@Jayjay_stones: The many blunders of @ApcNigeria

by OluwaJajaYomi Weelyams

I will start off by reminding us all of what the APC is and how it came about because though it is easy to assume that everyone knows and remembers, I may be wrong. APC is the All Progressive Congress. The APC is a very new political party, barely two years old (since February 2013). That period was when the Nigerian politosphere witnessed the result of (secret) talks, consultative meetings and visitations. Indeed, what may have started out as a rumour in some quarters, disbelieved and even moved by some, became what we have in Nigeria (and maybe Africa) as the biggest opposition party. For the record, the parties that formed APC were the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and (a faction of) the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

The Reaction of Nigerians

Because a merger of this proportion had never occurred in the history of Nigerian democracy, Nigerians greeted the APC with goodwill and enthusiasm. Being Nigerians, we saw the APC in such a good light and received it in a manner akin to how an old (previously) unfertile couple receives their first child. We placed the APC in a class of its own, on a pedestal far higher than we could ever place the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Even though the ACN had always had the broom-in-hand logo, we saw it as a symbol of the good things to come, the answer to our prayers, and the hand of our ‘messiah’.  One of the reasons why Nigerians lavished so much love on the APC was because we thought we had had enough of the PDP, to a lot of us, our cries of help had reached Heaven and the Almighty had graced us with a redeemer. Another was because even though it was in infancy, the first word it spoke was “change” and that was exactly what Nigerians wanted. Though the party was still in infancy, those of us who were neither at the merger-agreement-signing meeting nor members of the party wrote the objectives we hoped the party would stand for, we had several lofty aspirations and strategies for the party but little did we know that we were building sand castles tornadic troposphere. We were so wrong.

The Rise of the APC

It did not take long for our juvenile political party to rise to prominence and of course, because it was a merger of four political parties of varying degrees of influence, we did not expect any different. The founders and pioneer members of the APC began to take their gospel of change to the corners of Nigeria. From the North to the South, the crevices of the East and even to the uttermost part of the West, the resounding gospel of change was reverberating. It was on the lips of the young and old, the male and female and in fact, it seemed as if even the birds of the air lent their sonorous voices to this gospel, this mantra, this doctrine, this dogma. It did not take long for Nigeria to witness the highest occurrence of defections, one like never before. Politicians of every tribe and tongue were ‘porting’, those with political relevance and those without alike. As they ported, they took their structures with them, the political landscape of Nigeria was changing and doing so very fast. APC was in the words of many, “a moving train”; you either join it or get crushed. Though the PDP may deny in order to save face, they became very jittery. Around this season, there was some turbulence in the PDP; some governors and serving members of the National Assembly were aggrieved with the way it was being led by the then Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. Because there was now an alternative and because (as it was said that) the leadership of the PDP did not heed their call to change for the better, personal interests (disguised as motives for the good of the people they serve) triumphed over voice of reasoning and other virtues that had helped them overcome similar challenges in the past. This led to the defection of five sitting governors and over a hundred members of the National Assembly. For some time, the APC made up majority of the House of Representatives. Alas, it was a done deal, the APC had overthrown the PDP. This victory was as short-lived as the memory of someone who suffers from amnesia.

The Undoing of the APC

For a while, Nigerians were happy that “good” was triumphing over “evil”. What did we know? It is imperative to note that almost a hundred percent of those who ported from the ruling party to the APC were aggrieved politicians. An important question to ask at this point is the cause of this widespread aggravation. To a large degree, the aggravation was a direct consequence of a clash of interests in several quarters; interests of the powers that be. So since a lot of these self-serving politicians could see no way of achieving their selfish goals, they sought a platform upon which they could. To them, the APC was this platform. The PDP tried to reason with them but their minds were made up, like an about-to-die dog, they had lost their sense of smell (reasoning). To this effect, they unconsciously purged the PDP of selfish desperadoes while carrying their baggage of venom to the new party. They received a hero’s welcome in the APC, why would they not? They were serving government officials with unfathomable amounts of money at their disposable. To the APC, they were assets, investors, stakeholders whose (stolen) funds would be used to propagate their gospel. If it had not been for the greed of the APC, they would have seen the downfall they were bringing upon themselves. How can a party with all these selfish people prosper? How can you have all these desperadoes in what place and not expect an eruption?

At this point, the veil over the eyes of innocent Nigerians began to fall off. Nigerians started to ask questions. Nigerians were concerned about the gospel of change they had been made to believe and the plausibility of its promises. A lot of people who bothered to think could not see how a party that claimed to be different could take on all these mercenaries of gloom, these messengers of retrogression and still claim to be progressive. Indeed, questions began to fly but answers were not forthcoming. The APC and their sympathisers tried to chant the mantra in order to solicit sympathy solidarity but Nigerians were no longer buying into their deceit.

