti. I am close to the people; you are the source of my strength. Even if it requires just 48 hours to any election, if I tell you where to go, you will surely follow me there.”
There have been speculations in some quarters that some members of the ruling APC might quit the party to float a new mega party alongside some faithful of the PDP, Nigeria’s main opposition, due to the intractable crises in the two parties.
Media reports have repeatedly linked the move to a former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and Mr. Abubakar.
Also associated with the alleged planned party are members of the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP.
They had reportedly intensified efforts to float the new mega party after the Ondo state governorship election, which the APC won.
Mr. Tinubu had publicly disclaimed the reports of his plan to dump the APC, which was floated following the successful merger in 2013 of some opposition parties.
The parties, now defunct were the Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria Peoples Party and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
A section of the PDP, then in power, also fused into the APC, which went to defeat former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP in the March 2015 presidential election.
Mr. Tinubu, who was the major force behind the new party, said on his tweeter handle earlier this month that he would not abandon a party he laboured with others to build.
“This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s desire,” he said.
“This is a party I laboured with others to build. We would not abandon it for another. Millions of Nigerians who voted are watching.”
He had also said, “In our journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then corrected…
“Achievements will be had and replicated. Through it all, I, Asiwaju will remain true to the progressive ideals that fuelled the creation of APC.
“I have devoted my political life to achieve what has been achieved. My heart is too much of the people and my mind too fixed on establishing positive historic legacy… rather than engage in destructive pettiness.
“This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s desires.”
Mr. Abubakar also denied involvement through his media aide, Paul Ibe.
Despite the denial, there are speculations that the former vice president would leave the APC for another platform to realize his ambition, especially because the party might give President Muhammadu Buhari its ticket for a second term.
The Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP faction, which has been a loggerhead with the Ali Sheriff group, said through its Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Walid Jibrin that it would never think of forming a political party with the duo of Messrs. Tinubu and Abubakar.
Mr. Fayose belongs to the Makarfi faction.
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