The Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) was an opposition

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, created and first registered in March 2006. In September 2006, in merged into the newly formed

Action Congress The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger from the coming together of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of D ...

launched in 2005. The ACD was primarily composed of former People's Democratic Party members, and was one of a series of anti-

Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 2007 ...

coalitions, beginning with the Movement for the Defence of Democracy in 2005, and followed by the AC in 2006/2007. It maintained a small independent organization after the 2007 elections, while its leaders had merged into the AC. The party was formed by opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow incumbent

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

to seek a third term in office, and had its base of support in the south west of Nigeria. The then

Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Atiku Abubakar Atiku Abubakar (; born 25 November 1946) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran for the office of governor of Adamawa State i ...

, a northerner who opposed a third term for Obasanjo, was believed to back the new party from its inception. The ACD was largely made up of disgruntled PDP members who felt they had lost power and patronage to the President's supporters. Attempts by the President's supporters to amend the constitutional two term limit, allowing President Obasanjo to continue in office for a further four years, led to a rupture of the underlying tension within the party. Three of the founders of the ACD, Alhaji

Lawal Kaita Lawal Kaita (4 October 1932 – 2 January 2018) was a Nigerian politician elected on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform as governor of Kaduna State, Nigeria, holding office between October and December 1983, when the Nigerian Second Repu ...

, Alhaji

Bashir Dalhatu Bashir Dalhatu (born 12 November 1949), titled Wazirin Dutse, is a Nigerian aristocrat, statesman and lawyer . He was a politician who served in the Interim National Government as Minister of Transport and Aviation in 1993; in General Sani Abac ...

and

Audu Ogbeh Audu Innocent Ogbeh (; born 28 July 1947) is a Nigerian farmer, playwright and politician who served as the minister of agriculture and rural development from 2015 to 2019. He was chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 2001 until J ...

, are former PDP politicians, and have complained of harassment and detention by the government since the ACD's founding. In March, ACD chair Alhaji Lawal Kaita, the former PDP governor of

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade center and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern state ...

state was detained shortly after a party rally was shut down by police in

Dutse Dutse is the capital city of Jigawa State in northern Nigeria, and also the capital of Dutse Emirate. It is home to Federal University, Dutse established in November 2011. In addition to the Federal University Dutse, there is also a Research ...

Jigawa Jigawa (; 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤮𞤤 𞤶𞤭𞤺𞤢𞤱𞤢) is a state in Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. Jigawa was created on 27 August 1991, under the General Ibrahim Babangida military administration. Jigawa State was ...

State. The Vice President, who had previously shown no interest in running for president, was the main focus of these former PDP politicians in 2006. He was widely expected to be a future presidential candidate of the ACD. In September 2006, the ACD led the creation of a coalition with the Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, and several other minor political parties, and forming the

.Daily Sun, ''Action Congress: A tale of parallel secretariats''
: October 14, 2006.

was its presidential candidate in the 2007 general election.

References

ACD Party Website

Nigeria Electoral Commission, Party information

April 29, 2006.

July 19, 2006. * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071009231508/http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/march06/21032006/f221032006.html ''Arrest of ACD Leader'', 2006
BBC News: ''Thousands launch Nigerian party''
{{Nigerian political parties Defunct political parties in Nigeria 2006 establishments in Nigeria Political parties established in 2006 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing