Reformed-APC: A Challenge to Buhari?

The emergence of Reformed-APC is not strange to Nigeria’s political game- this sort of thing has happened before and it will happen in the future. That is the beauty of democracy. In fact, opposition within a political party in power, especially at the centre and from the National Assembly has been with us since 2003. However, students of politics know that the intense horse-trading and ploy that led to the emergence of rAPC have left the All Progressives Congress (APC) more fractured than united, though, no political party can be crisis-free; especially when in power. As elections approach, internal squabble and scrabble for ‘who gets what’ are normal in political parties and most common in expensive democracies like Nigeria’s.

The Reformed- APC may on paper look like a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term ambition, but in substance it is not. This is because; the rAPC hasn’t presented anything new to Nigerians. The fight is still about who gets what. Apart from this, other oppositions do not pose a threat to Buhari, because they are still disunited due to diverse personal ambitions. Furthermore, most of the opposition parties have centered their thinking and planning to Abuja; they have forgotten local units where the politics and voting take place. The unfortunate thing about all of these is that the APC has failed and is still struggling to effectively manage fame and the enormous powers in the hands of different interest groups. I know that President Muhammadu Buhari is not a typical Nigerian politician, but the onus is now on him to rebuild the party and let the members remember and redeem the promises they made to Nigerians. Chieftains of the APC should also endeavour to bring all aggrieved members on board.