Registration Of APC And Challenges Ahead

Editorial

After several months of twists and turns and seemingly insurmountable hurdles placed on the path of getting the All Progressives Congress, APC, registered, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, finally succumbed on Wednesday, 31 July, 2013. Four opposition parties: Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, agreed to form a coalition of political parties, under the platform of APC to snatch power from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2015. The parties involved have held their separate national conventions to transform into APC.

Several political heavyweights in the nation’s polity such as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of the ACN and Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), founder of the CPC, are the brains behind the formation of APC. The proponents of APC have averred that the new party, made up of progressives, would certainly engage the PDP in a tussle over who controls power at the centre. The progressives have accused the PDP of plunging the nation into the doldrums since it took over power 14 years ago.

The emergence of APC, political pundits acknowledge, is certainly a threat to the continuous dominance of the PDP in the nation’s political circle. In the last few months, the party at the centre had been jittery as APC appears to be the party that will signal the final demise of the PDP. Across the nation, the APC seems to be accepted by many, especially at this crucial period when PDP has failed the entire populace.

The hurdles APC crossed before its registration seemed insurmountable as two other rogue groups laid claim to the APC acronym. This made INEC to prevaricate over the registration of the genuine APC. The delay by INEC to register the genuine APC was seen as the handiwork of the PDP which felt threatened by the emergence of a formidable opposition seeking to wrest power from it by 2015.

However, the registration of APC by INEC, after months of several political intrigues, is certainly a welcome development. This is because Nigerians have suffered enough in the hands of the ruling party since 1999. It is sad that 14 years after it took over power, the PDP has thrown the country into the abyss of poverty, massive corruption, insecurity and crippling of the nation’s economy. Virtually every sector of the economy is dead. It is pathetic that rather than keeping pace with emerging economies of the world, Nigeria’s progress is being retarded by visionless and clueless political leaders under the PDP.

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It is also lamentable that billions of naira have been sunk into the power sector without yielding the desired result. Small Scale Enterprises, SMEs, factories, industries, among several others have folded up because of the crippling power sector as the cost of running such enterprises on alternative sources of power comes at a very huge cost to manufacturers.

We aver that the greatest threat to the nation’s existence is insecurity, which the PDP-led government has not been able to curtail. With the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram having a field day killing thousands of Nigerians in the North and kidnappers taking over the entire nation’s landscape, Nigeria is at a dangerous crossroads and needs to be salvaged before a major catastrophe wrecks it. It is hoped that the emergence of APC will provide a better alternative to PDP in the years ahead.      This is why most Nigerians have heaved a sigh of relief ahead of the envisaged titanic contest for power in 2015. With this registration, the coast is now clear and the battle for the soul of the nation has just begun.

Even before its registration, many political pundits saw APC as the only formidable platform to wrest power from the vice-grip of the ruling PDP. Now that APC is registered, we expect the party to rise to the occasion by perfecting its strategy ahead of 2015 to wrest power from the PDP. No room should be allowed for rancour as this will spell doom for APC in trying to contest for power.

APC must come up with a clear vision and blueprint on how to salvage the nation from its present quagmire. Its manifesto should dwell essentially on solving critical and challenging problems facing the nation. These include unprecedented insecurity, corruption, crippling power sector, comatose education sector, mass unemployment, endemic poverty, demise of SMEs, collapsed infrastructure, among others. It is certain that APC will endear itself to the masses if it can come up with well thought-out policies on how to tackle these prevailing challenges head-on.

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