All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party, is going through reforms process under the leadership of national chairman, His Excellency, Dr. Abdullah Umar Ganduje, a former governor of Kano state, Nigeria.
Yuccee Uwah, Head of West Africa Bureau writes on reforms and other dynamics in the APC.
August 3, 2023, marked a new dawn in history of Nigeria’s ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), with the inauguration of new national working committee (NWC) of the party at Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Abuja, Nigeria.
The APC leadership headed by the national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje had its job cut out for them as it promised to hit the ground running, with the overarching vision of the party. First, the event was an opportunity for the APC chairman to unveil his team’s vision of reinvigorating Nigeria’s ruling party to deliver services to her members and Nigerians.
In a remark, Ganduje gave with a firm commitment listed the task ahead of him to include. uniting APC to become a truly united party and family; advancing and deepening democracy in Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy and consolidation of gains achieved by APC in the 2023 General Elections.
The APC won the presidential election with its candidate, President Bola Tinubu declared winner by the election management body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and was later affirmed by the country’s Supreme Court on October 26, 2023, in a legal challenge brought by leading opposition presidential candidates, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP).
Dr. Ganduje, the APC helmsman, the NEC under his watch is poised to take the party to new heights in its efforts towards strengthening the nation’s democracy through promotion of robust engagement among members, creating outreach to expand its membership base as well as opportunities for members to share idea on governance in Nigeria. ongoing dispensation.
While noting that it an honor and privilege to lead this APC at this crucial time in Nigeria’s political development, he reiterated that the task of building a strong democratic Nigeria is pivotal and achievable.
He thanked the leaders of the party including President Bola Tinubu, vice president, Kashim Shettima, and other top elected leaders of the party in the executive and legislature branch.
“Our main focus will be promoting party unity, defending and increasing the number of executive and legislative seats, we currently hold.”
“Under my watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to with a deliberate policy to engage in wider consultations and making the party functional….”
While he reaffirmed strong commitment of NEC under his leadership to undertake wide reaching reforms aimed at making delivers value to the people of Nigeria.
“We all agreed that we must unite our members to achieve support for our government to respond adequately, urgently and assertively” to the challenges that Nigerians confront on a daily basis. The challenges include unemployment, poverty, insecurity, social cohesion, and the rising cost of living.”
He promised that the party will prioritize internal democracy which is bedrock of stable democratic culture in APC.
Political insiders who spoke to Korea Post in Abuja, Nigeria the view that the current APC leadership under Dr. Ganduje’s watch have ample opportunity to rejuvenate democratic credentials within the ruling party through promoting inclusive participation of members in decision making process; expanding space for women and youths as well as persons with disability (PWD), and other marginalized groups to play active roles in the party. In addition, they harped on the unity of purpose as an active ingredients for sustenance of current momentum for success in the APC.
APC was formed as collation of four legacy political parties in 2013, in the run up to the 2015, and the party went on to win the presidential election through its standard bearer, former president Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army general and military head of state who ruled Nigeria from December 31, 1983, to August 17, 1985, when he toppled in a bloodless by General Ibrahim Babangida. At the dawn of civilian rule in May 1999, Buhari joined politics and contested in three previous election but was elected in 2015, defeating the then incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.
The APC has been in power at the presidency since 2015 till date, with the current president Bola Tinubu who was elected in 2023 election held on February 25, 2023, nationwide. Tinubu was inaugurated as president on May 29, 2023, at a well-attended ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.