* Fallback position on the cards

By JIDE AJANI, deputy Editor

Barring any last minute change of plans, the talks expected to culminate in the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP and the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, should continue today.

And whereas the major players in the talks have insisted that in the event that a merger arrangement cannot be brokered, the fall-back position would be a working alliance between the parties to confront the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the 2011 presidential election.

There are over two dozens other political parties involved in the larger talks.

Sunday Vanguard was informed by a former state governor that the “meeting has been slated for today in the Federal Capital Territory”. It was also learnt that the major players in the talks would be made up of leaders of the major political parties in the talks.

The talks are a continuation of the initial failed attempt to forge a merger between the Action Congress, AC, and the ANPP.

It was the sudden backing out of former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, from the merger talks, moving into the CPC, which led to the breakdown of the earlier talks.

But the renewed talks, according to a source,  “is in the light of contemporary politics in the nation.  It is in the interest of Nigerians and Nigeria that we seize the moment.”

“The way the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is running this country, especially its plunging of the nation into needless political crises, can no longer be tolerated by Nigerians; therefore, we are all resolved to ensure that we bury our differences and move the nation forward”.

Sunday Vanguard has also been made to understand that a state governor from the South West Zone is leading the talks, specifically with Buhari.

The talks today would also have the state governor in attendance.

The main merger talks, it has also been learnt, would continue alongside the specific talks with Buhari.