APC: Struggling to become a real ruling party
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) marks two years in power this week as the governing party in Nigeria. But the party seems not to have lived up to high expectations of Nigerians due to endless power tussle among its founders, the failure to quickly compensate members who worked for the epoch-making victory in 2015, and the persistent funding challenge.
Infighting and struggle for power
Powerful forces within the party are still struggling over the soul of the APC, which is a collection of members of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). The contending forces also include the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, popularly known as nPDP members who defected to the party.
The ceaseless struggle for power particularly at state and federal levels, it was gathered, led to the delay of the forthcoming midterm convention which responsibility has now been placed on the shoulders of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who admitted that various blocs were still struggling for power, relevance and interests in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, however downplayed its effects on party administration. He said, “What happened with the APC has never been attempted in this nation. And it works. But that does not mean that the different powerful groups that coalesced into the APC have given up their individual interests and pursuits….What is important is that while the struggle is going on, everybody is gradually finding his proper place within the party. Don’t think everything will just disappear overnight. These interests are still there and we are managing them. What is important is that there is no threat at all that the party will break.
“It is something the progressive forces have not had before. So, it is natural that everybody will want to take a bite by taking either the whole share or a substantial piece of it. But their impact continues to weigh with times. New leadership will come up. New situation will develop. In another two years, we will have a totally new situation and reality within the APC. So,