All Progressives Congress (APC), the merger party which was recently hounded by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has finally taken over as the new ruling party in Abuja. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, traces the journey to the current role reversal

One fateful day in February, 2013, Nigeria's four biggest opposition political parties announced their readiness to merge and contest the 2015 elections as one mega party, against President Goodluck Jonathan's (People's Democratic Party). Not many Nigerians read any serious meaning to that announcement that is today remembered as the first step in the political transformation of Africa's largest economy.

Back then, parties said "we have resolved to merge forthwith and become the All Progressives Congress (APC) and offer to our beleaguered people a recipe for peace and prosperity," according to a statement handed to reporters on that fateful day. "At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent" it added.

The two biggest parties in the merger were the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), whose governors control most of the country's southwestern states, including Lagos, the commercial capital, and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led by the north's biggest opposition figure and now President-elect, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

Happening in a country that is almost evenly divided between a mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, as the merger arrangement progress with major gains recorded in a matter of days, many local and international analysts spoke of a significant change in the politics of the Nigeria should the merger succeed.

That was when the people of the country, politicians and non-politicians alike, started paying attention to the merger talks. Three years earlier, Buhari had lost to Jonathan in the 2011 presidential election, garnering the most northern votes. Jonathan is the third PDP president since 1999, when the country returned to civil rule.

The initial lackadaisical reaction by the populace to the announced merger was because previous attempts by Nigerian opposition parties to form coalitions have failed. Giving one of the first hint of optimism, Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director of the Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, had said "I get the sense that there is a serious push toward a united big political party and I think that the merger will happen," on the day the APC was announced.

The alliance also includes the northern All Nigeria People's Party and the All Progressive Grand Alliance, based in the country's South-East. At least 10 governors from four opposition parties met on February 5 to back the alliance, two days before successful merger was announced on February 7th, 2013.

"We are extremely concerned about the state of the nation and we put our heads together in the interest of our people to deliberate on what can be done to rescue our country," the governors had said in a statement e-mailed by the office of Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola.

APC as the miracle 'baby'

Today, following its unexpected victory in the much anticipated general elections of March and April 2015, the APC has become something close to a miraculous baby on the political scene in Nigeria. While many pundits predicted some successes for the new party prior to the election, very few people saw the huge success it recorded across the country, coming. Consequently, the party has not only replaced the defeated PDP as the ruling party at the national level, it has also taken over its majority in both the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives. In addition, many states hitherto ruled by the PDP on Friday, May 29, 2015, fall into the hands of the APC as the new governing party.

APC's Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election by almost 2.6 million votes. The party's victory was so much that Jonathan; the sitting president then, conceded defeat on 31 March, hours before the final result was announced.

This was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one in which power will transfer peacefully from one political party to another. Though it fell shy of winning a super-majority to override the ability of the opposition PDP to block legislations, the APC denied PDP legislators a return as principal officers of the National Assembly by winning a simple majority in the federal legislative elections.

Giving insights into the victory of the APC at the polls, a chieftain of PPDP, Chief Francis Fadahunsi, said the new party benefitted immensely from the leadership crisis that engulfed the ruling party prior to the general election. He also lampooned Jonathan for turning himself to President of Ijaws at a point "rather than President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria".

Fadahunsi, who lost the race for Osun-East Senatorial seat to the APC's Senator Babajide Omoworare, alleged that at a point, Jonathan was cornering all positions in the party to his kinsmen to the detriment of other regions in the country. "Right from the beginning of this administration, the President turned himself to President of the Ijaw rather than that of Nigeria.

"President Goodluck Jonathan sees himself as the president of Ijaw rather than that of Nigeria. All available positions are occupied by his people. During the time of Obasanjo and Yar'Adua administrations, positions were spread across the country, but in Jonathan era all are meant for his kinsmen. He is told about the lopsidedness, but believes he could manage it, but see where he has landed the party," he regretted.

Human rights activist and National Coordinator of Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), Olufemi Aduwo, said the APC won the general elections because Nigerians wanted a change."It is not because the APC is better than the PDP. Nigerians don't want to be taken for granted. For instance in Ondo State, when Governor Segun Mimiko returned to the PDP, he met some people who had been building the party when he left.

It was a suicide mission for the party to have allowed Mimiko to come back and take 100 percent control of the party. If you have a party that is disciplined and the leaders can read between the lines, the position of leadership could have been shared between Mimiko and other members of the party who have labored over the years.

Also in the days of former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, he disallowed the governors to handle the affairs of the party at the state levels, but when Mu'azu came, the governors were able to hijack the structure at the state level and were imposing or disallowing some to contest.

