National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has revealed how the party defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections and became the party in power.
Tinubu revealed this as he gave a lecture at the 25th Course of the National Defence College held in Abuja.
The theme of the lecture was: Strategic Leadership: “My political Experiences.”
The former Lagos State governor said events leading to the 2015 general elections showed that the people were ready for change in leadership and his party developed strategies and were determined to achieve the change for and with the people.
Tinubu said he realized that standing as separate parties; the opposition stood no chance in defeating the ruling party.
He said, “We had tried that path before; it led to defeat in 2011. A strategic rethink was needed, to attain the goal of ousting the PDP and placing Nigeria on the road to progressive governance. The strategic linchpin would be the merger of opposition parties.”
“Time is inadequate to recount the complex journey toward the merger. My firm position was that only a merger would work. Anything short of that would disintegrate due to a combination of PDP enticement and the internal pressures arising from the strong identification of many politicians with their legacy parties. An ad-hoc alliance would be put asunder by these factors.
“Our push for a merger of the old parties into a new entity carried the day. We would join hands to form a collective identity. The CPC and my party, ACN, ANPP along with progressive elements of the APGA formed the party. Key elements of the PDP would later join. For this amalgamation to work, it had to be more than an anti-PDP gathering. It had to present a genuine and positive message that spoke to people’s hopes and aspirations.”
The APC leader said the new merger then needed a theme of change that would resonate with the mood of the country.
He said sweeping out the old and bringing in the new became a priority.
“We developed the theme of ‘Change’ as our strategic message. The broom became an apt party symbol. We would sweep out the old, sweep in the new and work hard towards prosperity for our country.
“We fashioned a tripartite campaign and strategy message security, economy and corruption. We would drive these three messages home as if with military artillery. However, we have only our leadership and strategic hammer” he added.