# Advanced Congress of Democrats > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Advanced_Congress_of_Democrats > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Advanced_Congress_of_Democrats.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Congress_of_Democrats > Source revision: 1301203727 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The **Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD)** was an opposition [political party](/source/Political_party) in [Nigeria](/source/Nigeria), created and first registered in March 2006. In September 2006, in merged into the newly formed [Action Congress](/source/Action_Congress) launched in 2005. The ACD was primarily composed of former [People's Democratic Party](/source/People's_Democratic_Party_(Nigeria)) members, and was one of a series of anti-[Obasanjo](/source/Olusegun_Obasanjo) coalitions, beginning with the [Movement for the Defence of Democracy](/source/Movement_for_the_Defence_of_Democracy) in 2005, and followed by the AC in 2006/2007.[1] 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](/source/President_of_Nigeria) [Olusegun Obasanjo](/source/Olusegun_Obasanjo) to seek a third term in office, and had its base of support in the south west of Nigeria. The then [Vice-President](/source/Vice-President_of_Nigeria) [Atiku Abubakar](/source/Atiku_Abubakar), 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.[2] Three of the founders of the ACD, Alhaji [Lawal Kaita](/source/Lawal_Kaita), Alhaji [Bashir Dalhatu](/source/Bashir_Dalhatu) and [Audu Ogbeh](/source/Audu_Ogbeh), are former PDP politicians, and have complained of harassment and detention by the government since the ACD's founding.[citation needed] In March, ACD chair Alhaji Lawal Kaita, the former PDP governor of [Kaduna](/source/Kaduna_(city)) state was detained shortly after a party rally was shut down by police in [Dutse](/source/Dutse), [Jigawa](/source/Jigawa) 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](/source/Alliance_for_Democracy_(Nigeria)), the Justice Party, and several other minor political parties, and forming the [Action Congress](/source/Action_Congress).[3] [Atiku Abubakar](/source/Atiku_Abubakar) was its presidential candidate in the [2007 general election](/source/2007_Nigerian_general_election). ## References 1. [Daily Sun. *Obasanjo’s undoing was that he played God – Lai Muhammed, AC publicity secretary*](http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2007/june/15/politics-15-06-2007-004.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220022/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2007/june/15/politics-15-06-2007-004.htm) September 26, 2007 at the Wayback Machine: June 15, 2007. 1. [Daily Sun. *I don’t relate to Obasanjo at all. I don’t even want to see him. He has destroyed the PDP we formed and is mismanaging the country – Rimi*](https://web.archive.org/web/20070504143859/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2006/aug/21/politics-21-08-2006-001.htm): August 21, 2006. 1. [Daily Sun, *Action Congress: A tale of parallel secretariats*](http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2006/oct/14/politics-14-10-2006-003.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103033/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2006/oct/14/politics-14-10-2006-003.htm) September 29, 2007 at the Wayback Machine: October 14, 2006. - [ACD Party Website](https://web.archive.org/web/20211205065527/https://acdparty.org/). - [Nigeria Electoral Commission, Party information](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927234502/http://www.inecnigeria.org/cms/index.php?do=political&id=7). - [Daily Sun, *AD/ACD: United against third-term*](https://web.archive.org/web/20070804091712/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2006/apr/29/politics-29-04-2006-001.htm), April 29, 2006. - [Daily Sun, *Corrupt people won’t ever rule Nigeria – EFCC• ACD dares commission*](https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083234/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2006/july/19/national-19-07-2006-02.htm): July 19, 2006. - [*Arrest of ACD Leader*, 2006](https://web.archive.org/web/20071009231508/http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/march06/21032006/f221032006.html). - [BBC News: *Thousands launch Nigerian party*](https://web.archive.org/web/20160305033317/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4928032.stm) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Advanced Congress of Democrats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Congress_of_Democrats) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Congress_of_Democrats?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.