A presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu, on Sunday night, met with the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the Third Force movement.
It was reported that Jega, and a foremost political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, among others had in October last year unveiled a non-partisan coalition under the aegis of the National Consultative Front.
The forum was said to have been designed to galvanize support for legislation for the electronic transfer of election results.
As gathered, the forum, which may later transform into a political party, would challenge the country’s dominant parties, the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, Moghalu who is a former Central Bank of Nigeria’s Deputy Governor had declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election under the African Democratic Congress platform.
But giving a snippet of their meeting on his Twitter handle on Sunday night, Moghalu noted that he and the former INEC boss had a frank discussion on the need for a virile third force movement.
He tweeted, “With my friend Prof Attahiru Jega earlier this evening at his home in Abuja. We had a full and frank discussion about how a progressive political force can salvage our country and keep the barbarians at the gate (or evict them from the living room!).”
Meanwhile, Jega had last week Wednesday said that Nigeria is in the process of total collapse. He also described the 2023 general elections as critical for Nigeria’s unity.
“The sorry state of the socio-economic conditions under which the Nigerian working people, indeed the overwhelming majority of all citizens live and work, the reckless misrule and misgovernance by a tiny, rabid and reckless band of the elite, and how these myopic ‘elected’ so-called ‘leaders’ and their collaborators, have devastated the Nigerian economy, heightened insecurity, and virtually destroyed the basis for national cohesion and integration, Nigeria, as a potentially great nation, is crying for a rescue mission before it is too late.
“Such a rescue mission cannot be serious, positive and successful, without the active engagement and involvement of the Nigerian workers through their genuine representatives in working-class organizations and movements, in alliance with other progressive and patriotic Nigerians.
“While Nigeria may not have collapsed, it is in the process of collapsing, as reckless elite in control of the governance process is blindly running the country aground. And the 2023 general elections may be the ‘make or break’ epochal moment.
“Given this, all hands of progressive forces must be on deck to prevent our country from imminent collapse, and to turn it around on to a trajectory of good democratic governance for beneficial democratic, socio-economic development, and human security for Nigerian citizens.
“A broad alliance of progressive forces for national rescue and emancipation is required to get Nigeria out of the current unwholesome predicament in which it finds itself.
“The deliberations at this conference, guided by the lead paper presentation and panel discussion, should help us chart a course for a reinforced commitment to national emancipation and more active engagement participation of Nigerian workers in our current and future political processes,” Jega said in Abuja at the 2022 Workers’ Political Conference organized by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
