Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are having bouts of delirium over the coalition of politicians in African Democratic congress (ADC). This is absurd, albeit understandable. The ruling party cannot even pretend to be at ease since the coalition stepped out on July 3, 2025.
Without doubt, any convergence of the number, weight, reach and diversity of politicians on one platform, as is now the case with ADC, for the sole purpose of dislodging a party in power, foretells problem for the incumbent. Even at that, APC should be expected to hold itself together, better than it has done. For one, the party is not seeing a spectacle it has not witnessed before. Ironically though, it is on the basis of experience that the leaders of the party are beside themselves. Those who kill by the sword, it is said, are terribly unease whenever a sword is anywhere around them.
In 2013, precisely on Wednesday July 31 2013, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) approved and ushered the All Progressives Congress (APC) into the Nigerian political system. The party crystalized from a merger of politicians from divergent tendencies, (exactly like what is playing out in ADC). The main parties in the merger were the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Senator Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as its arrow head and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), woven around General Muhammadu Buhari.
While the three “legacy parties” as they liked to refer to themselves, were the major groups that formed APC, various other politicians and political tendencies were also in the mix. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) actually supplied an impactful detachment of the political regiment that went on to actualize the APC target. Short of forcing a formal split in the then ruling party, renegade PDP members virtually made the ruling party a part of the legacy parties that birthed APC. They were that rebellious against their party. APC leaders accorded them every support
The revolt within the ruling PDP by politicians from the north especially, was real and intense at this juncture. Indeed, the national chairman of the PDP at that point, Adamu Muázu was widely known to be struggling with difficulty to keep his physical presence at the PDP secretariat and party events. His body was there at PDP, but his spirit was elsewhere. Ditto for various elected prime PDP members, among them Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal. The new coalition had other subscribers like Rochas Okorocha, who brought along a rump of his own All Progressives Congress (APGA).
APC at inception was a motley crowd. There was really nothing else that united the disparate entities into a coalition except their collective a burning desire to topple the ruling PDP. Each of the groups had its own agenda, though. For sixteen years, counting from 1999, when democracy was restored in Nigeria, PDP held sway. It was dominant. Let no propaganda distort the facts, PDP truly won most, if not all the elections its members contested between 1999 and 2015.
The party had presence in virtually all the wards in the country. Who was who in Nigerian politics was in its fold. It offered a sense of belonging to almost all sections of the country. The founding fathers of the party were successful to a reasonable extent in establishing a national party that resonated with people from all corners of the country. Buhari’s CPC couldn’t say that of itself. Tinubu’s ACN couldn’t claim any such reach. ANPP was nowhere near that.
But then, empires rise and fall. Some last for long. Others don’t. Either by destiny or through good reading of time and season, APC emerged at a point most apropos to its intent. It struck an uncommon good luck in having Goodluck Jonathan as president and leader of PDP to contend with. The rest is history.
Twelve years after its emergence as a political party, ten of which years it has existed as a ruling party, APC is being fed a dose of its own prescription. It is not only fate. It is either nemesis or crass ineptitude. The ground on which ADC is stoutly challenging APC at the moment is amply watered by APC. The problem is not just that the ruling party is marching mindlessly on every toe, it is doing so cursing and assailing its victims all the way, while the president continues to assure them that he understands their pain
The unbelievable belief by APC that it can ride rough shod all the way, without robust opposition makes the emergence of ADC welcome to many. Many more subscribers are even said to be on their way to the coalition. Among these, are some of the architects of APC.
The response of APC to the emergence of ADC has been very disappointing. Could it be that the party never expected to be matched and challenged, even with its record, or what? Name calling has never been a viable strategy. Nor throwing tantrum. Nor propping up characters like Dumebi Kachikwu to lay claims to ownership of ADC that came into being when he was probably still in school. These responses are, at best, momentary distractions.
Much worse is the diatribe by President Tinubu’s spokesman Bayo Onanuga. who embarked on a pathetic mission of compiling names of confirmed or shadow supporters of ADC, who he said are so inclined, either because they do not like Tinubu or they lost out to him. How does this help a ruling party whose performance record is awful?
There are two years ahead of the next general election in 2027. Unless APC is convinced that it cannot mend its ways, then it still has opportunity to redeem itself through better policies. ADC is a potent challenge, make no mistakes about it, but APC will be running against its record. Can’t the party do better than it has done so far? The answer is up to the APC.
The admonition by the new National Secretary of ADC, Rauf Aregbesola to subscribers to the coalition party to confront APC with facts and record, not violence or noise, reflects experience and strategic shrewdness. APC can benefit from the counsel. Launching tirades on those who do not like Tinubu is a useless exercise. A detailed identification of Nigerians in that bracket at his point in time may yield a very embarrassing result. The road to redemption for APC lies in upping its performance in governance, nothing more, nothing less.
Credit:The Sun