*(As published in Nigerian Tribune of Tuesday, January 8, 2019)*
The
All Progressive Congress was formed as a political party on February 6,
2013, being a merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for
Progressive Change and All Nigeria People’s Party, in anticipation of
the 2015 general elections. It was not making any headway as a viable
alternative to the ruling People’s Democratic Party, until it succeeded
in wooing some prominent but disgruntled members of the PDP, then
christened newPDP. Since its victory at the polls, it has been a case of
wobbling and fumbling, for the party of strange bedfellows.
The
ideology of the APC as a centre-left party is Federalism, Progressivism,
Social Liberalism and Social Democracy. It had no choice than these
ideals as that was the only way it could win the sympathy of voters at
the time in 2015. The APC would then proceed to enthrall Nigerians with a
catalogue of promises rolled into a very attractive but deceptive
manifesto, as a binding covenant for implementation upon assumption of
office. Given the lackluster performance of the previous administration,
hopes were high indeed, that the APC would be a party of true change,
but it didn’t take too long, for Nigerians to notice some foot dragging,
when six months after its inauguration, the APC government could not
constitute its main cabinet and governance was dragging and the economy
was bleeding seriously. Unknown to many, this was only but a tip of the
iceberg.
Generally, the political ideology of the APC is slightly
pro-masses, favouring a strong and active role for government
regulation. The thinking then was that since a good number of its
political leaders subscribed to the social democratic political
philosophies of Obafemi Awolowo and the socialist and anti-class views
of Aminu Kano, the masses would benefit from the government of the APC,
whose political support base was mainly in the South West and Northern
parts of Nigeria. Prior to the 2015 general elections, the APC was known
mainly for its sloganeering and frequent chorusing of fiscal
federalism, restructuring, devolution of powers, state police, resource
control and such other populist policies of social nationalism. But this
was mostly chanted by its leading figures of Atiku Abubakar, Bola
Tinubu and Bisi Akande, as its main presidential candidate, Mohammadu
Buhari, cleverly avoided these cores issues. It has since turned out
indeed that the CPC wing of the APC is less inclined to the idea of true
federalism and devolution of powers.
Months rolled by and years
started counting, but nothing seemed to be changing for the ordinary
Nigerian, as promised by the APC. To be sure, the main agenda of the APC
into the 2015 election was mainly restructuring, as stated clearly in
its manifesto thus:
“THE CONSTITUTION
Initiate action to
amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and
responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench
true Federalism and the Federal spirit.”
In this short covenant
of the APC is the mandate for restructuring, which made many Nigerians
to rally round the party in 2015, with the expectation of true change,
from the known status quo. The three cardinal issues in this manifesto
of the APC are: (1) Constitutional Amendment; (2) Devolution of Powers;
and (3) True Federalism.
The APC betrayed Nigerians upon assuming
power, given that the leading lights of its CPC wing, Muhammadu Buhari
and Nasir El-Rufai, were not inclined to this agenda and since the CPC
controlled the APC in the real power equation, the idea would soon hit
the rocks. The President lashed back at his own people and rubbished the
APC manifesto, by describing the proponents of restructuring as lazy
people, effectively silencing the radical wing of the so-called
progressive party.
Sensing the internal contradictions that would
later rock the APC, the newPDP wing outsmarted the leaders and took
control of the National Assembly, signaling the beginning of the end of a
once promising party. It was only a matter of time for the APC to self
destruct. Its founding chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, was up in arms with the
governors, most of who wanted to control their domains in the states, to
be able to cover up their tracks when out of office. Whereas it paraded
a national leader in its ACN wing, the CPC wing ensured that it was not
documented on record as such, and would later contest that nomenclature
as inconsistent with the office of the President. Meanwhile, the
opportunist policy of “president for everybody and for nobody”, would
soon begin to hurt the party, as this led to mini emperors in various
segments of the APC, all of whom were now taking advantage of the
President’s desperation to retain power. The founding Chairman had to
pay the ultimate price and soon became a casualty of intense political
power play.
