By Suleiman Abubakar Rimi Uku Lafia
The passing of former President Muhammadu Buhari marks the end of an era not only for Nigeria but for a critical ideological strand within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC): the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc.
As the nation reflects on the legacy of a man who inspired a generation of political realignment, it is imperative to ask: what becomes of the CPC faction in a post-Buhari APC?
For many within the CPC family, loyalty to the APC has always been synonymous with loyalty to Muhammadu Buhari.
The former president was not only the rallying point but also the moral compass of the bloc.
His towering influence brought credibility, structure, and national appeal to what began as a northern-based movement. With Buhari now gone, the CPC bloc is at a crossroads.
There had been murmurs of discontent long before Buhari’s passing. Key actors within the CPC fold have complained, sometimes privately, at other times publicly, about being sidelined in the current political arrangement under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Appointments, consultations, and key policy directions have largely been driven by elements from the Southwest and remnants of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), leaving the CPC family with a sense of political isolation.
This editorial does not aim to fan the embers of division, but the facts are glaring: the post-2015 fusion that birthed the APC is now showing deep fractures.
The CPC bloc,largely composed of northern conservatives, ex-military loyalists, and grassroots mobilizers, is beginning to feel like a relic of the past rather than a respected component of the present.
Now, with Buhari no longer a unifying force, the existential question arises: will the CPC bloc remain within the APC, or will it chart a new course? There are three plausible scenarios.
First, quiet defections may begin, with CPC loyalists gradually drifting to other political parties, particularly those offering a more inclusive agenda or closer ideological affinity. Second, there may be an internal rebellion, one that stays within the party but strategically opposes its direction.
And third, and perhaps most politically significant, is the possibility of a new northern-centered political movement emerging, built on the foundation of CPC ideals but refreshed for the realities of 2027.
President Tinubu and the APC leadership must recognize that inclusion is not just a political courtesy, it is a strategic necessity.
The CPC bloc brought to the APC not just Buhari's name, but a network of loyalists, an established grassroots machinery, and substantial electoral weight in the northern heartland.
To ignore them is to risk weakening the APC’s national architecture.
This moment calls for reconciliation, inclusion, and realignment. It is time for President Tinubu to engage CPC leaders meaningfully, to accommodate their interests, and to restore a sense of ownership in a party many of them helped to build and sustain.
As the APC contemplates its future, it must ask itself: can it afford to lose the CPC bloc and still claim to be a national party? The answer lies not in rhetoric but in action.
