Now that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has substituted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the ruling party, many are asking if the party which successfully conducted itself as an opposition party will be able to pull through as a ruling party.

Since Nigeria became an independent nation on October 1, 1960, the huge expectations of the Nigerian people have been quashed on so many occasions.

The First Republic lasted from 1960 to the 15th of January 1966 and it took several years for the country to return to democratic rule in 1979. Just as the NPC dominated the First Republic, its successor, the NPN, dominated the Second Republic. Shagari led as president.

The NPN also took 36 of 95 Senate seats, 165 of 443 House of Representatives seats and won control of seven states (Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Kwara, and Rivers). The NPN lost the governorship of Kaduna State but secured control of the Kaduna legislature. The NPN failed to take Kano and lacked a majority in either the Senate or House of Representatives.

But a number of weaknesses beset the Second Republic which made the military to stage a come-back in 1983.

In early 1989, a Constituent Assembly completed work on a Constitution for the Third Republic, and political activity again was permitted. Ibrahim Babangida who took over from Muhammadu Buhari in 1985 annulled the 1993 presidential election, throwing Nigeria into turmoil and handed over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan, a prominent nonpartisan businessman on August 27, 1993.

With the country sliding into chaos, Defense Minister Sani Abacha quickly assumed power and forced Shonekan's "resignation£ on November 17, 1993.

Although Abacha's takeover was initially welcomed by many Nigerians, disenchantment grew rapidly. Many opposition figures like Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu formed the "National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)" to campaign for an immediate return to civilian rule, and most Nigerians boycotted the May 1994 polls for delegates to a government-sponsored Constitutional Conference.

On June 11, 1994, using the groundwork laid by NADECO, Abiola declared himself president and went into hiding. He was subsequently arrested and put under detention.

Following the death of General Sani Abacha in 1998, his successor General Abdusalami Abubakar initiated the transition which heralded Nigeria's return to democratic rule in 1999. The ban on political activities was lifted, and political prisoners were released from detention facilities. Political parties were formed (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Peoples Party (APP), and Alliance for Democracy (AD)), and elections were set for April 1999. In the widely monitored 1999 elections, former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo was elected on the PDP platform. On May 29, 1999, Obasanjo was sworn in as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

After eight years of PDP-led Federal Government, the party, led by Obasanjo, conducted another round of general elections. In the controversial presidential election on April 21, 2007, Umaru Yar'adua of the PDP was elected president.

After the sudden death of Yar'adua on 5th May 2010, Goodluck Jonathan became the third PDP president and later won the election the following year which was largely accredited as freer and fairer than all the previous elections of the 4th Republic.

However, the Jonathan's leadership failed to turn round the nation's economy for the better. Attempt by the PDP to ensure it continues to lead at the centre led to more government criticisms. The party concentrated more on party members' interests while the economy suffered, the nation's currency suffered devaluation while corruption soared.

This led to the formation of a strong political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in February 2013. The party is the result of an alliance of Nigeria's three biggest opposition parties - the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) - and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The parties merged to take on the Peoples Democratic Party. The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi, who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of the APGA; former Governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP's Merger Committee; and Garba Gadi, the Chairman of CPC's Merger Committee. Ironically, less than two years before the party's historic victory in the 2015 elections, Messrs Annie Okonkwo, Tom Ikimi and Ibrahim Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP.

The APC was registered by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on July 31, 2013, to become a political party and subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three predecessor parties (the ACN, CPC and ANPP).

In March 2013, it was reported that two other associations - African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens - also applied for INEC registration, adopting APC as an acronym as well, a development targeted at thwarting the successful coalition of the opposition parties, ahead of the 2015 general elections.

In November 2013, five serving governors from the governing PDP defected to the APC, as well as 49 legislators that joined the ranks of 137 legislators in the APC as a result of the prior merger of the smaller opposition parties. This initially gave the APC a slim majority of 186 legislators in the House out of a total of 360 legislators; however, subsequent political wrangling and pressure from political factions and interests outside the National Assembly, gave the party only 37 additional legislators thus giving the APC a nominal majority of 172 out of 360 Legislators, as opposed to the PDP's 171.

APC has gone through thick and thin since its formation in 2013. Some politicians believed that the alliance would not hold but the leaders of the party proved them wrong by engaging in membership registration, national executive election, primaries and participation in the general elections were all successfully to the extent of defeating the ruling party during the general elections.

The PDP also lost control of Nigeria's Senate to the APC, marking the first time the PDP didn't hold federal legislative leadership in Nigeria since it became the ruling party in 1999. Jonathan and the PDP lost popularity largely because of the Boko Haram insurgency and allegations of corruption.

Jonathan lost re-election to opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the APC. Buhari won the presidential election by almost 2.6 million votes more than the figure gotten by former President Jonathan. This defeat of Jonathan by Buhari was the first time an incumbent lost the presidential poll in Nigeria.

Jonathan conceded defeat on March 31. This was the first time in Nigeria's political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in general elections and one in which power was transferred peacefully from one political party to another. In addition, the APC won the majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The APC is generally considered to be a center-left political party that favours controlled market or regulated market economic policies, and a strong and active role for government in the economy. A substantial number of its political leaders are followers of or politicians who subscribe to the social democratic political philosophy of Obafemi Awolowo and the socialist and welfarist views of Aminu Kano. Moreover, the majority of the APC's base of political support is in the South-west and North of Nigeria, which are dominated by the country's largest ethnic groups, the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani, respectively. Both groups have historically dominated the central government of Nigeria since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960.

The APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the APC is ready to work for the development of the country and to fulfil most of the promises made by the party prior to election.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on his part, has promised to focus more on security of the people and their properties, provide qualitative education, fight corruption, the power sector and the moribund Nigeria Airways, Nigeria Railway Corporation, and provision of jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.