MDadmin
It was testimony to the level of disgust with the PDP’s hegemony in Nigeria, since 1999, that many Nigerians became very happy when governors of opposition parties, who ordinarily could be described as strange bed fellows, announced the emergence of a new ‘megaparty’, christened ‘All Progressive Congress (APC)”. I spoke with two of the governors who lined up for a photo opportunity, and they underlined their seriousness to make things work.
And for the sake of Nigeria’s democratic development, we must hope they succeed. Yet, there are troubling questions that I believe promoters of this new brand of “APC”, must answer, before they can cure the nation’s political headache.
It was true that the ACN and CPC had been meeting for quite a while. And each one of them announced recently committees to work on the merger issue.
At which point did these committees meet to do their work? Did they report to their different parties before the sudden announcement of the new APC by the governors? How and when did the governors become the drivers of the process?
Won’t the governors become an APC version of the PDP governors? What is “progressive” about Rochas Okorocha? Recall the ignominious role he played on PDP’s behalf during the ANPP’s convention, in the lead to the 2003 election?
And what about the ANPP characters like the fake Sharia chap from Zamfara, Ahmed Yerima, who is suspected to be a PDP mole, with all the stories about his plan to join the PDP?
Can such individuals be trusted to deliver anything “progressive”? And what will be the choice for Nigerians between the six of PDP and the half a dozen of APC, in terms of a patriotic platform of national development, away from the neoliberal capitalism which has enriched a few individuals, including so-called progressives like Bola Tinubu too?
And what about the vaulting ambitions of well-known individuals in the new setup? How will APC not end up taking the dead-on-arrival ride to the mortuary of Nigerian politics, in the attempt to massage the tall egos of many individuals who desperately want power?
There are loads of issues that will have to be dealt with and what is good is that the APC contraption is being cobbled together early enough; there will be opportunity to fine-tune things, before 2015, and I hope for the sake of Nigeria, the APC leaders will find the political wisdom to build a genuinely patriotic platform.
Nigeria needs an alternative to convey political hope; otherwise anarchy will takeover our country!
