APC: Adventure In Power Failure By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa Esq

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.