By Chukwuemeka Eze
Right from the 1960s, both the ruling and opposition parties are always at loggerheads. The opposition parties are treated with great contempt by the ruling parties and vice versa. Members of opposition parties that join forces with the ruling parties are labeled as traitors and can even be demonized. Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), formed by Herbert Macaulay in 1923 became the first political party to emerge in Nigeria during British colonial rule. Since 1960, Nigeria has evolved in its political development.
Between 1960 and 1966, there was a parliamentary system of government in place. Nigeria’s first republic (1960-1966) was cut short when the military staged a coup on January 15, 1966 accusing the leaders of corruption. Between 1966 and 1979, successive military regimes steered the nation’s ship. Thus, in 1979, General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd), relinquished power to a democratically elected President in the person of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
Nigeria’s second republic (1979-1983), ended abruptly when the military junta led by General Muhammudu Buhari (retd) took over the reins of power on December 31, 1983. His successor, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd), initiated the aborted third republic that collapsed due to the annulment of the June 12, 1993, elections believed to have been won by business mogul, MKO Abiola. The country was engulfed in serious political instability that forced Babangida out of power on August 27, 1993.
Babangida set up an Interim National Government (ING) led by Chief Ernest Shonekan. The ING barely lasted for 82 days before General Abacha seized back power and ruled till his sudden death on June 8, 1998. His successor, General Abdulsalami Abubarkar (retd), ushered in the fourth republic in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo as President of Nigeria. Since 1999, Nigeria has been enjoying uninterrupted democracy.
The History of Opposition Politics in Nigeria
The first party to assume the role of an opposition party was the Action Group (AG) led by Obafemi Awolowo in the first republic. The political intrigues during that era weakened the AG that held sway in the South West. Eventually, the politics of intolerance, suspicion and bitterness among the major political parties prompted the military to intervene in Nigerian politics on January 15, 1966. The successor political party to the defunct AG, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) served as the main opposition party in the second republic. The second republic collapsed largely due to the alleged mismanagement of the economy, widespread corruption and massive electoral fraud witnessed during the 1983 general elections. Two major political parties emerged as the opposition parties when Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999. The Alliance for Democracy (AD) was the strongest party in South West, while the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) had strong presence in Northern Nigeria. Over the years, ANPP continued to witness internal crisis that really weakened its performance as a political party especially as an opposition to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Prior to the emergence of All Progressive Congress (APC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) served as the most recognizable opposition party in Nigeria. Generally, Nigeria’s political parties have been plagued by suspensions and expulsions of party members, cross carpeting particularly prior to elections and deep divisions and factions that have manifested sometimes in violent conflicts. Again, intra-party violent conflicts have been particularly heightened during election periods because of the imposition of favoured and dubious consensus and the swapping of nominated candidates by party chieftains. The absence of equalitarian platforms and the subversion of the will of ordinary party members and delegates in party primaries, have grieved several party leaders and members and underlined numerous defections and cross-carpeting.
History of Military Intervention in the Politics of Nigeria
The clash of the titans (Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola) over the control of Western region and the inability of the NPC-led government to provide good governance prompted some young military officers spearheaded by Major Chukwuemeka Nzeogwu to instigate a coup d’e tat that ended the first republic on January 15, 1966. The military institution produced a new set of the political class as the country was ruled by various military regimes namely: General Aguiyi Ironsi (1966); General Gowon (1967-1975); General Murtala Muhammed (1975-1976); General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-1979); General Muhammudu Buhari (1984-1985); General Ibrahim Babaginda (1985-1993); General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), and General Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998-1999).
History of Formation and Merging Of Political Parties in Nigeria
I will like to examine at this juncture the past efforts in formation and regrouping of political parties in the second, third and fourth Republics to enable us appreciate why the formation of APC was not only unique but impactful in the annals of political movements in Nigeria.
Right from the first Republic of Nigeria and to the emergence of APC in 2013 series but futile attempts have been made to merge various political parties in order to unseat the political party in power but none of such efforts in the past had yielded any positive impact.
In this regard, the following experiences come to play.
First serious attempt to midwife a union of political parties was made during the second Republic when the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) in conjunction with a coalition of several smaller groups: the National Union Council for Understanding (NUCU) led by Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, Club 19, the Committee for National Unity, and the Progressive Front came into existence.
This first attempt of forming a union of political parties failed during the convention of the NPP which was held in November 1978 where the southern members refused to make Waziri both the Chairman and the Presidential candidate which prompted Waziri to quit the party and created the Great Nigerian People’s Party (GNPP).
At a hastily assembled second convention, Dr. Nnmandi Azikiwe, the most popular Igbo politician and former leader of the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), was chosen as the NPP presidential candidate.
Another serious attempt at formation of an alliance amongst political parties in Nigeria was mooted after the 1979 elections when NPP formed an alliance with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of Shehu Shagari that had majority votes but couldn’t have the desired majority in the National Assembly to govern the nation without having a hitch. This was the alliance that brought the Igbos closer to governance in Nigeria after the collapse of the first Republic as they were provided cabinet jobs and diplomatic appointments. This union came to an abrupt end when President Shagari in 1981disssolved the union to enable only the NPN members to govern the nation without any member of other political parties participating in governance of the country. This was a result of increasing demands by Azikiwe for his party.
All political parties in the second Republic were dissolved in 1983 when the military, led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari took over the civilian government in 1984. It also suspended sections of the 1979 Constitution, namely those guaranteeing such democratic features as free elections and political parties and such fundamental individual rights as due process and habeas corpus.
