When the All Progressives Congress was launched in 2013, it was presented as a coalition of opposition parties which said Nigeria deserved better leadership. The Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria Peoples Party, and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance came together with a common message: the Peoples Democratic Party had ruled for too long and had damaged the country through corruption, weak leadership, poor elections, and failure to tackle insecurity. Many Nigerians believed them. Even those who didn’t support them wished they would be better than the PDP.
At the centre of that opposition movement was the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu. Tinubu had become one of the strongest voices against the Federal Government during the administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan. The conflict between Tinubu and Obasanjo over Lagos State local government funds became a major political issue that attracted sympathy to Tinubu as a dogged underdog being intimidated by the federal might. Opposition politicians argued that the PDP was intolerant of dissent and loved the display of power. That frustration helped the APC rise quickly.