Another undoing and maybe the biggest of all was that the APC failed to categorically state the principles by which they stand. Nigerians desperately wanted an alternative, any alternative (even if it was just a little bit better than what the ruling party offered) but were disappointed. Very disappointed. Instead of the APC to peddle gospels of hope, better life, better commitments to providing the dividends of democracy, workable strategies to defeat the scourge of corruption, poverty and other evils that have plagued us as a people, they went about denigrating the ruling party. They spared no effort in lambasting the government at every opportunity. They would take every negative occurrence, blow it into unbelievable proportions and use it as a weapon to attack the government. They would go to such lowly levels of conjuring lies and spreading falsehood through the media platforms they control and their other rumour machines. Nigerians wanted a messiah but here we had wolves in sheep clothing, hypocrites, lies, scammers and thieves.

APC As It Is Now

Fast forward to the present day, Nigerians are now wiser. An average Nigerian is now aware that the APC poses an even greater threat to the progress and development of Nigerians. As a people, it is now clear to us the once celebrated merger was just a marriage of convenience to seize power from the ruling government either by hook or crook. We are just a few months to the February 2015 elections and the APC has started to confirm our fears, to give us irrefutable reasons for which to doubt their credibility. In the last few days, a lot of major stakeholders in the APC have goofed terribly; made statements that are not just unguarded and crude but potent enough to completely kill the political party.

Let me start by calling up the statement made a few days ago by a Chieftain of the APC, Chief Audu Ogbeh, at the formal declaration of 2015 Presidential candidacy of General M. Buhari. The Chief stated in clear, simple and easily comprehensible terms that the Bring Back Our Girls campaign (BBOGc) was a creation of the APC. Even though this shocked some people, so many others were not the least surprised. As a reminder, the BBOGc was created in the wake of the Chibok Abduction Saga. Like the APC, Nigerians accepted and praised the initiatives and its organisers for standing up to speak for the downtrodden. However, the sympathy and solidarity Nigerians showed to the BBOGc dissipated when we saw that some people in the opposition had hijacked the cause. Madam Oby Ezekwesili on several occasions refuted allegations that the BBOGc was sponsored and did not shift from her position that it was borne out of goodwill and humanity. If only she knew that her efforts would be rubbished in coming weeks, she would have been less garrulous. Such a nice woman, one whom we adored; how art the mighty fallen? The Chief’s statement has come at a bad time and has been noted. He has shot himself, and the APC in the foot.

As if to make matters worse, our very own General M. Buhari, an epitome of uprightness, righteousness and incorruptibility boldly stated that he obtained loan in order to purchase a nomination form for his presidential bid. He may have had the intentions of playing a victim, one who is sacrificing so much for the love of the people but instead, he has raised several concerns in many quarters as to the motive of his action. The presidential nomination form of the APC costs a whooping twenty-seven million, five hundred thousand Naira (₦ 27.5M). The questions Nigerians are now asking is how he plans to repay that loan, who gave such outrageous amount to a man for such a purpose on loan, what collateral did the General use to obtain the loan and many more. If he wins the election in 2015, how much will he earn per annum and how many years would it take to repay such loan? Does he have a godfather? Whose interest will he serve in order to service and repay the loan? Is he incorruptible as we have been made to believe? I hereby call on the General to answer these questions.

There are many more blunders but I shall mention just one more. Why does the APC take after the PDP they condemn? The structures, organisation, strategies and blueprints being flaunted by the APC are mirror images of those already being used by the PDP. For instance, PDP decided to adopt the President Goodluck Jonathan as its consensus candidate and there are already talks of a presidential candidate consensus arrangement in the APC. The constitution governing the APC can be said to be plagiarised from that of PDP. The structures of PDP that were taken along during the defection season are the ones being used by PDP. The development strides and achievements taken and made by the defected politicians when they were in APC are the ones being boasted about by the PDP. Why all these? Why does the APC lack originality and creativity?

The Potential APC

Having said all these, I must say that the APC is not totally dead. There is hope for them but this hope comes with a price they must be willing to pay. They must shake off the dirt they have carried as a result of frolicking with garbage and position themselves for reform. They should preach their gospel of change to themselves, get converted by it, get baptised in it and then manifest the gifts of a new spirit. They should refrain from engaging the services of online bullies and go for credible image laundering companies that can win back the love Nigerians once had for them. Their chieftains must guard their mouths jealously and if possible, always read from or recite a script previously written by someone knowledgeable and competent. Time is short, it is ticking and if they want to remain relevant, the time change is now.

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OluwaJajaYomi Weelyams is a scholar who is resident in the United Kingdom. He is the Treasurer of a Nigerian Society and Black Students’ Representative of his university. You can reach him via email at [email protected] and twitter @jayjay_stones.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

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