IN NIGERIA‘s political annals, one could hardly find an administration which has attracted for itself an array of motivated political enemies than the APC-led regime, each anxiously poised to settle scores with it. Confident in its capabilities to scale every storm, if it isn’t from the global neoliberal establishment, the regime has driven itself into a cul-de-sac.
If the actual political enemies of a party are those whose conditions of existence have been substantially worsened by the policies of its government, then one can’t find more potent and pervasive political enemies of the APC-led regime than ordinary Nigerians who were sold a political dummy, offering them what they didn’t bargain for; never expected that they would be increasingly impoverished by the economic policies of the regime, disproportionately bearing the burden of the regime’s neoliberal reforms.
Before the titanic battle two years away, to either permanently bury it in its hole, or get it out therefrom plots, counter-plots and a grand illusion have kicked off in earnest by the legion of its political enemies and its few friends.
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With the roles played by INEC in the last election, there is nothing on earth to convince Messrs Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi that the APC ‘victory’ wasn’t choreographed by the electoral umpire, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and the Supreme Court. Had they been more tactical in the 2023 election, the duo would have made a political mincemeat out of the APC. They, with their supporters, contemptuously regard the often-touted claim that the APC has a mandate to discharge as a ruse, reducing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mandate to the level the Shagari presidency was tagged by the Awoists in the 2nd Republic: a stolen mandate.
Some of the prominent APC bigwigs who laboured to actualise its ‘victory’ in the election, are convinced that they were only used and dumped, anxiously waiting to exact their pound of flesh. The few old political brigades accustomed to principled politics in the major opposition parties, inadvertently pushed into political stupor by the newbreeds of the 3rd and 4th Republics have scores to settle with the political upstarts in the ruling party.
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In less than two years, the PBAT regime has redefined national politics by its obsession to foist an insular sectional agenda on the nation, facilitating an unshakeable belief that despite ‘massive’ Northern input in actualising the Tinubu 2023 Project, the North has not only been abandoned, it is deliberately being destroyed, setting most of the Northern elites against the regime.
As the product of the misrule of another party, and the testimonial of the potency of political mergers, the APC shouldn’t be merger-phobic and a consummate political contradiction, ever fearful of its commissions and omissions, ever apprehensive of any drive towards the formation of a united opposition front against it.
If the actual political enemies of a party are those whose conditions of existence have been substantially worsened by the policies of its government, then one can’t find more potent and pervasive political enemies of the APC-led regime than ordinary Nigerians who were sold a political dummy, offering them what they didn’t bargain for; never expected that they would be increasingly impoverished by the economic policies of the regime, disproportionately bearing the burden of the regime’s neoliberal reforms.
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The relevant political question is: how would the opposition confront the ruling party in the coming elections? First, they could merge to form a formidable opposition front; secondly, they could confront the APC separately and disjointedly; and thirdly, a few of them could form covert or overt alliances with the ruling party. The second and third options would only entrench the APC in power, leaving the first option as the political desideratum to give the APC a good chase for its money.
Political alliances or mergers aren’t uncommon in Nigerian politics. In the 1st Republic, two major alliances were formed in the 1964 federal elections: the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) by opposition parties and the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) sympathetic to the ruling party. Political developments since 2015 have demonstrated the potency of political mergers, making a united political front a necessary condition to defeat a ruling party in Nigeria.
As the product of the misrule of another party, and the testimonial of the potency of political mergers, the APC shouldn’t be merger-phobic and a consummate political contradiction, ever fearful of its commissions and omissions, ever apprehensive of any drive towards the formation of a united opposition front against it.
Nigerians might not be necessarily concerned about the region of their president; they only need a transparently credible president from any region who could make their lives more abundant. Would hunger-stricken Lagosians, Ijebus or Ijeshas mind if the APC would be defeated in the next elections? Or, how did the Katsina peasantry fare under a Northern president? Would they mind if a president of Southern extraction would secure their neighbourhoods?
The advantages of political mergers include: first, rather than splitting and deploying scarce political resources ineffectually, mergers pool and deploy political resources more effectively. Secondly, political mergers would lessen the impact of moles in the constitutive parties dancing to the tune of the ruling party. Thirdly, they have a higher national appeal. Had the PDP and Labour Party merged in 2015, the resultant political party would strongly resonate in both the North and the East considerably improving its prospects in the elections.
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The merger-phobia of the APC-led regime might have prompted the withdrawal of the security details of the SDP national chairman because of the purported meeting of Mal. Nasir El-Rufai, retired Col. Hamza Al-Mustapha and a few Atiku loyalists at the SDP headquarters. As it was accorded a level playing ground in 2015, the APC isn’t ready to reciprocate the gesture to the opposition parties, underscoring its determination, even before day one of the Tinubu presidency to weaken the opposition parties.
Mr Nyesom Wike, a former chief of staff, minister, and two-term governor of the oil rich Rivers State and Nigeria’s FCT minister, must have been used to issuing out commands without being disobeyed. He revealed this commanding trait during a Symfony TV Programme, baring his mind on the last election and power rotation, stating that since a president of Northern extraction has served for eight years, the South MUST produce the next president for fairness, equity and balance.
From 1999 to 2025, presidents of Southern extraction (Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and Bola Tinubu) have cumulatively steered the ship of state for 16 years, whilst the late President Yar’Adua and former President Buhari ruled for only 10 years. Should a Southern president spend another 4 years by 2031, the South would have ruled for 20 years against the North’s 10 years. Then which balance and equity is Mr Wike talking about?
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Nigerians might not be necessarily concerned about the region of their president; they only need a transparently credible president from any region who could make their lives more abundant. Would hunger-stricken Lagosians, Ijebus or Ijeshas mind if the APC would be defeated in the next elections? Or, how did the Katsina peasantry fare under a Northern president? Would they mind if a president of Southern extraction would secure their neighbourhoods?
Power rotation garbed with balance and equity is for the political elites, exploiting and manipulating the fault lines of the nation for personal political goals. To insist that the electorate must vote in a particular way as Wike commanded is a grand electoral illusion.
Jahun, a commentator on public affairs, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State Capital. He can be reached via email@ aminuhabibu58@gmail.com
