Advanced Congress of Democrats
The Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) was an opposition political party in Nigeria, created and first registered in March 2006. In September 2006, in merged into the newly (2005) formed Action Congress. The ACD was primarily composed of former People's Democratic Party members, and was one of a series of anti-Obasanjo 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 have merged into the AC.

The party was formed by opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow incumbent President 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 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. 

Three of the founders of the ACD, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu and Audu Ogbeh, 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 state was detained shortly after a party rally was shut down by police in Dutse, Jigawa State.

The Vice President, who had previously shown no interest in running for president, was in 2006 the main focus of these former PDP politicians. 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 Action Congress. Atiku Abubakar was its presidential candidate in the 2007 General Election.
Q7278
political party
Concept
Q1033
Nigeria
LOC
Q343617
Action Congress
ORG
Q1551163
People's Democratic Party
ORG
Q202006
Obasanjo
PER
None
Movement for the Defence of Democracy
UNK
Q500282
President
PER
Q202006
Olusegun Obasanjo
PER
Q2625960
Vice-President
PER
Q755878
Atiku Abubakar
PER
Q6503558
Lawal Kaita
PER
Q91342680
Bashir Dalhatu
PER
Q4820218
Audu Ogbeh
PER
Q208318
Kaduna
LOC
Q1023713
Dutse
LOC
Q682691
Jigawa
LOC
Q2649119
Alliance for Democracy
ORG
Q343617
Action Congress
ORG
Q755878
Atiku Abubakar
PER
Q177483
2007 General Election
Concept
Q4686168
Advanced Congress of Democrats
ORG
2006-03-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
March 2006
DATE
2006-09-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 2006
DATE
2005-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2005
DATE
2006-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2006
DATE
2007-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2007
DATE
2006-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2006
DATE
2006-09-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 2006
DATE
2007-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2007
DATE
+2005^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2005
NUMBER
+2007^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2007
NUMBER
instance of
country
inception
inception
position held
position held
located in the administrative territorial entity