Action Congress

Infobox Nigerian Political Party
party_name = Action Congress
party_
chairman = Bisi Akande
secretary = Usman Bugaje
foundation = 2006 | headquarters = Plot 779 Ona Crescent, Off Lake Chad Crescent, Maitama, Abuja
ideology = Classical liberalism
colours = Green, black, white
website = [http://actioncongressng.org actioncongress.org] The Action Congress is a classical liberal Nigerian political party formed via the merger of the Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several other minor political parties in September 2006.

2006

The party was formed in 2006 in order to form a larger political opposition to the federally-dominant centrist People's Democratic Party and the Northern-based All Nigeria Peoples Party. On May 12, 2006, the provisional officers of the party (most of whom carried their seats from the Alliance for Democracy) were replaced at the Kaduna convention by ballot; Bisi Akande succeeded Hassan M. Zurmi as National Chairman, and Bashir Dalhatu replaced Bumi Omoseyindemi as National Secretary.

2007

The party ran Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who defected from the People's Democratic Party, as its presidential candidate in the 2007 presidential election. Abubakar was disqualified from the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, but the disqualification was later overturned by the Supreme Court. [ [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1863A9D2-FBA2-467A-B2A2-A5DD59DA015B.htm "Nigerian VP 'able to stand in poll'"] , Al Jazeera, April 16, 2007.] Currently, the party's most prominent elected official is governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

The party was torn apart by in-house fighting that led prominent party Chieftain and Lagos State Gubernatorial Candidate, Femi Pedro, to decamp to the Nigeria Labour Party. Pedro cited gross manipulation within the party structure favouring Tinubu's candidates in South-Western Nigeria as his reason for dumping the newly-formed Party. Fact|date=February 2007Additionally, there have been rumours of cracks in the Party's initial alliance with the prominent national opposition party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Fact|date=February 2007

In the 21 April 2007 Nigerian National Assembly election, the party won 32 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 6 out of 109 seats in the Senate.

Following the victory of PDP candidate Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 presidential election, the AC has been pursuing a legal challenge to the results. On July 6 2007, the party announced its rejection of an offer to join Yar'Adua's government (an offer that was accepted by the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Alliance), with a spokesman saying that "there is no compelling moral, legal or political reason for us to join a government that we have told the whole world stole its mandate" and that participating in the government would mean "partaking in stolen goods". [ [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070706171713331C490969 "Opposition party says no to Umaru Yar'Adua"] , Reuters ("IOL"), July 6, 2007.]

However, on August 7, 2007, the National Secretary, Bashir Dalhatu, resigned (along with two other officials) over the refusal of the Action Congress to take up Yar'adua's offer. He was replaced by the current Secretary, Usman Bugaje.

2008

References