The consequence of this was that the APC lost focus,
it became a party without a goal in mind, unable to assert or proclaim
any specific principle or ideology, at times even groveling to absorb
the very people that it had pilloried and lampooned as thieves and
corrupt leaders. So it was that the APC died a natural death, and became
a dumpsite for power mongers and avengers. The economy paid dearly for
it, the political space became turbulent and things fell apart, without
any center at all. In Ogun State, the incumbent governor had
surreptitiously registered Allied People’s Movement, whilst in Imo
State, Rochas Okorocha, himself the chairman of the APC Governors’
Forum, had registered Action Alliance, with strong branches in Ondo and
other States, that were battling the national executive of the party,
for positions. In Ogun and Imo, whereas the governors are both
candidates of the APC for the senatorial elections, they effectively
outsmarted their parties by retaining all its structures in another
political platform for the governorship and legislative elections, once
they were able to assure the President of their support for his personal
ambition. In places like Zamfara and Rivers State, the APC may not even
be able to present any candidate for the coming elections, due mainly
to internal strife.
Perhaps because it had not tasted power at
the federal level, the APC soon became overwhelmed with the burden of
governance, always latching on to the ‘wasteful 16 years of PDP’, as if
that in itself should earn it a second term in office. Unable to satisfy
Nigerians why there is still blackout after three years in office, the
APC would deny that it ever promised uninterrupted supply of
electricity, with the Minister of Power chiding Nigerians to stop
expecting power supply from the government since the power supply chain
had been privatized. Meanwhile the killings assumed a new dimension,
with the damning Amnesty International report showing cases of
compromise by security agencies. At the last count, Boko Haram had
become more emboldened, now overrunning military and police barracks.
The insecurity in the land got to its peak when the former Chief of Air
Staff was gunned down some weeks back and the Governor of the
President’s home state of Katsina cried out that bandits had taken over
the entire state.
To the APC, Nigerians should see good
governance as a privilege and be grateful to God that APC fielded
Mohammadu Buhari for elections at all, expecting that his name alone
should pay the school fees of their children, put food on their tables
and transform their lives completely, whereas as of the end of year
2018, it was reported that about 80 million Nigerians now live below the
poverty index. The economy is so bad that even the affluent has become a
victim. What of education? Better summarized with the current strike by
university and polytechnic teachers, which has shut the gate of
tertiary education in all public schools across the country. Can you
hail the APC for the judicial sector? Court orders are disobeyed at
random, the President himself stated that the judiciary is his headache
and that he has not succeeded in office because of the ‘system’,
referring to due process of law and democratic principles. Do we talk
about the aviation sector, where even the government itself misled
Nigerians on its so-called air carrier?
In the political arena,
the APC has taken Nigeria to the era of inconclusive elections, which in
truth is symptomatic of any election in which the ruling party suspects
it may not win, using INEC to buy time to manipulate the outcome in its
favour. We now have vote buying, intimidation of voters and re-run
elections, all over the place. And even in the coming elections, there
is so much uncertainty and confusion. What about human rights and
opposition politics? Better explained with the encounter of the Shiites
with military in Kaduna and Abuja. And you can ask Olisa Metuh, Ayodele
Fayose, Deji Adeyanju and Dino Melaye and many others, what it means to
be against the ruling APC. There is so much hunger, insecurity,
uncertainty and anger, all over the land, to suggest that the APC is
just a misadventure in governance.
So, the questions to ask are
these: Are we safer now than before? Are we richer now than before? Do
we have better electricity supply now than before? Do we now organize
free, fair and credible elections than before? Are we as a people, more
united in tribes and tongues or in faith? Are our rights and freedoms
better protected now than before?
Let me call in aid Pastor Tunde Bakare, to answer some of these questions, through his recent statement:
“What
many people are saying is that there was corruption under Jonathan,
yes, but life was better. At least we were able to get this, but this
man cornered all the money, locked it up…. The allegations by the
Nigerian public is that those around the president are also stealing,
and some names have been mentioned. You cannot be a clean man surrounded
by rogues. If you don’t deal with those rogues, they would colour you
with the same tar.”
That is APC, a complete power failure.
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