Demystifying the Phenomenon Called APC: A Step By Step Insight into Deception By Ogunjimi James Taiwo

Ever since the All Progressives Congress (APC) was registered, we have been subjected to non-stop tales of a mystical democratic journey beginning in Nigeria. Admirers of the party chieftains, loyalists, and gullible Nigerians have bombarded us over and over again with tales of the inevitability of change in Nigeria because of the emergence of APC.


On closer inspection of the constituents of APC and their antecedents, we see clearly that their words are not in tandem with their actions of the past and the actions of their current flag bearers.

You see, when people realize the gullible nature of their audience, they spin tales knowing for a fact that their audience will swallow their lies hook, line and sinker. That is exactly the scenario between APC and the Nigerian populace.

It is easy for Tinubu to start giving speeches today on a so-called democratic journey beginning in Nigeria, it is easy for him to lash out at past military leaders, but the question is what was his own ACTIVE (emphasis on the word ‘active’) role in enthroning this democracy?

After the results of the June 12 1993 presidential elections were annulled, although Tinubu became a founding member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition(NADECO), which mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of the June 12 results, less than a year after, he went into exile in 1994 and only returned to the country in 1998 after the death of Sani Abacha to benefit from the active struggle of true fighters for democracy. So when we hear tales of him championing the cause of democracy, we must ask if some clowns are trying to re-write history. When he was elected on AD ticket in 1999, he promised 10,000 housing units for the POOR (emphasis being on the word ‘poor’), but as of today in Lagos state, a Mega city for the rich is what is being delivered.

The El-Rufai vs Buhari saga is another pointer to deception. An El-Rufai that had spoken so much about Buhari being unelectable and levelled so many allegations against him now sits at the same table with him in the same party and suddenly, everything seems to be ok. El-Rufai said Buhari is insensitive to Nigeria’s diversity and his focus is parochial. He claimed that in 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new, that against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law, that Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting, that the obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole, etc. The question now is, have all those allegations suddenly been solved? Has Buhari stopped being parochial? Has his attitude to our diversity changed? Why did El-Rufai say all these? Was it for the sake of the country? If yes, what is our fate now when the same ‘whistle-blower’ now flocks with the man he warned us against?

Another saga is the Tinubu vs Nuhu Ribadu issue. When Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was EFCC Chairman, he had a lot to say about Bola Tinubu. In September 27 2006, Ribadu claimed that Tinubu “is a looter with international dimension.” The same Ribadu went on to contest the Presidential election under the same party as Tinubu. Is that to say that he has suddenly been absolved of all ‘charges’? If the courts of law have covered it up, has the court of conscience in which Ribadu claims he has absolute belief cleared him?

The mother of all deceits is the 8-point agenda released by the party. If you’ve seen deception in the past, this one beats it hands down. The manifesto is filled with plans that are in direct opposition to their antecedents and their current actions.

APC promised to provide free education. I think that should go down as the joke of the year. In Lagos state, tuition fee was jerked up by over 300%, students pay as high as 400,000. A look at the post-utme exam written sends the message to us clearly. In some departments, only 3 people applied for admissions because of the hike in fees. In Ogun state, the early part of this year was filled with protests over the same issues of tuition fees. These lies just cannot be accepted; its an assault on our sensibilities.

They promised accelerated economic growth. In APC states, is the economy growing? Are the masses happy? Are the states not in debt?

When they talk about free health care, we need to ask them to explain. Is it in Ekiti, where patients carry standing fan to hospitals? Or the health care is so wonderful in Lagos that Asiwaju couldn’t have knee surgery there?

See, we know that with the current political atmosphere in Nigeria, coupled with the gullible nature of an average Nigerian, the possibility is high that APC will win come 2015, but we are just asking them to stop insulting us by selling these crap to us. We refuse to believe in self-acclaimed change agents who have done nothing to change their immediate environment. We refuse to believe in change agents who have not settled the problem of corruption amongst them. And we definitely refuse to believe in Change agents who will sacrifice their gullible followers in a bid to lay their hands on their share of the national cake.

Ogunjimi James Taiwo
Ogun State, Nigeria
August 2013.
Follow me on twitter: @hullerj or email me: hullerj@yahoo.com