All Progressives Congress

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All Progressives Congress
Founded6 February 2013; 11 years ago (2013-02-06)
Merger ofACN
CPC
ANPP
Headquarters40 Blantyre Street, off Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wuse II, Abuja, FCT
Ideology
Houses of Assembly
598 / 991
Website
officialapc.ng

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties,[6][7][8] the party came to power following the victory of party candidate Muhammadu Buhari[7] in the 2015 presidential election.[9] This marked the first time in Nigerian history that an opposition party unseated a governing party and power was transferred peacefully.[10]

In 2015, the APC won the majority of seats in the

super-majority to override the ability of PDP to block legislation.[11][12] During Buhari's first term, waves of defections led the party to lose its federal legislative majorities in 2018, with both Senate President Bukola Saraki and House Speaker Yakubu Dogara among the dozens of lawmakers that defected to the PDP.[13] Nonetheless, Buhari was reelected in the 2019 general election
, which also saw the party solidify its majorities in both chambers.

In 2023 general election, APC candidate Bola Tinubu won the presidential election. He was declared winner by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) polling 8,794,726 votes.

Formation

Formed in February 2013, the party is the result of a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) along with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People's Democratic Party.[14][15][16][17] The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi, who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of APGA; Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP's Merger Committee; and Garba Shehu, the Chairman of CPC's Merger Committee.[18]

The party received approval from the nation's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 31 July 2013 to become a political party and subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three parties that merged (the ACN, CPC and ANPP). In March 2013, it was reported that two other associations – African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens – also applied for INEC registration, adopting APC as an acronym as well, reportedly "a development interpreted to be a move to thwart the successful coalition of the opposition parties, ahead of the 2015 general elections."[19] It was reported in April 2013 that the party was considering changing its name to the All Progressive Congress of Nigeria (APCN) to avoid further complications.[20] However, the party name remained.

History

2013–2015

In November 2013, five serving

National Assembly, gave the party only 37 additional legislators thus giving the APC a nominal majority of 172 out of 360 Legislators, as opposed to the PDP's 171 (although some smaller PDP-allied parties held the balance of the other seats).[24] This was further confirmed when the party seated 179 members on 15 January 2015 when the House resumed after a long recess to finally affirm its majority.[25]

Among the party's first electoral tests were a number of off-year gubernatorial elections with the party nominee coming third in Anambra State in 2013 while the next year, the APC incumbent was unseated in Ekiti State but the party's incumbent in Osun State was re-elected.[26][27][28] Despite its short history, the party faced infighting in 2014 as several notable members including Okonkwo, Ikimi, and Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP.[29][30][31]

2015 elections

2015 presidential election results by state

Ahead of the elections, the

Houses of Assembly
.

2015–2019

At the start of the legislative session in June 2015, the picks of the party leadership and Buhari for legislative leadership—

Kwara Central) for Senate President and Yakubu Dogara (APC-Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa) for Speaker of the House.[33][34][35][36] Although Gbajabiamila became House Majority Leader in 2015 and Lawan later became Senate Majority Leader in 2017, their defeat for the prime position of each body set up a legislature that often feuded with the Buhari-led executive.[37][38][39][40][41]

The party did well electorally during Buhari's first term, with a victories both the

Governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom) occurred throughout 2017 and 2018 during an internal crisis that culminated in the defections of Saraki and Dogara along with the loss of the parties' federal legislative majorities.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51]

As an organisation, the party also faced problems during this period as party chairman

Governor of Ekiti State Niyi Adebayo became Deputy National Chairman (South).[54][55]

2019 elections

2019 presidential election results by state

After direct primaries where Buhari was the sole candidate, he advanced to the general election where he defeated

Houses of Assembly
.

2019–2022

At the start of the legislative session in June 2019, the previous picks of the party leadership and Buhari for legislative leadership from 2015—Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North) for President of the Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila (Surulere I) for Speaker of the House of Representatives—successfully won election to those offices as the party avoided large scale internal dissent unlike 2015.[56][57] The Lawan-led Senate and Gbajabiamila-helmed House of Representatives were much closer to the executive compared to the previous National Assembly, with critics even derisively referring to the assembly as a "rubber stamp".[58]

In off-year elections, results were mixed as the APC incumbent in

—in 2020 and 2021 along with dozens of state and federal lawmakers; however, political moves around party primaries in 2022 erased most of these legislative gains due to members leaving the APC.

However, the APC faced more internal leadership crises as disputes over the leadership of National Chairman

Governor of Niger State Abubakar Sani Bello in while Buni was abroad for medical attention, the national convention was finally held on 26 March 2022.[73][74] The convention mainly used the contentious "consensus" method of electing officials with allegations that Buhari and governors had imposed candidates on the party; in the convention, Senator Abdullahi Adamu became National Chairman and former Iyiola Omisore became National Secretary while Senator Abubakar Kyari became Deputy National Chairman (North) and Emma Eneukwu became Deputy National Chairman (South).[75]

2023 elections

Despite a contentious campaign period rife with allegations of misconduct and vote-buying, the

Governor of Borno State—as the APC vice presidential nominee;[77] the selection created a Muslim-Muslim ticket, violating an unwritten convention against same religion tickets to ensure representative diversity.[78][79]

Political ideology

Economic issues

The APC is generally considered to be a party that favours

]

In December 2014, the APC was admitted as a consultative member of Socialist International.[82]

Social issues

The APC support states' rights, advancing state police as part of its manifesto.

Bisi Akande, the party's presidential bearer and the CPC wing is less inclined to federalism.[4]

On 1 November 2017, Aliyu Ibrahim Panda became the first candidate under the party to declare his intention to seek the office of the president of Nigeria in the 2019 elections.[84]

Election results

Presidential elections

Year Party candidate Running mate Votes % Result
2015 Muhammadu Buhari Yemi Osinbajo 15,424,921 53.96% Elected Green tickY
2019 15,191,847 55.60% Elected Green tickY
2023 Bola Tinubu Kashim Shettima 8,794,726 36.61% Elected Green tickY

House of Representatives and Senate elections

Election House of Representatives
Senate
Votes % Seats +/– Position Votes % Seats +/– Position
2015
212 / 360
Increase 1st
60 / 109
Increase 19 Increase 1st
2019
12,931,229 47.38%
217 / 360
Increase 7 Steady 1st 13,392,474 48.31%
64 / 109
Increase 4 Steady 1st
2023
176 / 360
Decrease 41 Steady 1st
59 / 109
Decrease 5 Steady 1st

Gubernatorial elections

Year Number of states won
2015
26 / 36
2019
20 / 36

See also

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External links