The PDP never expected the All Progressives Congress (APC) to become the behemoth that it is today. It unwisely underrated the resilience and resolve of the founders of the party to collapse their differences and face a common foe-President Goodluck Jonathan. It never imagined that the ACN which they regarded as a South-west party or, as they called it then, "Tinubu's Party", would later become a national party with such formidable influence within the polity. The APC, an amalgamation of ACN, CPC and ANPP, had gained a very wide acceptability, national acclamation and popularity within a very short period of its existence.

Deceived by the failure of the ACN and the CPC to work together in the 2011 elections, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was under the illusion that it was going to enjoy the monopoly of the political space till eternity. Unfortunately, the party was witnessing its own funeral ceremony at a time it thought it was immortal. Jonathan's men, who deceived him into believing that "there is none holy as their boss... ", are acting as the undertakers with Bamanga Tukur and Olisa Metuh leading the funeral procession. When Gen Muhammed Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Tom Ikimi and Alhaji Bello Masari saw that the Nigerian state was sliding into anarchy, directionlessness and was losing its moral balance, they decided to come together to save the sinking ship. The product and outcome of their efforts was the APC that is now spearheading the struggle for our national revival. These men must be commended for resolving whatever differences they had against themselves and making the national recovery a major project above their personal and individual aspirations.

Though the PDP attempted frustrating the merger and the registration of APC by INEC by sponsoring some phoney people to also present their own "APCs" for registration in order to create a registration dilemma for INEC, the electoral body, however, saw that it was all a game of "Esau and Jacob". It went ahead to register the authentic and original APC led by Gen. Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu and Ogbonnaya Onu and the APGA faction of governor Rochas Okorocha. Since the party was registered, Jonathan and his men have never slept well. And it is very likely, without claiming any prophetic power, that they will never sleep well again. Exhibiting obvious political immaturity and showing lack of experience to manage crisis situations, Jonathan chose the wrong time to cause disaffection and division within his party. Gullibly swallowing Tukur's vulnerability theory, Jonathan, himself a captive and hostage of power, mishandled the PDP crisis. A more strategic and calculating person would know that it was not politically expedient for him to allow the crisis within his party to escalate at a time that the APC was growing in stature and influence. But not Jonathan and Bamanga Tukur: their response and approach to the issue of the 7 aggrieved governors smacked of nothing but irresponsible arrogance that had caused more damage to their party and their ego. On his part, Jonathan could not stand or tolerate the guts of people like Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aliyu Babangida who belonged to the founding team of the PDP. He was not receptive to people telling him the history and philosophy of the party.

Since his intention was to hijack the party, the crisis provided him the avenue to ease them out by frustrating all reconciliatory moves. If it was not his original plan to get rid of these people, why should it be difficult for a man ruling a multi-ethnic state like Nigeria with all its problematic dimensions and conflicts, to resolve an ordinary dispute with just 7 party men who felt the chairman of the PDP was derailing the vision of the party for the nation. Jonathan's failure to manage the PDP crisis was a serious deficit to his capacity to rule a complex nation like Nigeria with the expected efficiency and wisdom. How can we trust a man who could not fix his problem with only 7 men to manage the destinies of millions of Nigerians that are craving for national redemption. Every citizen wants to credit their president with some initiatives but in our own case, how do we glorify a president who is tolerating the excesses of his party chairman because he claimed to be the only one that can ensure the invulnerability of the president? Should it be the chairman of a party that should be protecting the president of a nation or the other way round? The simple truth is that Jonathan's desperation for his party ticket in 2015 has exposed him to all sorts of ridiculous manipulations by his aides. The man could no longer decipher truth from falsehood and sycophants from loyalists. It is a very dangerous ambition that makes the president of a nation to expose himself to admonitions from every Tom, Dick and Harry whose intentions and love for the president are far from being noble.

