APC and the 2019 Challenge

By John Chukwu…

The New Year – 2019 – is here with us. It is a year which will mark a watershed in the political history and development of Nigeria – as the general elections are only weeks away. Thus, the political atmosphere is seriously thickening with the breeze of electioneering campaigns. Political parties and politicians are asserting the reasons why they deserve to be voted into different public offices. The media – Television stations, newspapers, magazines, radio stations, bill boards including the social media – are replete with the pictures, songs and campaign promises of political candidates vying for different political positions.

In the midst of this political jostling and fanfare, at play, is the onerous task of the ruling All Progressives Congress – APC – to win the forthcoming presidential election slated for 16th February, 2019. The road to winning another four years to steer the national ship appears rocky for the party. This is based on their glaring poor performance since they assumed office on 29th May, 2015.

It could be recalled that the party came to power with the core agenda to free Nigeria from the grip of corruption, unemployment, insecurity, poverty and the like. Therefore, President Muhammadu Buhari was positioned as the right man to fulfil this task. He was presented to the over 180 million Nigerians as a man of high integrity and discipline, and incorruptible. He was assumed qualified by the APC to right the wrongs of the Peoples Democratic Party – PDP. The hopes of Nigerians were high. They had the feeling that their Moses has come to take them to the Promised Land – a land flowing with milk and honey. Nigerians were in high spirits for the change the APC has come to offer them.

However, the hopes of Nigerians hit the rocks as the economy went into recession, the bloody activities of the Fulani herdsmen skyrocketed, the insurgency of the Boko Haram sect in the North-east geopolitical zone got thick, the rate of unemployment heightened above normal estimation coupled with the fight against corruption which appears to be a one-sided affair – as only those in the opposition are mostly prosecuted for corruption charges – among other issues. Instead of the APC to rise to the occasion and do the needful, they resorted to a blame game which sees them continuously asserting that the PDP’s 16-year rule is the reason for the challenges the country is facing.

At the center of all these, afore-mentioned, minuses, APC is seriously asking Nigerians to vote them in for another four years. In the kick-off of their presidential campaign, on 28th December, 2018, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, President Buhari stated that he has fulfilled all his campaign promises while stressing that APC’s campaign is based on three fundamental issues of enhancing the economy, ensuring security and fighting corruption.

The President’s assertion that he has fulfilled his campaign promises is very confusing to the common man on the street. It sounds strange to every objective and right thinking person. It leaves anyone who has the good of Nigeria, at heart, shocked, befuddled and transfixed. It is, also, an utter insult to the sensibilities of the masses. That statement is, in all fronts, not expected of a man who rode to power on the wheels of integrity. This is because weighing from the reality of things in the country, the President has not fulfilled his campaign promises. More so, those three fundamental issues – economy, security and corruption – were among what the party promised to address while campaigning during the presidential race of 2015.

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Recently, a report from the National Bureau of Statistics – NBS – has it that the number of unemployed Nigerians has risen from 3.3 million to 20.9 million – in the third quarter of 2018. Unemployment is one familiar disease that the APC government promised to diagnose and provide a permanent cure to. But, then, the story of unemployment in Nigeria is a sorry one. And taking a critical look at this statistics – 3.3 million to 20.9 million – it is quite obvious that the APC lost out miserably and shamefully – in their bid in their quest of tackling unemployment.

The security situation in the country remains sorrowful. The 18th November, 2018, Metele attack where 43 soldiers were killed and many others injured by the so-called “technically defeated” Boko Haram is still reverberating. The same technically defeated Boko Haram has taken over Baga and neighbouring villages in the Lake Chad axis of Northern Borno state. The gruesome killing of former Chief of Army Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, on 18th December, 2018, by unknown gunmen at Gitata community on Keffi-Bade road, Nasarawa state, while returning from his farm and the ignominious murder of Retired Major General Idris Alkali whose dead body was found in a shallow grave – at a place called “No man’s land” in Lafande community, Jos South LGA of Plateau state are tales of the dilapidated nature of security in the country. The very recent killings in Zamfara state is not far from this bad circle coupled with the various cult clashes and highway armed robbery in different parts of the country; speak volumes of the many works that need to be done in the business of securing lives and property.

The economy remains in bad shape. Among Africa’s top ten economies, Nigeria is not in the list. People are suffering to survive. The education sector is still in rot. The Academic Staff Union of Universities’ strike is still on without any positive sign of its end. The Nigeria Labour Congress – NLC – are threatening to go on strike. Civil servants across the nation are owed salaries of several months. The youths, out of frustration, have taken to different illicit means to make ends meet. This is especially evident in the growing rate of internet fraudsters commonly known as “Yahoo boys”.

In the circle of all these national challenges, staring us in the face, APC has started soliciting for the votes of Nigerians in the forthcoming election. They have rolled out their campaign agenda of taking Nigeria to the Next Level. They appear determined and resolute in winning the presidential election and the majority of the 36 states.

Meanwhile, as the masses are hungry for meaningful development and upgrade in the affairs of the nation, APC must be aware that they have an uphill task ahead. How they will be able to convince the masses of their ability to tackle these nagging national issues if voted in for another four years easily leaves one stranded in thoughts – bearing in mind that the common man, in the country, is knowledgeable of the failings of the party. This, therefore, puts the party in a tight corner. And it explains why they are employing every possible strategy to ensure that they win the voting minds of the masses again. Time is only what will tell if APC will surmount this 2019 challenge.

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