Nigeria rebel governors formally join opposition

Nigeria rebel governors formally join opposition

Abuja — A group of Nigerian state governors who defected from the ruling party on Tuesday joined a new opposition mega-party, officials said, in the latest political blow to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has controlled the federal government since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 but is facing unprecedented divisions ahead of general elections in 2015.

The seven governors first broke with the PDP at the party's summer convention in August, branding themselves the New PDP, and on Tuesday announced a merger with the main opposition All Progressives Alliance (APC).

"The leadership of APC and the New PDP met this morning," Kawu Abubakar Baraje, the New PDP chief, told journalists in Abuja.

"The two parties agreed to merge (and) work together in order to rescue our fledging democracy and the nation."

Baraje insisted that all seven of the rebel governors backed the merger but there were reports that two were non-committal.

The rift in the ruling party had been in the making for months, with factions opposed to Jonathan's re-election and several members believed to be plotting their own run.

Much of the opposition to Jonathan is based on an unwritten pact intended to rotate control of the presidency between Nigeria's predominantly Christian south and mainly Muslim north.

According to many northerners, Jonathan, a Christian from the oil-producing Niger Delta region, should have never been allowed to run in 2011 as it was the north's turn.

The breakaway governors include both southern Christians and northern Muslims.

The leader of the key oil-producing Rivers state is among the group, as is the governor of Kano, the most populous state in the north.

The APC emerged earlier this year from the marriage of the Action Congress in Nigeria, strong in the southwest, and the Congress for Progressive Change, led by ex-military head of state Muhammadu Buhari, who has support in the north.

"We have a commitment to rescue our country," APC leader Bola Tinubu said after the merger announcement.