Everybody knows that when Tukur left, there was a lot of dislocation in PDP. Five governors left a party at a go and nothing was done about that. A former president, who is on the board of trustees, also left and nothing was done to bring him back. It was a big blow but people around Jonathan thought it was not. If you go to the north and you mention Obasanjo before any governor, they are not comfortable; they see him as a semi God and call him Baba," he said.

But the giant killing feat of the new party was not without initial hiccups. In March 2013, it was reported that two other associations, namely African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens, also applied for INEC registration, adopting APC as an acronym as well, a development interpreted by many observers to be a move to thwart the successful coalition of the opposition parties, ahead of the 2015 general elections. So serious was the threat posed to the survival of the new party by these two other associations that it was reported in April 2013 that the party was considering changing its name to the All Progressive Congress of Nigeria (APCN) to avoid further complications.

Also, the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance denied being a part of the merger and warned the authorities against giving approval to the new party. In spite of insistence by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, an APGA governor at the time, that he and his faction of the party are part of the merger, the leadership of the party insisted that it would not merge with any association.

The party eventually received approval from the nation's electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 31 July 2013 to become a political party and the electoral umpire subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three predecessor parties (the ACN, CPC and ANPP).

A peep into the records showed that the resolution that agreed upon by the merging parties was signed by Tom Ikimi, the who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of the APGA; former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP’'s Merger Committee; and Garba Shehu, the Chairman of CPC's Merger Committee. Ironically, less than 2 years before the party's historic victory in the 2015 elections, Messrs Annie Okonkwo, Tom Ikimi and Ibrahim Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP.

In November 2013, five serving Governors from the governing PDP defected to the APC. The governors who defected to the APC were Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.

Also, 49 PDP House of Representatives members joined the ranks of 137 legislators in the APC as a result of the prior merger of the smaller opposition parties. This initially gave the APC a slim majority of 186 legislators in the Lower House out of a total of 360 legislators.

It had been previously reported that governors Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State were also set to defect to the APC; however, both ended up remaining with the People's Democratic Party. As part of APC's giant killing feats in the 2015 elections, Governor Aliyu, who ran as a senatorial candidate of PDP for the Niger State East Senatorial District, lost in a landslide to the APC's David Umaru. PDP, a 'giant' on its kneels Today, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which was founded in August 1998 by members of numerous groups and organisations, including the groups known as G-18 and G-34, and went ahead to rule the country at the centre for 16 years, is preparing to resume its new role as the main opposition party.

This followed its poor performance at the last general election where it lost not just the presidential but majority of parliamentary seats and governorship positions, even in parts of the country hitherto considered its strongholds.

Consequently, the ruling party has experienced a mass exodus of its chieftains and members into the winning APC. While political analysts are saying the party's loss at the general election is responsible for the moves by the defectors, those leaving PDP are citing the unending crises in the party as their reasons.

Starting from Wednesday, April 8, 2015, about a week after Jonathan's presidential loss, the outgoing ruling party suffered the loss of several of its top members, who mass-defected to the incoming ruling party, the APC.

In Adamawa State, the immediate past political adviser to Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, who initiated the Jonathan re-election campaign led the pack of defectors. Also jumping ship alongside Gulak were two serving senators, Ahmed Hassan Barata and Mohammed Bello Tukur representing Adamawa South and Central respectively.

Also in the team of defectors were a former Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, former Minister of Health, Dr. Idi Hong, among several others. About eight serving state and federal legislators in the state also joined the throng of politicians seeking refuge in the APC.

In Ondo State, the PDP's immediate past National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, and his two wives joined the APC alongside a member of the House of Representatives representing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency.

Former Commissioners in the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu administration namely Princes Oladunni Odu, Ayo Ifayefunmi, Olajide Ajana and former Senator Gbenga Ogunniya, amongst other notable PDP chieftains, also led their numerous supporters into the incoming ruling party. A former Head of Service, Alaba Isijola and a former member of the House of Representatives, Abayomi Sheba, among others, were also among the defectors.

Similarly in Oyo State, PDP lost key members which included a member of the House of Representatives, Afeez Jimoh, a former member of the House of Representatives, Folake Olunloyo-Osinowo, Tayo Sarumi, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan, PDP governorship aspirant, Chief (Mrs.) Ayoka Lawani, Mr. Waheed Adeleke, former Chairman, Iseyin Local Government, as well as other party leaders.

The defection tales didn’t end in these states as stories from Bayelsa, Kaduna, Ogun, Kano, Katsina, Yobe, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and many more revealed more defections from the embattled PDP into the APC.