The Making of the Failed Third Republic
On 27 August 1985, military officers overthrew the 20 month-old government of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and installed Major-General Ibrahim Babangida as president.
The ban on party politics was lifted in 1989. General Bagandida announced that only two government-created parties would be authorized: the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). This Republic with all democratically elected leaders (from the Local Government, State Governments and National Assembly) came to an end when the presidential election believed to have been won by Chief M.K.O Abiola of SDP was annulled by the Military junta at the helm of Affairs.
Attempts of Failed Alliance during the Fourth Republic
The major political parties’ alliance in the fourth Republic was the coming together of the All People’s Party (APP) led by Dr Ogbonnaya Onu with the Alliance for Democracy (AD) led by Chief Olu Falae. Chief Falae was selected to fly the flag of the Alliance to confront the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999 general elections. This attempt to unseat PDP also failed.
The Emergence of APC in the Politics of Nigeria and Upstaging of a Ruling Political Party (PDP)
The fact remains that prior to the 2015 General Elections, opposition parties had never upstaged any ruling party. The alliance of prominent political parties such as Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) into a formidable opposition called All Progressives Change (APC) marked a new era in Nigeria’s democracy. The 2015 presidential poll was the fifth in succession since the military establishment relinquished power. This review will examine the factors that necessitated the emergence of APC as a formidable opposition party.
The Emergence of the All Progressives Congress
For 16 years, the behemoth, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled the political system of Nigeria almost unopposed due to highly monetized politics, individualistic tendencies of politicians, incoherent party ideologies, and party defection, among several other factors. On February 6, 2013, the APC was born when Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties; the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), merged to form the APC (The Nation, May 29, 2015 has the full story of this development). The rise of APC was very significant because several attempts in the past to form a mega party in the country had been unsuccessful. APC became more strengthened after five serving PDP governors defected to the newly formed party. These were Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State. Similarly, 49 legislators defected to join the original 137 legislators in the APC. This new twist gave APC the cutting edge in the House of Representatives long before the election. On January 29, 2014, 11 senators led by former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki. joined the new party
Other political heavyweights such as ex- Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal (now Sokoto State Governor) and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, joined APC. On March 28, 2015, the presidential candidate of APC, Gen. Muhammudu Buhari (retd) defeated the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP with almost 2.6 million votes. Currently, APC boasts of 22 executive governors, 64 senators and 225 members of the House of Representatives (including both the Senate President and the Speaker, House of Representatives).
APC is clearly the most dominant party in Nigeria since the conclusion of the 2015 general polls. Using the elite theory, APC won the polls because both the political elite in the north and southwestern Nigeria worked assiduously to iron out their perceived religious and cultural differences in order to build a formidable opposition party. The political elite in the north believed that the region was edged out of enjoying political power after the demise of late President Yaradua and the emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 as the elected President. Jonathan’s re-election bid was perceived by northern political elites to be an attempt by a section of the country to cripple the Hausa/Fulani control of power on Nigerian politics. Similarly, the Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu -led Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) perceived President Jonathan’s body language, political appointments and policies to be anti-Yoruba. Besides, the party stalwarts in ACN believed it was high time the Yoruba nation joined mainstream political groove of Nigeria. The vice presidential slot given to Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, an accomplished lawyer and scholar from Ogun State was a clear indication that southwest meant real business. The propaganda used by the northern and southwestern elite was well received by the people from those regions who boast of the largest percentage of population spread. The emergence of Buhari as APC’s presidential flagbearer, who commands a cult like followership in the north, and his track records as an anti-corruption crusader and military tactician helped in polishing his image both locally and internationally.
Why Was APC Formed
According to ex-Foreign Minister Tom Ikimi in a joint statement read to reporters by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), it was stated thus, “At no time in our national life has radical change become more urgent. And to meet the challenge of that change, we…. have resolved to merge forthwith and become the All Progressive Congress,” The merger involves the ACN, led by Nigeria’s former anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), headed by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, as well as the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) led by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA led by Chief Owelle Okorocha
President Muhammadu Buhari gave the details of the emergence of the APC and he stated that: “At one point, we in the four former opposition parties, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), came to the painful realisation that there was no way we could defeat the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as separate entities without coming together as a united force. So, having agreed to come together, we decided to set up committees to look into how we can best merge to form a formidable opposition party. After that, each of the four parties developed the terms of reference for the committees on the modalities of the negotiations for the merger.
“We, however, made it clear that none of the committees has the power to take any final decision on the merger. Their work was mainly to discuss with their party members and report the outcome of the discussion to the leadership of their parties. The understanding was that the final decision regarding how to go about the merger would be made by the executives of each of the merging parties. We wanted to make the process as democratic as possible.”
“We eventually succeeded in coming together. It was a major sacrifice made by the leadership of the respective political parties. And the significance of this event was underscored by the fact that the future of Nigeria was tied to it. “I always wonder what would have been the political, economic and security consequences to the country without the merger of the old opposition parties and seizing political power from the ruling PDP democratically.
“I wonder how many people have taken the time to reflect on this development and make projections as to what could have happened if the opposition had failed to come together to take away power from PDP.”
“Fortunately, we have been able to reverse this downward slide in such a short period of time, even under more challenging circumstances from 20I5 to date.
* Excerpt of a PAPER PRESENTED BY CHIEF EZE CHUKWUEMEKA EZE AN APC CHIEFTAIN ON 6TH DECEMBER, 2020 ON THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF AMAECHI VANGUARD, OBIO AKPOR CHAPTER, RIVERS STATE
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