Nigeria Voters Education is a non governmental agency domiciled in Nigeria, created with the objective of sensitizing the populace on their rights to vote.
Name of Political Party: All Progressives Congress (APC)
Headquarters of the party– Abuja Nigeria
Year of formation: 2013
Prominent persons that formed the party:
Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President Mohammadu Buhari
Alh Atiku Abubakar
Mallam Ahmed Elrufai
Mallam Huhu Ribadu
Chief Bisi Akande
Alh Lai Mohammed
Prominent persons still in the party
Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President Mohammadu Buhari
Mallam Ahmed Elrufai
Mallam Huhu Ribadu
Chief Bisi Akande
Alh Lai Mohammed
Brief history of the party
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), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The three political parties organized their conventions and passed resolutions giving the go-ahead to forgo their individual identities and merge into one big party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party received approval from the nation’s electoral umpire Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 31 July 2013 to become a political party and subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three legacy parties (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.” 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.
In November 2013, five serving Governors, along with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of Nigeria, from the governing PDP defected to the APC, as well as 49 legislators who joined the ranks of 137 legislators in the APC as a result of the prior merger of the smaller opposition parties.
This initially gave the APC a slim majority of 186 legislators in the Lower House out of a total of 360 legislators; however, subsequent political wrangling and pressure from political factions and interests outside the National Assembly of Nigeria, 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 (though some smaller PDP-allied parties hold the balance of the other seats.
This was further confirmed when the party seated 179 members on January 15, 2015 when the House resumed after a long recess to finally affirm its majority. The governors who defected to the APC were Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State. It had been previously reported that Governors Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State was set to
defect from the People’s Democratic Party to the APC; however, both ended up remaining with the People’s Democratic Party.
In the 2015 elections, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu ran as a senatorial nominee of the People’s Democratic Party for the Niger State east senatorial district, losing in a landslide to the APC’s David Umaru. The APC recorded a landslide victory in the 2015 Presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari won by almost 2.6 million votes. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat on 31 March. This was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one in which power transferred peacefully from one political party to another. In addition, the APC won the majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2015 elections, though it fell shy of winning a super-majority to override the ability of the opposition People’s Democratic Party to block legislation.
Again, in 2019 the APC won the Presidential election President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected Nigeria’s president, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after winning in 19 of the 36 states. Mr Abubakar, victorious in 17 states and in the capital, Abuja with 15,191,847 million votes as against 11,262,978 votes.
Political leanings and ideology of the party:
One clear learning point with the APC is the power of a strong and formidable party, which they demonstrated as opposition to unseat the then ruling PDP.
The overriding ideology of the APC is a level playing ground for all and sundry.
Where the party has its largest base in the country: Northern Nigeria
APC Triumph in the last General elections, by winning the Presidential election with victories in 19 of the 36 states, recorded 15,191,847 million votes as against across board.
The party won majorities of the gubernatorial elections, currently controls 21 out of 36 states of the federation, which includes Ebonyi, whose governor decamped to the party from PDP.
In the legislature, the APC recorded a simple majority, 63 out of 109 senators and 204 out 360 representatives.
Party Structure: The party is structured along with level competition and openness:
National body coordinated by the National Executive council (NEC)
State Exco, coordinated by the state executives
Local Government Exco
Ward Excos, which is the primary and grassroots basis of party membership.
Party internal mechanism: Liberal with strong internal contestation
Social work/Impact of the party: The party implementation a number of socio and economic developments programs aim at reducing poverty and improving livelihoods such as:
Conditional cash transfer
Conditional cash transfer
Conditional cash transfer
The special public works program
Party representation in terms of women/People with Disabilities (PWDs):
APC is driven by an inclusive model of governance, following the agenda of 35% affirmative action, the federal government working to ensure that the state governments are doing so; Kwara, Ogun, Lagos, and others trying to ensure inclusive representation.
PWD was considered members of the state executives and also legislatures
How do I join the party: Through your ward level and online platform.
