In Nigeria today, almost everyone, especially the younger people are inquisitive about how government is run. This is borne by the quest to fully participate in government as the cliché ‘youths are the leaders of tomorrow’ appears as a mere consolation promissory statement because the ‘tomorrow’ is not time bound. Rather than waiting for the ‘tomorrow’ that appears vague, the youths now make themselves readily available to opportunities that will serve as ladder to governance. One of these opportunities is the participation in support groups.
Support groups are socio-political organizations whose primary focus is hinged on rallying supports for political parties and candidates seeking elective positions to enable them secure victory at the poll. Name any support group today; such stance is practically based on the above. As the number of political parties increase in Nigeria, the number of support groups also increase at higher rate. In fact, it is not an overstatement to note that every political party and candidate have one or more support groups. However, support groups are sponsored by political parties, persons seeking elective positions, NGOs, politicians or even private individuals who have interests in politics. As support groups continue to spring up all over the country, the emergence of Advanced Positive Change of Nigeria (APCON), a group of progressive minded forward looking vibrant professionals in politics whose vision is to be the foremost Lobbyist for Inclusive Development and Good Governance in Nigeria has joined the leading league. The group’s mission statements include to work assiduously with Government at all levels to ensure that dividends of democracy reach the electorates and indeed the Nigerian Citizenry, monitor and gather intelligence reports on the level of impacts of Government policies on the welfare of the people for maximum and equitable distribution of dividends of democracy, advocate for the promotion of good governance and inculcate its values in the psyche of Nigerian political elites, vanguard against all manifestations of Corruption, Discrimination, Inequality, Injustice and Insecurity in the country and to support and promote the aspirations for elective Government offices of credible, patriotic and integrity Candidates who are on the same page with us in our Vision and Mission, during Nigeria’s general elections. It would be recalled that APCON started as APPCON; the acronym for All Progressives Positive Change of Nigeria not necessarily as an appendage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but as a group that shared the ideology, philosophy and purviews of APC.
The leader and founder of APCON, Comrade Waheed Adebayo Adediran is an astute frontline politician with cognate experience and APC stalwart from the state of Osun. His intellectual prowess, connections and wide range network are some of the indices making the group one of the fastest growing leading support group in Nigeria today. Having participated and labored in many support groups, he saw the need to set up APCON as an avenue to make a big difference not just amongst support groups, but within the political landscape of Nigeria. While the activities of many support groups are mostly noticeable in the build up to elections or specifically during campaigns, APCON is making the difference of engaging the government at all levels in developmental matters capable of leading to delivery of good governance and development of the country. The name APCON has widely spread like a burning bush in the country, having its tentacles in all the 36 states of the federation, including the FCT as the national secretariat.
Of course, there was a change of name in recent time from APPCON to APCON after long time wide consultations with some of APC leaders, key politicians across the country and leaders of the group. The name APPCON that metamorphosed into APCON is still being run by the same people but with modified vision and mission statement. Prior to this, many people, including some members of APCON have been going around with reprehensible speculations that the group was formed as a ‘factional or splinter group’ of APC, bearing in mind, the name ‘All Progressive Positive Change of Nigeria (APPCON). Some even say that APPCON is a political party in disguise. Some say the group is being sponsored by some aggrieved leaders of APC who lost out in the political calculus of last general elections as an indirect way of heating the polity of the party ahead of 2023. In order to clear such speculations however, the name APCON- Advanced Positive Change of Nigeria came up as an independent group whose name, vision and mission statements, including mode of operations are not traceable to any political party.
Please note that APCON and its members remain core progressives. The group still maintains the spirit of supporting the APC-led government in making sure that it succeeds in delivering the dividends of democracy that the Nigerian people are eagerly anticipating for. It is therefore imperative to understand the philosophy of APCON. Philosophy as it is used in this article means the collection of the name, vision and mission statements as well as mode of operation of APCON as a group. Many people have been asking me and some of our leaders in APCON about what we are doing as a group. My explorative findings from APCON’s national page and some state chapters’ page show that more than half of the members of APCON do not really holistically understand what the group is all about. This is the thrust of this article.
