The presidential candidate of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which comprise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and 34 other political parties will emerge after a consensus of critical stakeholders, sources close to the coalition have said.

It was revealed at the weekend that though some key parties in the coalition are announcing fees for presidential nomination forms and dates for national convention, a common candidate would emerge from the CUPP at the end of the day.

Investigations revealed that the coalition expects that not more than five presidential candidates will emerge from the parties after their various primaries.

It was also revealed that a coalition of elders, stakeholders, former leaders, as well as northern, southern and Middle Belt leaders would eventually determine the most suitable candidate among the five.

It was gathered that an undertaking of willingness to step down for the final candidate of the coalition is being circulated among the parties to ensure a smooth sail for the eventual candidate.

Though the presidential convention of the PDP is coming a day to the final deadline given by INEC, a source said that the issues revolving around the CUPP arrangement are being addressed alongside the nominations.
Sources further told the Sunday Tribune that the CUPP expects that all the parties would not present more than five candidates at the end of the day and that the process would be made easy for the committee of elders to sift through.

“We expect that if we don’t have more than five candidates, it would be easy to flip through the documents and determine the strongest candidate of all.

He also said that all arrangements are being fine-tuned to meet the deadline given by the electoral commission for emergence of candidates.

• Excerpted from a Sunday Tribune report

Update news