APC’s Defections: A Chance to Seize Opportunity from Crisis
The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. The APC’s defection crisis is also an opportunity waiting to be seized. APC campaign billboard. Photo Credit: Reuters Soon after coming to power in the historic 2015 elections, the All Progressive Congress' (APC) political compass was already pointing to a gathering storm. In an April 2016 article titled ‘Nigeria’s ruling party at war with itself’, Premium Times painted a portrait of an APC that was paralysed by multiple internal crises: tensions arising from Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara’s emergence as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, against the wishes of party leaders; divisions over top party positions; and a fracturing of the party, stemming from power struggles and personality clashes, in various states. In December 2016, then-National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun publicly acknowledged for the first time that the party’s internal divisions were affecting “the mo