Some aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), mostly from the National Assembly have defected from the ruling party.
In an expected move on Wednesday, the members, led by Buba Galadima, a former chieftain of the APC, formed a faction known as Reformed All Progressives Congress (RAPC).
The decision follows several hours of meeting in Abuja.
Galadima was named the chairman of the new group.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Galadima said: “You will recall that in the buildup to the 2015 general election, some political parties and groups came together, and formed a brand new political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“This merger was based on the strong belief that Nigeria had come of age, but was severely underperforming and unable to meet its potentials for good governance. The Nigerian people entrusted power to the APC based on its promises and potentials.
“We are sad to report that after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed. The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people. It has rather imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, infidelity to the rule of law and constitutionalism.
“It has failed to ensure the security and welfare of our people and elevated nepotism to unacceptable height. The APC has failed to deliver on its key promises to the nation. There is no evidence of any political will to reverse the decline of our party, while leaders who have created these circumstances continue to behave as if Nigerians owe our party votes as a matter of right.”
Describing the APC as “a monumental disaster”, Galadima said the convention and congresses of the party exposed the rots in the APC.
“The APC government, has been a monumental disaster, even worse than the government it replaced. The political party that was a vehicle for enthroning the government was rendered powerless by manipulations and complete lack of due process in its operations,” he said.
“The last straw, was the congresses and convention of the APC held recently. The Congresses were intensely disputed as it was conducted with impunity, total disregard for due process, disregard for the party Constitution and naked display of power and practices that have no place in a party we all worked the very hard to put in place.”