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The Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
yesterday announced that they are still holding discussions on the
possibility of presenting a common presidential candidate, less than
two weeks to the presidential election.

Some northern
politicians, under the aegis of Arewa Youth Action for Change (ACAC),
are reportedly engaged in discussions with the presidential candidates
of the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari; his All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and
ACN counterparts, Ibrahim Shekarau and Nuhu Ribadu with a view to
getting one of them to contest the election. The three candidates are
from the northern part of the country.

The national
publicity secretary of the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, who confirmed that Mr
Buhari is involved in the talks with the northern politicians and
elders, explained yesterday that the party accepted to join in the
discussions because of the quest to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) at the federal level.

“The discussions
are still on. In politics, negotiations don’t end because it involves
give and take. On our part, we are open to such negotiations so far
they do not depreciate our values or what we stand for,” Mr Fashakin
said yesterday.

The three parties
had been discussing a possible merger, but they could not agree on a
common candidate and therefore held separate primaries.

Mr Fashakin faulted scepticism that the discussions are coming too late, as the presidential election is coming up on April 9.

“In politics, even 24 hours is a long time not to talk of almost two weeks. That is like eternity in politics,” he said.

Mr Fashakin,
however, said that Mr Buhari will not step down for either Mr Ribadu or
Mr Shekarau, insisting that the former military ruler is the best
candidate among the three. He said the CPC candidate is the only one
capable of defeating the PDP at the polls as according to him he has
the widest acceptability.

“You don’t go to an
examination and tell the brightest candidate to hand over his first
position to the second or third candidate. This is antithetical to
rationality. It is not something you will readily see,” he said.

“I am saying that
of all the northern candidates, Buhari commands the most acceptability
in the broad spectrum of the Nigerian people. He has the greatest
chance to defeat the PDP. Unless you want to bring in other issues,
Buhari stands out as the best candidate, considering his pedigree and
character.”

Ibrahim Modibbo,
the spokesperson for Mr Ribadu confirmed that discussions between the
three candidates and some northern politicians are still going on.

Mr Modibbo refused
to speak on who the possible choice will be, but pointed out that the
closeness of the talks to the election day will not affect the
candidate.

Concern over Jonathan’s wife

The CPC also
faulted the recent meeting between Patience Jonathan and female
candidates across the country, during which Mrs Jonathan and the wife
of the vice president, Zainab Sambo donated money to the 809
candidates, who are contesting on the platform of various political
parties.

Mr Fashakin yesterday said the party is concerned about the source of the money.

“The Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) has noted with dismay the unwholesome
activities of the First Lady in the name of women participation in
politics. As a party, we were reticent in divulging the contact details
of our female candidates because the motive for the request was quite
opaque to us,” he said.

The CPC also said
it was satisfied with the decision of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the Modified Open Secret Ballot
System, whereby the Nigerian voters would wait to have their votes
counted after casting their votes.

“The CPC welcomes this ingenious decision at ensuring transparency for our electoral process,” the statement said.