Will APC's Registration Signal End Of PDP"s Rule?..(CKN Opinion)

The cheering news throughout yesterday in the Nigerian Political terrain was the final registration of the All peoples Congress (Party) by the Independent Electoral Commission  (INEC).

Three major opposition parties in the country ,The Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN),The All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progessive Change (CPC) merged together to form what has become the second largest political Party in Nigeria.

The road to this “marriage” has not been an easy task.As far back as 2011 election, The ACN and CPC  tried all they could to merge before the election, but certain fundamental differences could not make that possible.

Both Parties went into the election with the ACN as the greater winner. The Party won five  governorship in five different States as against CPC’s one State.

But the need to serve as a credible opposition party to ruling party the PDP made the parties to forge ahead with its merger talks towards the 2015 general election.

Other Parties that were rumoured to have joined the merger talk then was the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) who was led to the talk by Imo State Gover,Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

This was scuttled with the division within the ranks of APGA with Governor Peter Obi dissociating its self from the merger talk.

Then came the real problem,several individuals and organizations wrote petitions to INEC not to register APC.Some of them alleged that they were the authentic owners of the name APC .

Some of them even went to court to challenge the use of the name .

This development put INEC in a state of discomfort and all attempt to get the Party registered was met with a brickwall.

All attempt to get the party change its name fell on deaf ears.

The crescendo was when the ACN,CPC and ANPP based on INEC guidelines decided to hod its National convention in accordance with the provision of the law .It was at those conventions that the party finally dropped its individual names to merge.

With all these glaring facts, INEC had no other option than to grant the request of the Party for registration.

In a well worded letter released by the commission yesterday, the commission stated that APC has met all conditions for registration and that it is withdrawing the individual licenses of the three Parties with a new certificate bearing the name APC.

To many watchers of the Nigerian political scene, the news is cheering.

It is a well known fact that the PDP has been a domineering party since the inception of the fourth Republic in 1999.

For 14 years,the Party has being in charge of governance at the Federal level producing three different Presidents.

The party also controlled majority of the States and membership of the National Assembly.

Nigeria was almost turning into a one Party State.

Credible opposition were in short supply. Some of the opposition parties were also regional parties.

The PDP remained the only truly Party in Nigeria. It stands over and above other Parties put together.

The Party has also risen above individual control unlike the ACN which is the private property of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,CPC is almost Gen Muhammadu Buhari’s Rtd  limited liability company, while the ANPP is in the hands of few serving and ex governors.

The three parties were not for impositions of candidates at all levels.

Asiwaju Tinubu for instance, solely determines who picked the governorship tickets in his party; it’s the same at the councillorship. Chairmen of LGA, State Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives and the Senate ..He personally selected the governors of Lagos, Osun, Ogun,Ekiti, and Oyo State.

His words were laws of which no one could challenge.

Gen Buhari also did same during the 2011 general election, an action that backfired and cost his party the governorship in certain States which ordinarily he would have won, like Kano and his home State of Katsina.

It is yet to be seen how, the three merging parties will be able to get their acts together to give the PDP which has lost a whole lot of goodwill a run for its money.

It is yet to be known how the Political Parties will be able to moderate the ambition of some of its leaders.

Will Gen Buhari be allowed to recontest for the Presidency for the 4^th time under APC or would he jettison his personal ambition for the good of the Party.

Will Senator Ahmed Tinubu allow for free and fair primaries to elect those that will carry the flag of the party come 2015.

Will this marriage extend beyond 2015 after the Party must have won or lost the general election?

Only time would tell, but the good news is that for PDP, the good days of MONOPOLY is over.

Just like during the 1993 general election of SDP and NRC, Nigerians now have an alternative to the party.

Election would now be based on performance rather than individuals or ethnic and religious sentiments.

Will the registration of APC signal the end of PDP, they always say, only time will tell..let the music PLAY ON.

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief Of CKN Nigeria