Olu Allen
Let’s stop the charade.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) you think you are looking at no longer exists. The building remains, the logo is still plastered on the walls, and the flag still flies in Abuja. But it increasingly appears as though the title deed has changed hands in the middle of the night.
What you are witnessing is not “governance” in the traditional sense; it is a Hostile Corporate Takeover. It is a Strategic Foreclosure.
The Default on the 2013 Mortgage
In 2013, the APC was formed as a “holding company” for three distinct subsidiaries:
The CPC: The populist equity of the North.
The nPDP: The tactical rebellion of the G-5 and its allies.
The ACN: The sophisticated machinery of the Southwest.
They took out a mortgage on Nigeria’s future to buy power. But in the fine print of that merger, it almost reads as though there was an unwritten clause: In the event of a leadership vacuum, the partner with the most “liquid” political capital shall seize the assets.
Fast forward to today. The CPC defaulted when its “unifying spine” left the stage, leaving behind a disorganized North. The nPDP defaulted when its key players were either absorbed into the board or liquidated through political isolation.
The ACN didn’t just step in to help. They moved in as the Receiver-Manager.
The Liquidation of the Partners
This is how political foreclosure works: you don’t burn the building down; you just change the locks.
Look at the current state of play. The “APC” has become a brand name for the Lagos Model scaled to a national level.
The Assets Seized: There is a growing perception that influence over key national levers—the economy, the judiciary, and the security architecture-is becoming increasingly centralized rather than broadly shared across the original coalition.
The Bad Debts Written Off: Former power brokers from the North and the Delta, once “Founding Fathers,” now find themselves treated like “Minority Shareholders.” They are invited to the meetings, but they no longer have a vote on the board.
“Why does it sometimes appear that the pressure of the state is so directional? Why does the ‘anti-corruption’ gavel seem to fall more frequently on those who are ‘insolvent’ in the new hierarchy?
To some observers, it can feel as though the debts of the 2013 merger are being called in, and the political assets of former partners are being steadily reclaimed.”
The “Lagos Axis” as the Sole Creditor
The ACN, the surviving entity, is not interested in a coalition. It is interested in integration. Under the current administration, we are seeing the institutionalization of a specific political DNA.
It is a system where compliance is the only currency. If you cannot “pay” in absolute loyalty to the new Board of Directors, your political assets are foreclosed.
Nigeria is too vast, too diverse, and too fragile to be managed like a private estate. When a coalition consumes its partners to become a monolith, democracy does not die with a bang.
It shrinks. It risks becoming a narrow circle of decision-making, far removed from the realities of the Sahel or the Delta.
The Inevitability of a New Development
But here is the rule of the market: Where there is a foreclosure, a new buyer eventually emerges.
The “discarded” elements of the North, the “liquidated” voices of the East, and the “displaced” tacticians of the South-South are beginning to notice a shared reality: They are all politically homeless.
The ACN has won the battle for the APC’s soul. They have successfully foreclosed on their partners. But in doing so, they have left the rest of the country’s political class with no choice but to form a new “Investment Bloc.”
The same way the APC emerged from the ashes of unlikely alliances in 2013, the early signals of a New Convergence are appearing. Forces from the North, the Middle Belt, and the South are testing the waters, realizing that they must unite or be permanently liquidated.
The Bottom Line
So, don’t watch the “APC” branding. That’s just the wrapping paper on a repossessed building.
Watch the structure. The APC is dead. The ACN has foreclosed on the dream. And as the center becomes more crowded with “one-way” power, the displaced are already drawing up the blueprints for a new structure.
Because in Nigeria, when one man tries to own the whole market, the market simply moves elsewhere.
Allen writes on public affairs and advocates for good governance.