Immediate past National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, attributed the defeat his party suffered in the general election to lack of adherence to internal democracy. But, he was quick to add that the party will stabilise and pull surprises soon. Tukur, who spoke to The Nation on phone, said the party is critically studying the outcome of the last general elections. He said due to the imminent repercussions inherent in disrespecting internal democracy, he had been advocating for its entrenchment in the party for a long time regretting that the failure to heed his advice led to the unsavoury defeat the party suffered in the last elections."We have been preaching election not selection, internal democracy not imposition. Anywhere it was done, it will leave a bitter pill in the mouth," Tukur noted.

Another PDP chieftain, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, the Director-General of the Jonathan Goodluck Campaign Organisation during the 2011 presidential elections, who is also a two-time Senate Leader and presently, Nigeria's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, blamed the campaign organisation for the party's loss.

"From my personal view, based on what I coincidentally watched on NTA and AIT televisions, the Jonathan Goodluck campaign was centered on personality accusations where the President-elect has been personally targeted. PDP campaign office turned the campaign into a theatre of personality accusations of what happened 30 years ago which should not be so.

What is important in any electioneering campaign is to tell people what you have done for them in the last four years and what you intend to do for them if you are re-elected. This is my idea about campaign but I don’t believe in ridiculing my opponent," he said.

In the 1999 elections, the first following the country's return to civil rule, the PDP won a majority of seats in the legislature and former Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, was elected president. The party also claimed a vast majority of the states into its kitty.

In the 2003 elections, the party maintained a legislative majority and Obasanjo was reelected president. Based on the party's policy of zoning, in 2007, the PDP's candidate was Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, a Muslim and then governor of the northern state of Katsina. The vice presidential candidate was Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian and the governor of the southern state of Bayelsa. Yar'Adua was declared the winner of the 2007 presidential election, although international observers strongly condemned the election as being marred by voting irregularities and fraud. In 2010 power shifted unexpectedly to Jonathan, who assumed the role of Acting President in February after Yar’Adua fell ill; he was sworn in to the presidency, following Yar'Adua's death in May. Jonathan was victorious in the country's 2011 presidential election, which was deemed largely free and fair by international observers.

As the 2015 elections drew closer, the longtime ruling party found itself in a weaker position: infighting had resulted in several members leaving the party; Jonathan's administration was under fire for not doing enough to combat corruption or to eliminate the threat from the deadly Islamic insurgency led by Boko Haram in the northeastern parts of the country; and many Nigerians felt that general living conditions had not improved. Buhari eventually defeated Jonathan, signaling an end to the PDP's grip on the presidency, which it had held since 1999. The party also lost its majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives to the APC in the legislative elections.

Bounce back dream

But the embattled party is very optimistic that it would soon bounce back. Amidst heated allegations and counter allegations amongst its leading officials, the PDP says it is going through a restructuring process aimed at re-invigorating the party to return to its winning ways as soon as possible. But observers of the politics of the defeated ruling party think otherwise.

The uncertainties rocking the PDP took a new turn with the resignation of its chairman, Ahmed Adamu Muazu. The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih, also threw in the towel and as sources said the move was to allow outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan to succeed him. Both Anenih and Muazu, alongside some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) have been under relentless pressure from members to resign, following the party's dismal performance at the polls. Reports hinted that following an exhaustive meeting presided over by Jonathan in the Presidential Villa among key leaders of the party; the two leaders agreed to throw in the towel for the emergence of fresh leadership in the party.

Muazu, who was in the United Kingdom for treatment over an undisclosed ailment, sent in his resignation letter, addressed to the Deputy National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

Light at the end of the tunnel

The developments notwithstanding, some party chieftains have said there is light at the end of the tunnel for the troubled PDP. "We lost quite a lot, not only the presidency but almost everything in the elections. We have no option than to go back to the drawing board. We have to feel the way the opposition felt over 16 years.

"We must learn from our mistakes so that one day we will come up strongly and win all elections again. People should know that there is nothing permanent in politics. The victory of APC is also not permanent; one day, it will be the turn of another party in power not necessarily APC or PDP. I say so because Nigeria is not matured enough to maintain two party systems talk less of having PDP or APC in power for many years," Tafida assured.

Happening at a time when the APC, the hitherto "hounded" political organisation, that suffered untold hardships ranging from legal and illegal attempts to deny its registration, to the arrest, detention and prosecution of its leaders, as well as outright impeachment of its governors and deputy governors in some states of the federation, has taken full charge of the administration of the entire country and erstwhile PDP strongholds like Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Kwara, Adamawa, Niger amongst others, not a few observers of the drastic change in the power equation of Africa's most populous country are awed by the reversal of roles between the new ruling party and its troubled predecessor.