Nigeria Content Online

Ahead of the 2012
gubernatorial election in Edo State, a faction of the Labour Party (LP)
has entered into a coalition with the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)
and other political parties in order to challenge the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN)-led government at the polls.

A national leader
of the PPP, Solomon Edebiri, who disclosed this in Benin City over the
weekend shortly after a meeting with leaders of Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), ANPP and a faction of Labour Party in the
state, described both the ACN-led government and the PDP in the state
as “birds of the same feather.” “Our people have seen that while the
PDP ruined this state for over ten years which our people are still
suffering, the ACN government has become a military regime where only
one person dictates to all,” he said. “We are working on aligning with
all political parties to ensure that PDP and ACN do not come back to
power in Edo State. That is the idea. We want to be sure that the
people have a true progressive party.

He further
described PDP and ACN as ‘the same kind of wine in different bottles’,
saying politicians in both parties are the same. “You know they have
been decamping from PDP to ACN and from ACN to PDP. So, certainly our
people cannot take them very serious,” he said.

Not strong enough

Mr Edebiri said
opposition parties in the state have come to realise that none of them
can singly take on the ruling party because the resources cannot be
enough.

“So, we are therefore putting together a team of political groups to
form a very strong coalition to ensure that these people do not come
back in 2012,” he said. “We have to start it now by ensuring that we
have enough candidates from other political parties in the House of
Assembly in Edo State. And that is the essence of the various alliances
that we are putting together.” Mr Edebiri explained