The APC was too swift to appropriate the loss of PDP to its advantage. The APC leaders saw the crack in the PDP and decided to move in fast by lobbying the 7 aggrieved governors popularly known as G7 to switch to APC. They went to Rivers, moved to Kano, went on another pilgrimage to Sokoto before journeying to Kwara. Their next trips took them to Niger, Jigawa and Adamawa. All these efforts were not in vain as 5 of the 7 governors had since joined the APC with the other two keeping their joker to their chests. Those who moved to APC were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto state. Not long after the governors' defection, 37 members of the PDP in the House of Representatives defected to APC thereby giving the APC a simple majority in the House of Representatives. The PDP was so incensed that it quickly took the case to court asking the court to declare their seats vacant not knowing that another court had already restrained the leadership of the House of Representatives from declaring their seats vacant. According to media reports, many PDP senators and members of the House of Representatives would likely defect to the APC in January. Both Jonathan and Tukur are now confused as to what action to take against the defectors and how to stem further defections. The APC which they thought would become the butt of gossip centres and beer parlours, in and outside Aso Rock, has now become a consuming fire that is sending them scampering in different directions, looking for fire brigade remedy that can reduce the impact of their political tragedy.

Aside from the legal action, the PDP and the Presidency have now resorted to begging, persuasion and appeals to stem the tide of defection. The Senate leadership led by the Senate President, David Mark had been saddled with the task of convincing the about-to-defect Senators not to go. Suddenly, Tukur and Jonathan have realised that a political party is an institution and not a village association. Why should two men appropriate the structure of a political institution by running it as if it is their personal estate and creating the impression that other members of the party are irrelevant? Why did it have to take the defections of party members for Tukur and Jonathan to realise that a political party is part of a political process that is system-driven and should not be manipulated in order to protect the ambitions of certain individuals? The defections are a serious embarrassment to the PDP leadership hence its desperate attempt to nip subsequent ones in the bud. The picture of grim over the collapsing PDP was well captured in this graphic lamentation by one of the founding members of the party, Alhaji Sule lamido, Governor of Jigawa state: "We are today witnessing the de-construction of what appears to be the final collapse of our dear party, the PDP, under the inept and imbecile National Working Committee (NWC) led by Bamanga Tukur... I am short of words to express my pain. It is agonizing to see the party built in every home, in every village, town and cities all over Nigeria with lots of sacrifice, being destroyed."

The response of Jonathan's men, those who pushed their oga to his present predicament, was a consoling prophecy, nay prayer, or better still, a curse ; that the APC will soon collapse. Let us listen to the Doyin Okupe rhapsody: "The APC boat is destined for the Red Sea and in fact, I remember that when we went to Israel, we prayed to God to remove all the people troubling Nigeria. So, by what is happening now, I believe that God is working quietly to gather these people for destruction. By the time Jonathan defeats those giants, God will take all the glory and people will know that the APC is heading for failure." When a man with no antecedents for prophetic expertise begins to revel in spiritual anecdotes and allusions about their activities while on pilgrimage to Israel, and concludes that the exodus of PDP members to APC was a collection for destruction by God, such a man is suffering from pilgrimage fatigue, prognostication illiteracy and heretic delusion. All these are serious ailments that only God himself can 'rectify'.

But the APC needs to be very careful so that Okupe's wishful thinking will not end up haunting the Party. It is a good thing that disenchanted and frustrated PDP members are flocking the APC because it is convenient for them. I am only worried about the post-storm debris and how to manage this sudden convergence of the assorted; those who are defecting are coming with their own aspirations and ambitions which the party leadership has to align with those of the original members. We are in a very critical stage of a strange struggle against political principalities and everybody must be ready to sacrifice personal political ambition for our national survival. This is not the time to be rigid about ambitions but a time to offer oneself for a liberation battle. We are under siege by a power-drunk bunch that is not prepared to sacrifice anything for national stability. If those in APC, including the defectors, begin to engage in power war because of political offices, where then is the justification for the vilification of the PDP? The beauty of having a party like APC as a viable alternative to the PDP can only manifest in the willingness of the leadership of the APC to jettison their individual aspirations for our national revival.

The desperation for membership should not turn APC into a political dump site where just anybody having a grudge against Jonathan or Tukur would run to in order to settle a score. It is exciting seeing the PDP depleted but let those who are coming to the APC know that the sharing of the spoils of war can only come after the battle must have been won and lost. At this stage, both old and new members must be ready to make concessions, trade positions, reach some compromises, offer some sacrifices and operate on consensus. The real spoils of war can only come when the jackals in power have been pursued to the bush where they naturally belong. The APC cannot savor the euphoria of its triumph until the PDP has been finally laid to rest.

- Dr. Thomas teaches History at the Lagos State University (LASU)-, Ojo.