A new Government of National Unity (GNU) appears in the making, following revelations that some leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others in government have reached out to the leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for that purpose.

Sources within the two political parties told the Nigerian Tribune that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was already compiling the names of serving ministers with  ambition to contest the next general election and  that the departure of such ministers would afford the government the opportunity to replace them  and institute the new GNU.

The late President Umaru Yar’Adua instituted the last GNU in 2007, following the widespread condemnation of the election that brought him into office.

While the Action Congress (AC) refused to participate in the GNU, the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Party (PPA) participated and nominated a combined three ministers.

But President   Jonathan eased out the three GNU ministers in April while reconstituting the Federal Executive Council (FEC). He has also been silent on the GNU since he eventually emerged president on May 6.

Though the president picked Senator Bala Mohammed from the ANPP, he is seen more as a nominee of the Senate than that of the party. The senator, who emerged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has already concluded arrangements to defect to the PDP.

Sources, however, told the Nigerian Tribune that the administration might not be opposed to another GNU in the spirit of fostering political unity in the land.

A top official of the government was said to have reached out to the outgoing national chairman of the ANPP, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, last week, asking him to nominate three candidates for ministerial slots. The official, who has been one of the voices in government who had spoken in favour of President Jonathan’s perceived 2011 ambition, was said to have asked the ANPP to immediately submit the nominations.

Ume-Ezeoke was, however, said to have asked to be given time to consult the national caucus of the party and the National Executive Committee (NEC).

A NEC meeting of the ANPP comes up early September, while a source said that Ume-Ezeoke would eventually finish his term on September 6. That day, a caretaker committee is expected to take over from the outgoing chairman, following the indefinite postponement of the national convention, aimed at electing a new national executive of the party on July 30.

Said a source close to the arrangement: “A senior official of the PDP last week called our national chairman and asked him to provide three names who could be considered for ministerial posts. That means that they are thinking of re-inventing the GNU arrangement. But not all members of the ANPP will back this arrangement this time.”

It was also gathered that some officials of the PDP had discussed the idea informally with leaders of the ANPP in recent times.

A leader of the ANPP, however, said that the party would examine the prospects exhaustively this time round to ensure that those that will be nominated will not work to the detriment of the party.

“We have observed that the PDP has always used the GNU option to destabilise our party. All those who were sent forward in the past ended up joining the PDP. We will be able to examine the pros and the cons before taking a plunge this time,” a source in the ANPP said at the weekend.

Sources also said that Ume-Ezeoke would be eased out of the party in September to put an end to the rancorous process of staging a national convention. The party had twice postponed its elective national convention. On July 30, it was forced to put it off indefinitely following the insistence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it could not observe the convention unless it was given the statutory 21-day notice.

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