Some two months ago, I was discussing with some friends the vision and mission of APCON, one of them asked if joining the group will bring money to their pockets, I smiled. Also some days after, one of the members of APCON left the national page. Then I immediately chatted with him privately to know why he left. Without prevaricating, he told me that he was not seeing what he expected from the group. Then I asked what that could be. He said he ‘taught the group would serve as means to get cash or government appointment’. Of course many people have left the group based on that perception. Same day, I was discussing with a fine brilliant friend who is in his 4th year at the University of Ibadan about the need to join APCON, he told me that he has been looking for support group that would improve his political inclinations and leadership orientations. He is now doing fine in APCON. Now, the scenarios above are systemic indicators of many people’s perceptions, purviews, attitudes and understanding of support groups especially APCON.
Presently in APCON, there are various categories of people based on their level of understanding of the group. Certainly, the group is an embodiment of intellectuals of no measures, professionals, doyens, politicians, to mention but few. Regardless of these, there are those who believe that joining APCON is an avenue to get the gains they carried over from other groups they previously belong to. After all, many of us belong to one group or the other and may have worked tirelessly there without results before joining APCON. To some, it is an avenue to advance their course, get connections, get tangible employment and meet cosmopolitan and well-to-do people. To some, it is an avenue for adventures, education and socialization. To some, it is an avenue for entertainment through postings of pictures, images, graphics, videos; comedy and joke stories that will make people laugh and almost derail the page from its stance. To some, they are members with indifference attitude. Theirs is whatever comes is okay by them. They are not ready to contribute anything not to talk of attending APCON’s meetings. To some, they joined the group to while away time. To others, they are on the page as espionage to monitor what APCON is doing and report such to their ‘masters’ or adapt same to their personal use. In fact, it was found through APCON’s intelligence reports that a member of APCON who recently left the group went to launch his own group using APCON’s philosophy and guidelines.
Notwithstanding, it is important for all of us as members of APCON to understand the philosophy of the group. The question now is where do you belong to in all the categories painted above? Understanding this will not only promote sense of belonging, but will make every member of APCON be on the same page. You cannot be a mediocre and hide under the umbrella of knowledge; your mediocrity will find you out. It will be meaningful for all members of APCON to carefully study its vision and mission statements and ask questions on grey areas so that no one will be left outside or on the fence. Maximum level of cooperation, participation, involvement, engagement and hard work in the scheme of works of APCON will surely be rewarded. For us to maintain the sincerity of purpose, cohesiveness, inclusiveness, continuity, the realization of our group’s vision and mission and to collectively engage in the building of new Nigeria, it is needful to have basic understanding of the philosophy of APCON.
Amb Olalekan Aliu is the APCON National Director of Mobilization and Strategy, writes from Oyo State.
ADVANCED POSITIVE CHANGE OF NIGERIA (APCON)
Advanced Positive Change of Nigeria (APCON) is a group of progressive minded forward looking vibrant professionals in politics across the length and breadth of Nigeria
VISION:
To be the foremost Lobbyist for Inclusive Development and
Good Governance in Nigeria
MISSION:
- To work assiduously with Government at all levels to ensure that dividends of democracy reach the electorates and indeed the Nigerian Citizenry.
- To monitor and gather intelligence reports on the level of impacts of Government policies on the welfare of the people for maximum and equitable distribution of dividends of democracy.
- To advocate for the promotion of good governance and inculcate its values in the psyche of Nigerian political elites.
- To be vanguard against all manifestations of Corruption, Discrimination, Inequality, Injustice and Insecurity in the country.
- To support and promote the aspirations for elective Government offices of credible, patriotic and integrity Candidates who are on the same page with us in our VISION and MISSION, during Nigeria’s general elections.
ADVANCED POSITIVE CHANGE OF NIGERIA (APCON):
Introduction.
Advanced Positive Change of Nigeria (APCON) is a group of progressive minded forward looking vibrant professionals in politics across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
MOTTO:
APCON ….Building New Nigeria
VISION:
To be the foremost Lobbyist for Inclusive Development and
Good Governance in Nigeria
MISSION:
- To work assiduously with Government at all levels to ensure that dividends of democracy reach the electorates and indeed the Nigerian Citizenry.
- To monitor and gather intelligence reports on the level of impacts of Government policies on the welfare of the people for maximum and equitable distribution of dividends of democracy.
- To advocate for the promotion of good governance and inculcate its values in the psyche of Nigerian political elites.
- To be vanguard against all manifestations of Corruption, Discrimination, Inequality, Injustice and Insecurity in the Country.
