We all woke up on that fateful day (6th of February, 2013) thinking everything will go ‘normally’ even though normally in the Nigerian setting could mean another thing entirely in other less rugged countries. And then the once in a blue moon surprise came upon us all like that eclipse that left people using headlights in what was supposed to be a beautiful afternoon. I asked my innocent friend turned broadcaster again, what did you say? I thought the depression in this country was affecting my eardrums.
Four opposition parties have merged to form a single bigger one (yeah, I know it shouldn’t be smaller). What surprised me was that two of these four parties tried to merge before the last general elections but failed to reach an agreement. Now, four have reached an agreement. Surely the war against PDP (People’s Democratic Party) is more serious than I thought. I went out of the house to check for signs in the sky, and unsurprisingly, there were purple patches in the sky. Something of this magnitude cannot happen without ripple effects I thought. The four parties that came together are:
1. Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which is mainly based in the South Western region of the country.
2. Congress for Progressive change (CPC) which is mainly based in the Northern region of the country.
3. All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) also based mainly in the North; and
4. All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which is mainly based in the South Eastern region of Nigeria.
On the 6th of February, 2013, the four political parties met in the capital city, Abuja to finalize the merger talks. After the meeting, a new party was born;
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC)
In a communiqué signed by Chief Tom Ikimi for ACN, Senator Annie Okonkwo for APGA, former Kano State Governor and Presidential elections contestant (in 2011 under ANPP) Ibrahim Shekarau for ANPP, and Garba Gadi for CPC, and read by Chief Tom Ikimi, which goes thus,
“At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent. And to meet the challenge, we the following political parties namely ACN, ANPP, APGA, and CPC have resolved to merge forthwith and become All Progressives Congress and offer to our beleaguered people a recipe for peace and prosperity.
“We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to our people, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth, etc., and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people.”
Prior to that, ten opposition governors had met on Tuesday at Lagos to endorse the merger. A communiqué released after their meeting reads:
“As progressive and patriotic leaders of our people across party, religious and geo-political zones, we are extremely concerned about the state of the nation and we have put our heads together in the interest of our people to deliberate on what can be done to rescue our country.”
The National chairman of PDP has responded to the merger with scorn and posited that they only needed the merger because they were so weak. He also boasted about how PDP was the only party in this country that has a member in every ward, presents candidates in elections at all levels, and has at least a vote in every ward. He also went on to compare PDP in Nigerian politics to the Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in football saying the PDP will always dominate like Messi is currently doing in World football. The most important (and relevant?) thing he said was that this merger will provoke PDP to more action.
This merger has raised a lot of questions and potential hopes that needs to be discussed. What is the average Nigerian going to gain from this merger? Is this only a wrestling match between the opposition and the PDP or are Nigerians going to experience a new positive trend in the politics of this country? It was said before the merger that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai are possible candidates that will be considered as running mates in the coming election in case Gen Muhammadu Buhari decides not to run in 2015.
Nigeria is in desperate need of positive change as mentioned in the APC manifestos but every party gives beautiful manifestos even the ones that will do the opposite. And common with political parties in Nigeria (especially PDP), the newly formed party has started controversies already with a faction of APGA claiming the Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha and Senator Annie Okonkwo were not representing APGA at the merger. The Imo State governor has since replied,
“Let me say that APGA is in the merger talks. We have our little challenges and we are just trying to sort out about who are the APGA-APGA and who are the APGA-PDP.
“But I can tell you that the APGA-APGA (the real APGA) is already in the merger talks.”
On the positive note though, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) have been reported to be interested in the merger. If the APC merger is successful, we could be moving to a two major party system (a la Democratic and Republican Parties in the U. S.) which will do tremendous good to National politics. The success of this party will only do Nigeria good.
And to PDP chairman Bamanga Tukur, yes the PDP are similar to Messi in one way. The PDP has won the last four presidential elections in Nigeria, Lionel Messi has also been the best player in world football for the past four years. But one way the PDP and Messi are so different is that Messi did not use ‘do or die’ tactics to win his awards.
I hope that when the APC get their chance, they will be clinical and show us what they can do on the pitch of Nigerian politics. I hope that when they get their chance to deliver, it will not be bad news and/or excuses.
[Culled from http://voiceofsagacity..com]