A Drift To A One-Party State?

Many compatriots are troubled over the worsening state of affairs of opposition political parties in Nigeria. Except the ruling APC, all leading political parties, such as PDP, LP, SDP, NNPP, including the newly formed coalition ADC, are embroiled in one protracted crisis or another.

 For democracy to flourish, there must be credible alternative platforms provided by viable parties. We are worried by a situation that may, by design or default, foist a faith accompli on the electorate or present them with a Hobson’s choice.

Currently, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), easily Nigeria’s leading opposition party, appears to be suffering the most vicissitudes and political disappointments.

 PDP started as the ruling party from the inception of the Fourth Republic and retained power for 16 years. Vincent Ogbulafor, its former National Secretary and later National Chairman, once boasted that the party would rule Nigeria for 60 years.

Somehow, covertly, perhaps subtly, PDP managed to emasculate and keep other political parties, like the All People’s Party (APP), which transformed into All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), at bay.

PDP nearly dislodged the AD from its Southwest stronghold. In 2003, it won the governorship elections in Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states, leaving only Lagos State’s Governor Bola Tinubu as the last man standing.

There is the argument that those electoral victories were largely stage-managed by the pliant Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for PDP. For instance, the party’s victories in Osun and Ekiti states were later reversed through court judgments.

PDP was, however, shaken loose when a coalition of its breakaway faction, dubbed newPDP, ANPP, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), successor of AD, and elements of All Progressives Grand Alliance formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) and won the 2015 presidential election.

Out of power, the first crisis that hit the PDP was reportedly the dearth of funds that compromised its ability to pay staff salaries and other running costs.

 The party’s morale dropped when some of its officers, like Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary, were accused of receiving or diverting funds meant for procurement of arms by the Office of the National Security Adviser, got prison sentences.

PDP, however, regained the governorship in Oyo and Osun states, in the Southwestern bastion of the ruling APC. In 2023, Labour Party defeated ruling APC’s presidential candidate, Tinubu, in his Lagos home state, and won the governorship of Abia State.

Recently, the APC began to decimate PDP again, by allegedly luring its governors in Delta, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Taraba states into its fold.

Now, 25 state governors belong to APC, whose leader and President of Nigeria, offers no sympathies for the PDP’s losses, although he denies plans of a one-party state. This defection of governors to APC is expected to drive financial and voting numbers for President Tinubu in 2027.

We are of the opinion that PDP and other opposition political parties are getting weaker because of the unwillingness of Nigerian politicians to commit to a political ideology and the ethics to stay within a political party that may not be in government. As politicians jump ship, they drain the energy that could have built viable parties.

There is the allegation that the opposition parties have been rendered hors de combat by the ruling APC. Some elements in the PDP, for instance, cite as evidence a PDP chieftain who is a Minister in the APC-led administration but has, curiously, declared openly to work for the reelection of the current President in 2027.

What is without dispute is that, at the moment, it seems no opposition political party is in a position to stand up to the APC in the coming 2027 presidential election. Consequently, we fear the contest for the presidency would neither be robust nor competitive.

While a one-party state is constitutionally impossible, the onus to correct the looming optics of Nigeria sliding, for all practical purposes, into one-party state is on the leading opposition parties. They must stop the blame-game and put their houses in order.

 While we demand ideologically-based party politics in Nigeria, we feel compelled by the current state of anomie to call for an amendment of the Constitution to bar elected officers from changing political affiliations before their tenures expire. The appointment of members of the Independent National Electoral Commission should also be reviewed in line with the recommendations of Justice Uwais Panel in order to eliminate or reduce the leverage of every ruling party on the body