In this interview with Universalreporters, a former deputy Governor of Bauchi State and Chairman of the Congress For Progressive Change, (CPC) merger committee, Alhaji Garba Gardi, speaks on the recent midterm convention of the CPC and the fusing in of the party to APC, what it has to offer and why Nigeria need a change of government from the PDP’s.
The midterm convention of your Party the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC recently took place, as things are now the party has fused into the yet to be registered All Progressive Change, APC how can you describe the that occasion.
Well I see it is as a great success and a good omen for the nation, of interest to everybody. This is the first time a merger is being consummated in the history of Nigeria politics or democracy. There were alliances that were supposed to turn to merger but they failed, as they were never fruitful. So to have a merger which encompasses not only the merger but to the opposition parties in the country, with the opposition in the North, South -East, South -West, South -South, I think it is a great achievement for the leadership of the various parties that has agreed to merge and it is also kudos to Nigerians have shown support all over. It will be a thing of joy to know that over 90% of Nigerians have welcomed the project. What remains now is for the new party the APC to take over the central government and majority of the States come 2015. It may not be easy and even if we succeed in doing that, we should be conscious of the fact that there are a lot of expectations by Nigerians, therefore it is not only merging to capture power and shout change but change should be a positive one that will benefit Nigerians, that will go a long way to ensure justice, observance of the rule of law. It is unfortunate that for the 14 years that the PDP has been in government things seems to be deteriorating every day. Talking of security which is the basic responsibility of any government, the economy, even our sociology of course our values all over the nation has been compromised. So the merger is a welcome development.
You played an important role in the history making merger, eventually you were the chairman of the CPC merger committee. In summary how did you see your job, how challenging was it and how did you feel when at the end the dream of fusing into the APC was realized.
Well you know I served as a chairman of the CPC merger committee of 21 people and we operated along with the ACN and ANPP merger committees as well as representatives of APGA faction and DPP. At the beginning, infact the reaction of some people, those I read in the papers was that it was a still born child; some even said that the merger efforts were dead. I have been telling people and I believe to the disappointment of our detractors particularly the PDP that the representatives of the merging parties didn’t only agreed on the first day to endorse merging but want to be on to give birth to a bouncing baby called All Progressive Congress, APC, initially I believe majority of the people in the merger project have some doubts and were cautious thinking it was an impossible mission, that may not succeed because of the previous experience of mergers and alliances efforts in this country. But by the time we started, we found the situation as simple as ABC, I have been telling people and I will continue to say that throughout the periods of our discussions and even up to the time we finally held this midterm convention either at the managerial level where the leadership of the merging committees met or even when the 84 later 89 members of the merging committees met severally there was nothing to show that members of any group or at least that whatever decision that was taken by consensus were kicked against. There was no acrimony, infact even if we were from the same party that is the best that would be expected of the membership.
Now the three merging parties have all done their convention, what next.
Well what next now is for the party to present to INEC, the application for merger, to submit the application section 84 of the electoral law, has provided what is required, among which were ratified the day we held our midterm convention, that is the name, manifesto, constitution, logo, flag, slogans and a number of others. Then a letter from each of the merging parties signed by the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and forward to INEC and after that INEC will be expected to within 30 days decide whether to accept the merger or not.
What do Nigerians expect from the new party, the APC?
There are a lot of expectations, people are jubilating with the merger believing that if there is a change of government in the country, things will not be business as usual, and there will be change and am saying that the change must be a positive one that really touches the fabrics of the Nigerian people, a government that is fair and just, government whose main concern will be the common good not individual interest. The problem of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to my mind is that the party is more like a club, serving the interest of its membership, not behaving like a leader whose has the interest of the majority of its followers at heart. So it will not be business as usual if the APC takes over government.
Do you have absolute believe in the APC that it will not serve the interest of its members should it take over the central government.
Well, so far, so good, already the merging parties have governors in a number of states and their antecedents, their performance relative to PDP governors, can probably be the main guide of what will be expected of the APC if it comes to power. At least it is believed among Nigerians that most of the APC governors are doing better than their counterparts in PDP and with people like General Buhari, Bola Tinubu in the leadership of the APC, we believe that corruption, and other issues that has been the main bane of this country we have no doubt that Nigeria will be a better country.
