Finally, the All Progressive Congress (APC), an amalgam of different political parties got registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). As usual some celebratory sounds are being created. The members and fans of the party are over the moon with joy. The general feeling is that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for the first time since the return of democracy in 1999 would henceforth have to contend with the new APC in the nation’s political space. The result is that the arrogant declaration of PDP to rule for at least 60 years is now seriously in question.
Given that stakeholders came together to form the new party, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), with the faction of APGA , most keen watchers of Nigerian politics are holding their breath.
Not too many people are ready to shout uhuru for the Nigerian political odyssey due to the birth of a new political party for a myriad of reasons. In the first place, many are seeing the new party as akin to the biblical old wine in a new bottle because most of the members of the new party can trace their political ancestry to PDP. According to Femi Falana, “the difference between APC and PDP is like the difference between six and half a dozen. Frankly speaking, serious parties are not built around big names or personalities but on the platform of ideology. From the look of things both APC and PDP subscribe to the dominance of market forces, currency devaluation, privatization of the nation’s resources and the commercialization of education, health and other social services. Essentially, both APC and PDP are two sides of a coin.” He concluded
People expected APC to build a structure that the common rejected citizen can trust because if votes actually counts then Nigerians will certainly vote for them massively, instead they seems to be busy chasing disadvantaged PDP members and this act has made most Nigerians to lose confidence in APC.
I totally agree with Ogbuaka Okiyi, a public affair analyst that for the fact that APC continues to lobby PDP members into its folds suggest that the problem with Nigeria is not political parties but structural d
efect. “Most of the problems in the country are now congregating in APC, it tells me that what we have is structural problem…There is too much power at the center. The power at the center is so attractive. So, the solution is dissolution of power to states and regions.
