Less than three months to the 2019 general elections, the presidential candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party – President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar – are said to be currently in talks with some other political parties with the aim of working out fresh alliances that will see other presidential candidates stepping down for each of them.

According to Saturday Telegraph, the presidential candidates of the two leading political parties decided to seek fresh pact with other parties following the emergence of 79 presidential candidates for the February 16, 2019 election.

There are 91 registered political parties including the APC and PDP, but only 78 parties will be on the ballot for the presidential election. The PDP already has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with about 40 other political parties under the platform of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which has shortlisted five candidates to be considered as joint candidates ahead of the presidential election.

For President Buhari, who is flying the flag of the ruling APC, he recently got the backing of the Chekwas Okorieled United Progressive Party (UPP).

The UPP national chairman, who spoke with Saturday Telegraph on what informed the choice, said it was based on the collective interest of the people of the South-East.

He said: “We, in UPP looked around, especially at the two major parties and found out that PDP was in power for 16 years and I asked a PDP governor in the South- East to mention one project the party started and completed during its 16-year rule. He didn’t have to think about it; he said there was none. “And, as it stands, President Buhari has just one more constitutional term of four years; that means that power will shift to the South in 2023.

•Excerpted from a Saturday Telegraph report