With the successful registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by
\nthe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the 31st of July
\n2013, there was no doubt that a new of vista of political discuss as we
\nare presently witnessing was opened in the country! Though, the tortuous
\nand tumultuous move by the promoters of the new party was not an easy one
\nat all, looking at some of the encumbrances they had faced and have been
\nable to overcome from the onset! Hence, commendation must go to the
\nleaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for
\nProgressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and some
\nfactions of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) for closing ranks
\namong themselves at that stage to form the All Progressives Congress
\n(APC). But, the question is how long is the union going to last, looking
\nat how it has become an all comer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affairs?<\/p>\n
Before now, many political analyst and commentators had foreclosed the
\npossibility of any workable political alliance in the country, especially
\nwhen looking at how previous attempts have failed to yield the desired
\nresults. Understanding this reality, the leaders of the new party made it
\nabundantly clear from the onset that, since political alliances have
\nfailed in the past, what they needed at that moment was the merging of
\nexisting political parties in the country, which was a novel idea. A novel
\nidea in the sense that what we have had in the past was alliances which
\nnever worked.<\/p>\n
However, prelude to the conduct of the 2011 Presidential Election in the
\ncountry, several meetings were held between the leaders of the defunct CPC
\nand ACN on how to merge ahead of the general election. During that period,
\nthere were suggestions on the new name the party would bear. Some even
\nsuggested that it should bear Action Congress for Progressive Change
\n(ACPC), but, along the line, what some cynics would call \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Nigerian
\nfactor \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc creped in and then scuttled the whole idea! For example, there
\nwas this debate over who will fly the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flag. While the then
\nAction Congress of Nigeria was banking on its success in the past
\nelections and the fact that they control some states and have produced
\nmembers in the States and the National Assemblies, they derided the
\nCongress for Progressive Change (CPC) which was formed and registered
\nlately, saying the new party was still an untested and unproved one. But
\nthen, the CPC negotiators were
\ncapitalizing on the mass appeal their party enjoyed in the press and
\namong Nigerians who had little or no electoral value! Hence, the merger
\ntalks between the two parties\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 broke down and they went in the election
\nseparately. After the elections, the reality downed on both; while the
\nACN captured the entire South West Geo-Political zone except Ondo State,
\nthe much hyped CPC under-performed as it only laid its cold hand on
\nNassarawa State.<\/p>\n
So, when the discussion on the merging of the political parties was
\nreopened in 2012, many Nigerian analysts and commentators never took the
\npromoters of such idea serious, but, while trying to effuse confidence on
\nthe minds of skeptical Nigerians about the workability of the new
\nmerger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talks, the former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim
\nShekarau explained to Nigerians on why the previous merger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talks
\nfailed. He said it was simply because; the participating parties had
\nconducted their conventions and primary elections, which had produced
\ntheir respective presidential candidates. So, it was not possible for them
\nto abandon their various flag bearers some weeks to the election. Another
\nquestion I must ask is, looking at the APC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s modus operandi, what can we
\nsay is their guiding philosophy and motivation? Are they temporarily
\nunited for the sole aim of dislodging the ruling People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Democratic
\nParty or are they united for the sake of our
\ndemocracy and strengthening its flabby institutions which some of them
\nare guilty of weakening? Whatever intension is behind the sudden unity
\namong them, the fact remains that PDP has over the years built and oiled
\na formidable structure across the length and breadth of the country, so
\nundermining this reality for media propaganda is like a soldier going to
\nwar under-estimating his enemy instead of over-estimating! PDP has
\nstructures in all the 8,812 Electoral Wards, 774 Local Government
\nCouncils, 360 Federal Constituencies, 109 Senatorial Districts and the 36
\nstates plus the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria. Apart from this,
\nmost voters are familiar with the umbrella logo of the PDP on the ballot
\npapers; so this is not something anybody can substitute with propaganda!<\/p>\n
Similarly, even if APC should spread its tentacles across the country, it
\nwill still take some voters time to be acclimatized to their logos and
\nsymbols because there is high rate of illiteracy in the country and those
\nin the urban areas alone cannot make anybody president, but, the combined
\nvotes of the urban and the rural dwellers respectively. So, with this
\nanalysis, I think APC does not pose any threat to PDP and President Good
\nLuck Jonathan in the 2015 Presidential Election coming up soon!
\nComrade Edwin Uhara, an Activist and a Public Affairs Commentator.
\nHe is also the National President of Young Nigerians for Change, and
\nwrites from No. 9 Imgbi Road, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
\nHe can be reached on 07065862479 or 08076134054
\nedwinuhara@rocketmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the successful registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the 31st of July 2013, there was no doubt that a new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n