WELCOME, APC!

Leaders of the merger negotiation teams of the four parties – Chief Tom Ikimi of ACN, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP, Alhaji Garba Mohammed Gadi of CPC and a representative of APGA, Senator Annie Okonkwo – announced the formation of this party at a news conference in Abuja, saying their next move was to register […]

Leaders of the merger negotiation teams of the four parties – Chief Tom Ikimi of ACN, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP, Alhaji Garba Mohammed Gadi of CPC and a representative of APGA, Senator Annie Okonkwo – announced the formation of this party at a news conference in Abuja, saying their next move was to register their decision with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Their respective governors had earlier met in Lagos to ratify the epoch-making move.
At the news conference, Ikimi read a position paper, which was jointly signed by his counterparts, saying: “We, the following progressive political parties, namely ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC have resolved to merge forthwith and become the All Progressives Congress (APC) 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…and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people.”
Ikimi added that: “The resolution of these issues, the restoration of hope and the enthronement of true democratic values for peace, democracy and justice are those concerns which propel us. We believe that by these measures only shall we restore our dignity and position of pre-eminence in the comity of nations. This is our pledge.” He further stated that they were expecting more parties to join the merger, and that the new party’s name was agreed by consensus.
Though many political commentators think that this ‘amalgamation’ should have come way back in 2011, when the PDP was decidedly at its weakest point, many still are of the opinion that ‘better late than never’. What this translates to is that, come 2015, there may be two major parties slugging it out in the general elections, a la America’s Democrats and Republicans. But then the major question here shall be: which of these two Nigerian parties – PDP and APC – will fit to be ‘Democrat’ and which ‘Republican’? It may seem that the one named ‘Democratic’ may well turn out to be the ‘Republican’, and the other the other.
Be that as it all may, the Nigerian ‘political commentariat’ has, since the APC announcement, become quite busy (online, letters-to-the-editor, radio politics, etc) proffering unsolicited suggestions to the new party. There is much excitement; there seems to be much hope; for there is so much desperation. Major among the suggestions to the APC flying in the nation’s political discussion spaces include the following:
BEWARE ‘LIONEL MESSI’: When the information of the merger hit PDP’s Wadata Plaza headquarters in Abuja, its rugged-horse Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, was quoted in the news to have said that his party will be spurred on by this action of the opposition. He said the PDP is the party in government now, and it is in the majority. He had added: “It does not mean that we want to be a party and that there should be no opposition. In fact opposition is a charge to action…If they have the strength, why did they come together, why do they have to come together? If you go for a contest you have the striker, you know Lionel Messi? PDP is Messi in that contest. They (opposition) are no threat at all…it inspires PDP to action. In that contest, tell them Chairman said PDP is the Messi.”
BEWARE THE ‘SENIOR PARTNER’: A certain member-political party in this merger may technically be the ‘senior partner’, but it should not aim to push down this seniority down the throats of the others. Even though seniority (in number of Governors, National Assembly and State Assembly members) is a plus, at this initial stage equality of purpose should be the guiding principle. Any reference to numerical strength (which may not translate into national spread) may cause disaffection if it comes too early in the day.
BEWARE THE ‘SPOILERS’: There is a particular political party belonging to some people known very well as spoilers. Already, some top people from this party have started dissociating themselves from this APC venture. The new mega party should not wait for them. They already have quite a few irons in Messi’s fire, and would try to have their cake after eating it. And even if they pull all their iron’s from Messi’s fire (which is highly unlikely), history is replete with actions and inactions of the same people to make even the most brazen to be most careful.
BEWARE THE ‘FRUSTRATARIAT’: In 2011, one of the member-parties of this merger was forecast that it was possible for it to win at least nine states, hands down and handsomely. But due to less-than-commendable internal party management and crises, occasioned by the influx of the frustrated from especially Messi’s Club, this party could only score one solitary goal. APC may be beckoning, like New York’s Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor; Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”. But it should quickly add: ’Those yearning to breathe free’ must arrive at the golden door a FULL YEAR before the next general elections, and that anyone who arrives a day later should not dream of aspiring for any elective office, and must wait for another cycle.
BEWARE ‘INORDINATE
AMBITION’: People of ambition abound in this mega party. Starting from the old guard to the know-alls, most of the leadership may feel they are presidential-candidate material. This, perhaps more than anything else, may make or mar this merger. Therefore, APC should quickly and expeditiously make its candidates known so it can concentrate on other things. Related to this would be the other crunch test of how the new party would ‘share’ states, especially marginal ones, among its constituent members come 2015.
And so, then, to the term ‘APC’: When we were growing up in the 1970s, there used to be a certain painkiller called APC (cannot remember the full pharmaceutical name). Long before Cafenol and Phensic, the elders would send us to the shop to buy APC for any headache, fever, body pain and the like. And APC was so ubiquitous that those who sold kolanut stocked it; those who sold cigarettes sold it; even those who sold sweets had it. And it did seem to work: APC was a cure-all. Will this APC, then, be as efficacious?
Finally, in reaction to this merger again, Messi Supporters’ Club has issued another announcement now flying in cyberspace: “After the much propagated ACN/ANPP/APGA/CPC merger ahead of 2015, PDP too would like to inform the general public (and general tall-fellow?) of its intended merger with INEC. The new party will be known as PiNEC. And the name is NOT short for Pain-in-the-Neck.
Goodluck Nigeria, again!”