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The All Progressives Congress recently held its inaugural national summit and unveiled a draft code of ethics/manifesto, which may serve as a new beginning for opposition politics in the country, writes JOHN ALECHENU

The opposition All Progressives Congress recently stirred up a controversy when it announced the findings of an opinion poll, conducted on its behalf by KA Research Limited, a privately owned international campaign strategist/research company, based in Brussels, Belgium, as well as Istanbul, Turkey.

Its revelation that the poll scored the President Goodluck Jonathan-administration low on key indices of governance led to a war of words between the opposition and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Apart from knocks on the Jonathan administration, the poll revealed areas of APCs strengths and weaknesses. The document also exposed the party to what members of the public think about its activities. The polls results also highlight what Nigerians desire most from the government on a scale of preference.

APCs Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who presented the key findings of the opinion polls to the media, described the report as an eyeopener.

He said, The APC candidate held a 10-point lead over the President. By a margin of 44 per cent to 34 per cent (with 22 per cent undecided), the APC candidate was the clear national choice. When asked, In general, do you think things in Nigeria are going in a good direction or bad direction, Nigerians responded that the country was going in a bad direction by more than two-to-one margin (50%-24%).

When asked, What issue would you like the President and National Assembly to focus on most, an overwhelming majority (60%) identified job creation as the dominant issue that the government should address.

When the respondents were asked if Goodluck Jonathan has done nothing to create jobs, and far too many people are still unemployed, decisively, 58 per cent of Nigerians found the position about Jonathan convincing.

The poll revealed that 59 per cent of Nigerians believed Jonathan was doing a bad job in the fight against corruption.

The ruling PDP has since dismissed the contents of the report, describing the outcome of the polls as a prejudiced piece of document, prepared to massage the egos of opposition leaders.

However, what appeared lost in the maze of the debate was the real reason why the APC engaged consultants for this assignment. The party tried to explain that it engaged (foreign) consultants, to improve its electoral fortunes. To achieve this objective, it realised that the old way of doing things would no longer suffice, hence the resort to seeking expert advice.

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APC and road map for a new Nigeria