With 2015 silhouetted against the political skyline, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the soon â€"to-be registered All Progressives Congress (APC), look to engage each other in an epic political battle. And since elections are not necessarily won or lost on an election day, the ground work has started.

The PDP, which has been the ruling party since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, has had an ample time to stamp its image on the national turf, development-wise. Alas, it has stamped its image, but it’s not that of development, it is the image of scandalous inefficiency and crass mediocrity.

Although the evidence on ground makes this incontestable, PDP still makes half-hearted protests.

The major opposition parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), tired of making individual and half-hearted attempts at wrestling power from the PDP, have finally agreed to merge into a mega party that will thus confront the PDP behemoth, come 2015.

Even though the Labour Party (which controls Ondo State) is still in exploratory talks with the leading lights of the mega party, having described itself as a Social Democratic Party in its manifesto, it is generally believed that it will gravitate, in the end, to the APC.

Whereas the leadership of the APGA had the rug pulled under its feet on the eve of conclusive merger talks, its National Chairman, Victor Umeh, has gone on appeal. However it goes, the main faction of APGA, will certainly join the APC; and when it does, it will bring along APGA’s heart, soul and backbone!

While Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State seems to be clearly ambivalent as to whether to pitch his tent with the newest party on the block or to defect to the PDP, his Imo State counter-part, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, is completely sold out to the Mega party project.

Last Tuesday when he addressed the press after a meeting of “APC governors,” Okorocha drew the line about what he termed APGA-APGA and APGA-PDP.

This coded statement could signify that either the PDP has, as usual, infiltrated APGA ranks or a minority tendency in APGA is looking in the direction of the PDP.

In practical terms though, it means Obi is standing alone as he is already estranged from the party leadership. In effect, it makes the Obi position tenuous: if and when he joins the APC tomorrow, he will be doing so as a frantic late-comer, with no leveraging aces; and if he joins the PDP, he will be doing so as a political orphan â€" with a fractured platform, a shrinking constituency and, in consequence, a political liability!

So between the parties, they have 11 governors: Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Edo (all ACN) as well as Nasarawa (CPC), Imo (PDP), Zamfara, Borno and Yobe (ANPP). If and when Anambra and Ondo join, the tally will climb to 13.  And with closet “APC governors” like Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and potential APC governors like Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Magatakarda Wamakko, the APC looks poised to upset the PDP hegemony in the next elections.

Now whether it does so, only time will tell, and the next steps the APC takes in few weeks and months will be at once crucial and critical.

Among these are the holding of the individual party conventions to approve the merger and wind-up; the election of pro-term national officers to run its affairs till its maiden convention, the articulation of its governance philosophy in terms of manifesto, constitution, program thrust, political framework etc. It is these more than anything else that will give the new party its face/identity.

And from statements of the “APC governors” it is clear that the new party is Social-Democratic in outlook, meaning: it is a little to the left of the centre. Now, this contrasts sharply with the PDP, which is neither to the left nor to the right, nor even at the centre, but fancies itself as a “mass movement.” It is no surprise, thus, that for the past 14 years, this mass movement, with a mass (amorphous) vision has been ambling and sauntering; shuffling and wobbling in the public space. So, the APC will force the PDP to either remain a “mass movement”, moving in mass directions, and so, moving nowhere exactly  to situate itself properly on the ideological spectrum.

For the APC, it must look at five or six areas, which I prefer to call national emergencies. These include: quality of governance has progressively degenerated from 2003 down, right now, it is at its lowest ebb. Where there should be performance or something similar to it, there is crass mediocrity; and where there should be at least some hope, PDP appears to have thrown up its hands in helpless surrender. If innocent citizens are bombed, it is an act of God; and if floods wash away people, it is an act of God. PDP is now running an act-of-God government.

It has just emerged that in 10 years (2000-2010), PDP effortlessly supervised the ‘export’ of N20.6 trillion to Euro-American and Caribbean havens.

And in 2011 alone, while haranguing us with slogans about the dividends of democracy, it exported $19 billion from the country! Those who have for long chided the country for exporting only crude oil can now be happy: we are also exporting cash! And even though the party, thanks to INEC and our prostrate judicial system, both  the National Assembly and the Presidency, the PDP does not know what to do with the 2013 budget! It is not that the budget would be implemented when the needless crisis is over!

The APC must devise genuine and concrete methods of tackling the problem of insecurity in the country. There must be an alternative to the crude and clueless tactics now on offer. What is even worse is that under PDP, government is feeding fat on our fears. MDAs now have security votes besides their normal budgets. Even the services like the Police and National Security and Civil Defence corps (NSCDC) have special security votes!

To put it bluntly, insecurity, especially the Boko Haram scourge, has become a meal ticket! Government is now not only dancing on the graves of victims of the various terrorist attacks, it seems to be holding a bazaar. Its slogan: Power to the People may as well read: Agony to the people.

Other areas that APC must address include energy, infrastructure and economic diversification and corruption. So, APC should convene a national summit or retreat, where its members, besides a broad spectrum of critical stakeholders, will brainstorm on the Project Nigeria; setting targets, devising strategies, setting timelines and evaluation mechanisms. This way, the new party will have a practical multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional and multi-visioned policy/programme documents with which to hit the ground running when it transits from opposition party to the ruling party.

But beyond well-articulated documents, the APC needs to do three very important things. One, the APC must manage the marriage of its components well, especially in areas like sharing formula and the delicate issue of presidential candidate. This is where APC leading lights like Senator Bola Tinubu, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Dr. George Akume need to prove that the nation’s dream is bigger than any individual dreams.

Two, it has to ensure that the PDP does not infiltrate its leadership with moles. The ANPP was naïve, and has not recovered from the damage instigated by PDP “ambassadors” like late Ume Ezeoke and Don Etiebet. PDP may appear indifferent to APC’s emergence and even dismiss it, but it is only pretended indifference.

The truth is that PDP is nervous, even downright apprehensive.

The planted stories in the press about crisis in APC as well as the infantile distractions being put in Sen. Akume’s way are proofs that the PDP takes the APC seriously. The PDP has not given up on its vow to hang unto power for at least 60 years!