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Nigerias main opposition party is holding primaries on Wednesday to choose its presidential candidate.

The All Progressives Congress is meeting at a stadium in Lagos to choose its presidential contender. Whoever they pick will be tasked with unseating incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party, who assumed power in 2010, after the death of President Umaru Yar Adua.

Five candidates are in the running, but there are only two real frontrunners, says political analyst Chris Ngwodo. Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president Atiku Abubakar have the best chance of securing the nomination of the party, which was formed last year as a coalition of the countrys best-known opposition groups. Buhari and Abubakar both have long histories in Nigeria. They also have political baggage, which the PDP will use against them, Ngwodo says.

Buhari commands support among people in Nigerias north, but hes also lost several elections and is remembered by older generations as an authoritarian ruler who was booted out in a coup. Some Christians in the south think hes a Muslim radical, but Ngwodo says theres little evidence to back that up. I mean, optimistically, this is actually going to be perhaps the closest election weve had since 1999. So if its Buhari, thats what he will bring to the contest. However, this is a man who has also lost three elections previously to three different candidates to the ruling party. His biggest problem is a perceptual one, a reputational one, Ngwodo states. Abubakar is seen as experienced and savvy when it comes to winning primaries, but Ngwodo says his checkered past, including his defection from the PDP, may be used against him. This is a gentleman, after all, who was in the ruling party and who was vice president of the ruling party," says Ngwodo. "Its going to be difficult to mount a sustainable critique of the ruling party, which he was a member of and served as vice-president in just a few years ago. So I think they have a ready, a very ready strategic response to that candidacy if he does emerge. The APC is a relatively new party and took longer than the PDP to coalesce behind a candidate. President Jonathan has been the PDPs de facto candidate for months. But Ngwodo says the delay hasnt hurt the partys chances. With the sort of name-brand recognition that the two main front-runners have, thats Buhari and Atiku, that shouldnt count for too much in their disfavor," he says, "They believe that they will be able to compensate for that lag, that time lag by producing someone, probably most likely Buhari, who has name-brand recognition nationally. Whoever is chosen will face a stiff challenge overcoming President Jonathan. But I think its going to be difficult simply because of the incumbency factor," Ngwodo says. "Its not going to be easy for the ruling party either. Im looking at an election that will be very keenly contested. A decision from APC is expected early Thursday morning.

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Nigeria Opposition Party Choosing Presidential Contender

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Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) more >

After disastrous midterm elections for Democrats, some progressives are looking to reboot the party by injecting it with fresh big ideas and already have secured the backing of powerful party leaders in their effort.

The 1 million-member Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) on Wednesday rolled out its Big Ideas Project, an initiative which calls on all Americans to submit issues that they think should be at the forefront of the national conversation heading into the 2016 elections.

Twenty-nine lawmakers, including outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and progressive darling Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have agreed to seriously consider the ideas and possibly incorporate them into new legislation.

The campaign comes after many progressives called out President Obama and other party leaders and claimed they failed to articulate a clear agenda before the 2014 elections, which resulted in devastating defeats for Democrats, including the loss of the Senate.

Democrats lost in 2014 because they failed to inspire Americans with bold ideas that would tangibly improve peoples lives. Since the election, weve been calling on Democratic leadership to remold their party as the party of big ideas especially bold, economic populist ideas like those Elizabeth Warren champions, said Stephanie Taylor, PCCC co-founder.

The organization will accept ideas through the end of December. After that, the PCCC says it will conduct polling and identify the 20 most popular policy suggestions and those will be submitted to Mr. Reid, Ms. Warren and other lawmakers for review.

Thus far, the submitted ideas include: automatic voter registration; demilitarizing police forces nationwide; ending secret grand juries for police prosecutions; national broadband; discharging student loan debt; single-payer healthcare; a financial transaction tax on Wall Street; and others.

In addition to Mr. Reid and Ms. Warren, other Democrats who have signed on to the initiative include: Sen. Jon Tester of Montana; Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York; Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota; Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota; Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas; and others.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also has signed on.

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Liberals seek to reboot Democratic party with 'Big Ideas Project'

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

The national convention of the All Progressives Congress begins in Lagos, Nigerias commercial nerve centre, today (Wednesday).

The presidential candidate of the party will emerge tomorrow (Thursday).

More than 8,000 accredited delegates are expected to elect the partys presidential flag bearer who is to face President Goodluck Jonathan, the sole candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, in the 2015 general elections.

Five aspirants are ex-Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and the Publisher of Leadership Newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah. They are all vying for the partys sole ticket.

Already, supporters of Buhari and Atiku, the two leading aspirants, have appealed to the APC delegates to vote wisely.

Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso

Buharis supporters, under the aegis of Buhari Friends Organisation Network, at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, said todays (Wednesdays) APCs primaries offered a unique opportunity for party delegates to vote for change.

The spokesman for the group, St. Athanasius Okon, said Nigerians have not had it so bad since the return of democracy in 1999.

According to him, the nations economy is in a shambles while the ruling party carries on as if nothing is amiss.

Read more from the original source:
APC presidential candidate emerges tomorrow

Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Joe Igbokwe

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress says it will not congratulate the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, because the events that led to his victory were allegedly dubious.

The publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the PDP was a party of hypocrites because they were doing the same thing they had accused the APC of doing in the past.

The APC wondered how the number of votes could exceed the number of delegates that voted at the primary on Monday.

The APC said it was unfortunate that the PDP could not properly conduct a primary of less than 1,000 delegates when it (APC) successfully conducted a primary that had over 5,000 delegates in attendance last week.

It said the PDP had shown that it was not democratic as it went ahead to impose Agbaje despite the fact that another aspirant, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, had been making allegations about the plan for over a month.

The APC said, We cannot congratulate Agbaje yet because there is still infighting. The circumstances that led to the emergence of Agbaje were illegitimate and as a democratic party we will not encourage such by congratulating him.

You see how clear it was with our candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. The body language of the PDP leaders had shown that they were supporting Agbaje and they went ahead to perpetrate fraud just as Obanikoro had predicted.

When asked if the APC would be willing to receive Obanikoro if he defected from the PDP, the party said, Obanikoro knows the best step that will favour him. If he feels his 10 years away from our party is regretful, he is free to return, we cannot reject him.

In a later statement, the party also welcomed the over 8,000 delegates from all over the country that would participate in the presidential primary of the party on Wednesday (today).

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Why we cant congratulate Agbaje APC