A Professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, has denied plans to float a political party with other like minds on October 1.
Utomi, alongside some prominent Nigerians such as former governor of Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfatai, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, former Governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke, on Tuesday, birthed a political movement named, “Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP)”.
The personalities also include Senator Lee Maeba, Usman Bugaje, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Amb. Nkoyo Toyo, Yomi Awoniyi, Dr. Rose Idi Danladi, Dr. Sadiq Gombe among others.
RNP’s mission is “to reconcile, re-unite, mobilize the nation to build a critical mass of citizens capable of driving real and effective transformation, to translate the mass movement into a strong power base within an inclusive and responsive political framework.”
Many Nigerians had speculated that the RNP would be an alternative platform to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, Utomi said there were no immediate plans for the movement to transform into a political party in October as widely speculated.
“No, I don’t think it (Third Force) is going to be a political party. We need to gather some of these movements, moving towards a better society,” he said.
Also, the Chairman of National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr. Yunusa Tanko told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that the movement was intended to create new standards for leadership in the country.
“RNP is really not a political party but a political movement focusing on good governance and leadership, similar to National Consultative Front (NCF) which we all belong to,” he said.
He, however, did not rule out the possibility of the body transforming into a political party in the future or even adopting an existing platform.
“It may decide to form an alliance or merger with other groups with similar objectives to form a party etc. But certainly we are not yet there! And the launching of the National Caucus was clear in its mission statement,” he noted.
