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Aston Business School

Ikimi heads ACN merger committee

Category: Lead stories

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday named a 19-member committee that will represent it in merger discussions with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
Former minister of Foreign Affairs Chief Tom Ikimi is chairman of the committee, which has two of the party’s governors—Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Rauf Aregbesola of Osun—among members.
Also on the list of members are former Ogun State governor Olusegun Osoba, former Ekiti State governor Niyi Adebayo, former Imo State governor Achike Udenwa, former Police Affairs minister Ibrahim Yakubu Lame and ACN national secretary Lawal Shuaibu.
Others are former Edo State governor Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, former PDP national chairman Chief Audu Ogbeh, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyawu, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Senator George Akume, Rep. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senator Chris Ngige, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Hadjia Rabiat Eshak and Alhaji Yusuf Ali.
In a statement in Lagos yesterday, ACN spokesman Lai Mohammed said the party was determined to see the merger talks through.
“This is not about the ACN, CPC or ANPP but about our country Nigeria, which is tottering on the edge of disaster due mainly to the lack of leadership and failure of governance by the ruling PDP since 1999,” Mohammed said.
“The merger of the three parties is like a ‘Noah’s Ark’ which all Nigerians who are tired of the endless drift of our country must enter into.
“This is not about winning power at the centre at all costs, as the naysayers will want Nigerians to believe. It is about putting the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians above everything else.
“We will also like to inform Nigerians that contrary to what the doubters and spoilers are saying, the three parties are going into the merger plans unconditionally and without a set mind over posts or anything else. The only issue that has been settled is the urgent need to rescue and salvage our country.”
The CAN merger team is being named days after the CPC inaugurated its own panel, headed by former Bauchi State deputy governor Garba Gadi.
ANPP had also named its 21-member merger committee, comprising former Kano State governor Ibrahim Shekarau and board of trustees chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff among others.

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