Lagos — No fewer than 25 political parties determined to wrestle political power from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) have concluded plans to launch a mega party.

Chief Rasheed Adewale Shitta-Bey, chairman of the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) said during a parley with newsmen in Lagos yesterday that to sustain the momentum, a special parley of southwest progressive leaders and groups will soon be convened. According to him, the MSM came about as a progressive political force that offers Nigerians an alternative to the current crisis of leadership and development that is plaguing the country.

"We are living witnesses to the grave socio-economic and political conditions created by ten years of bad governance by the PDP. As we speak, nobody is sure if the fragile unity of Nigeria would survive another round of elections considering the widespread fraud, manipulations, ballot box snatching and general electoral violence which robbed the Nigerian people of their mandates in 2007," he said.

Shitta-Bay said there is no doubt that only a strong mass political party could stem the tide of electoral upheavals which PDP, in concert with the Iwu-led electoral commission, INEC, is bent on unleashing on Nigeria in 2011.

He praised the foresight and determination of the founders of the MSM such as Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Prof. Pat Utomi, Chief Olu Falae, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Femi Falana, General Mohammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Alhaji Balarabe Musa.