Seun Kuti’s political movement, Movement of the People (MOP), has gained at least 3000 members following a recent merger with the Nigerian Youths Democratic Group (NYDG).

Kuti’s MOP merged with the NYDG to build a political party of the masses and youths.

At a ceremony where the party and the group signed a memorandum of agreement, Kuti said the merger is coming after several discussions spanning about three months, and bordering on various ideological issues from the neo-colonial capitalist nature of Nigeria and Africa, to the question of Socialist alternative and the question of building a mass revolutionary political party of the oppressed and toiling masses and youth.

The Afrobeat singer said, “When people share the same ideology and viewpoints on issues, it is only a matter of time before they unite. This is exactly what has developed with this merger of the NYDG with MOP. This is definitely not an opportunistic merger between strange bedfellows, typical of the Nigerian ruling elites. This unity is based on ideology, socialist and class-oriented programs, and desire to build a mass political party of the masses and youth.”

According to Kuti, the NYDG is a group that has over 3,000 members that have decided to join the Movement of the People ahead of the 2023 elections.

The ‘Theory of Goat and Yam’ singer said the merger implies that the struggle towards building a revolutionary political organisation of the masses and youth capable of taking political power from the ruling party, All Progressive Congress and its opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, just got reinforced.

At the event, the heads of the political movement noted that they have begun moves in registering the MOP in the consciousness of the Nigerian masses and youth and also seeking formal registration with Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.