- To support and promote the aspirations for elective Government offices of credible, patriotic and integrity Candidates who are on the same page with us in our VISION and MISSION, during Nigeria’s general elections.
The motto of APCON, ‘Building New Nigeria’ is indeed a prophetic gaze into the future of our beloved Nation using the versatile structure put together by the indefatigable leadership of the Organization.
Since APCON appeared on the Nigeria’s political scene, the group has started building an Army of Patriot individuals who are ready to depart from the old order, to build the Nation of their dream where every Nigerian would be proud to belong.
The need to build a new Nigeria cannot be over emphasized, a Nation so richly blessed in human and material resources today is said to be the ‘World Capital of Poverty’
This negative and dangerous toga must be removed so that our beloved Country can take her place of pride in the comity of Nations and it is at this point that the intervention of APCON becomes invaluable.
It has been said times without number that the major challenge confronting Nigeria is poor quality leadership and the good news is that APCON has offered a credible platform to give Nigerians a voice and sense of belonging by actually speaking to the POWER THAT BE in the Country.
The problems facing Nigeria include poverty, insecurity, decayed infrastructure, poor educational curriculum and of course weak institutions caused by Corruption and Lack of Political Will.
A cursory look at the identified problems will reveal that these issues are the reason government is set up to address.
The hope of preventing Nigeria from going under, lies on the patriotic Nigerians raised, recruited and encouraged by APCON to really show the light on what leadership entails. These crop of new leaders and followers in APCON are drastically different from the old order because the paramount thing to them is to see that Nigeria is back on her feet again.
APCON in her few months of existence has established unprecedented visible presence in the thirty six states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and this is one major factor that distinguishes APCON from very many political organizations in Nigeria.
We make bold to say that apart from the ruling party APC and opposition party PDP, no other political organization be it party or mere political group can challenge the spread and consolidated structures of APCON in Nigeria.
It has always been argued that a good product will naturally market itself. This has become true for APCON because the rate at which people key into the philosophies and ideology of the Organization is second to none. This is an indication of the fact that Nigerians are really tired of doing things the same old way and expecting different results. The APCON has motivated these new breed of leaders who are not interested in what they will get from Nigeria but what they will do for their beloved Country.
When APCON held her first National Executive Meeting in Oshogbo, Osun State, under the chairmanship of the APCON Founder and National Coordinator, Comrade Waheed Adebayo Adediran, it is important to recall that much success was recorded, hence the decision to move the next National Executive Meeting up North, precisely Kano.
Today, the story is becoming more and more interesting because of the maximized efforts of the APCON Ward, LGA, State, Zonal, North / South and National leaderships.
APCON members all over the Country are eager to be part of the Kano APCON National Meeting, March 7th 2020. The number of individuals who are willing to make it to Kano are so massive that the Leadership of the Organization has to be firm on who should make delegate to the Meeting.
In other words, the message and acceptance of APCON across the country is spreading faster than that of wild bush fire. This is a very good development and it is indicative of the fact that the drivers of the group should be commended and in that order, to mention:
COMRADE ADEDIRAN ADEBAYO WAHEED, PRINCE UDEH-UBAKA UBA VICTOR, ALHAJI IBRAHIM ABUBAKAR DANBABA, CHIEF JETHRO AKUN, HAJIA OLADOYE, RISIKAT ADEBUKOLA, DR SALEH ALIYU JILLI, HON. UDO MBU AGOHA, AMB. ALIU OLALEKAN, DR SAM OGA, YUSSUFF S BAKA, OBIM ROSEMARY UKIWE, OTUNBA OLU JAGA, DR SARKI ZAILANI YAMUSA, TUNDE RAHEEM, HON. CHRIS DURA AONDO, PRINCE FORTUNE CHINONSO.
We look forward to seeing our members occupying elective and appointive positions in the nearest future where they will usher into leadership, the APCON ideology and philosophy.
Today, we can look back at the time APCON came on board and say ‘ to God be the glory ‘ with all sense of responsibility and faith.
Many political parties which have been in existence long time ago cannot boast of having structures in all the Council areas that constitute Nigeria, but APCON, a seed that was just planted yesterday has become a mighty tree giving shelter to ‘Eagles’ who are ready to effect positive change in the Country at their own time.
The journey of APCON has indeed been so good, so far!
APCON ....Building New Nigeria
