APC begins journey to rescue Nigeria, by Joe Igbokwe

Despite the initial setbacks suffered recently by the promoters of All Progressives Congress (APC) when some few rogues tried to reap where they did not sow, a major breakthrough was recorded at Onikan Stadium Lagos on Friday.
The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN held its last National Convention thereby sending signals to INEC that APC has taken the centre stage in Nigeria and things may never be the same again. In the next couple of days CPC, ANPP, and others will do the same thing and what follows will be national convention of all the merging parties and consequently the recognition by INEC of the great family called APC.
For records purposes it is pertinent to remind Nigerians at home and in diaspora that the journey to where we are today started before 2011 general elections. But due to limited time available then we were unable to make reasonable progress and the merger suffered a setback. Determined to make it happen again, the founders picked up the courage and returned to the drawing board.
Today, the process of making APC a reality is almost complete and we appreciate our great leaders who toiled, sweated, had sleepless nights, traveled extensively, engaged hours on end, disagreed on several occasions just to agree, went through excruciating endless meetings, set aside personal differences, and made Project Nigeria their primary focus.
May we never lose sight of the fact that the promoters of APC went through difficult times and painful experiences to arrive at where we are today especially in a country where the ruling party brooks no opposition and makes no pretences about it. They went through roads less traveled to get to where we are today and they deserve our applause for this feat.
They deserve our applause because the ruling party will never in their slighted imagination tell Nigerians that they will rule Nigeria for another sixty years. Never again will these confused and totally debased people mock the opposition that the PDP is the biggest party in sub-Saharan Africa . Never again will the ruling party boast that they know how to win elections in Nigeria even without campaigns and history of performance to show. Never again in the history of this country will a ruling political party encourage politics without principles, wealth without work and still remain in power.
APC is set to prove that leadership goes with responsibility in Nigeria . APC is set to prove that there is nothing wrong with our weather, soil, air, water etc. APC is prepared to prove that there are great leaders with great vision to make things happen here. The promoters of APC want to prove to the world that nearly 170 million people, with different cultures, tribes, religions should be a plus and not minus for us.
The promoters want to prove that our biggest problem is lack of quality and committed leaders to drive Nigeria to progress. Given out huge human and material resources APC leaders want to prove that there is no reason why Nigeria must join the emerging economies of the world. They are here to prove, if given the chance that Nigeria can rise again to take her rightful place in the comity of nations.

The change Nigeria desires will never come on a platter of gold. The real change Nigeria desires is not as easy as milking a cow to come by. It is not a tea party. It is not as easy as running down a hill with gentle breeze on your body. It is not a kindergarten show or business. The change will come because Nigerians desire it and will stop at nothing to get it. The real change will come because serious-minded Nigerians reckon that sixteen years is such a long time for a big country like Nigeria to fritter away.
By 2015 it would have been sixteen years PDP government has been in the saddle. Therefore 2015 is time for stocktaking, it is time for honest assessment of how far we have gone, and it is the time for honest self re-examination. By 2015 it will be sixteen years of working from the answer to the problem and no professor of mathematics will ever take us serious.
Joe Igbokwe is the Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Lagos State.