Tracing the Roots of APC: The CPC Merger Committee and Its Legacy:

On January 16, 2013, the then National Leader of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), former President Muhammadu Buhari, inaugurated the CPC Merger Committee. This committee was tasked with negotiating with the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to form a broad-based national progressive party. Subsequently, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) joined the negotiation. These three political parties, along with fragments of APGA and the defunct Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), agreed to merge and form the All Progressives Congress (APC), which was officially registered on July 31, 2013.

Nearly 12 years later, some former members of the defunct CPC have threatened to pull out of APC. However, the majority have resolved to remain within the party. It is pertinent to recollect the list of the original CPC Merger Committee members to guide Nigerians on the historical antecedents of the CPC and identify the genuine leaders of the party.

The original members of the CPC Merger Committee inaugurated by former President Buhari on January 16, 2013, were:

– Senator Garba Gadi
– Senator Tanko Almakura
– Professor of Virology, Tam David West
– Sabo Nanono
– Hadi Sirika
– Okoi Obono Obla
– Oscar Udoji
– Ife Oyedele
– Osita Okechukwu
– Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba
– Lucy Ajayi
– Bernard Banfa
– Engr. B. D. Lawan
– Dr. Haruna Yerima
– James Ocholi
– Adebayo Shittu
– Professor Buba Bajoga
– Osagie Ehanire

Three weeks after the committee’s inauguration, three additional members were co-opted: Abubakar Malami, SAN; Mrs. Adaugo Obi; and the late Engr. Joseph Rotimi Fashakin. These individuals later, under the aegis of the Joint Inter-Merger Committee, negotiated the formation of APC.

Okoi Obono-obla