Unlike our four neighbors, Cameroon, Chad, Benin Republic and Niger that have leaders who rule without term limits or leaders who may remain as presidents until they die in office or leaders who may after their death, be succeeded by their children as it happened in Benin republic and Chad, Nigeria has recorded twenty six years of peaceful democratic civilian to civilian transfer of power. We did that with the elections of presidents Obasanjo, Yar’adua, Jonathan, Buhari and Tinubu who has been in office for two years now.
Nigeria achieved this enviable position owing to democracy, a system of government that gives citizens the right to determinate who governs them. Not only does democracy gives citizens the right to determine who rules them, the system guarantees that no man is good enough to rule over you without your permission. And your permission or consent can only be obtained through your vote, freely given in a ballot box. Democracy is beautiful.
Democratic system of government also gives citizens the right to criticize their elected leaders openly without fear and to also scrutinize performance of the elected leaders through periodic elections by which citizens decide to either extend the tenure of office of the elected leaders or terminate them for non performance.
As Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American president puts it –
“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other man’s consent”.
However while democracy is beautiful, multiparty democracy is even more beautiful in the sense that it lubricates the contours of democracy. Make no mistake, citizens of Benin republic, Cameroon, Chad and Niger do not enjoy these rights which we Nigerians take for granted.
Types of democracies are broad and diverse. There are basically two types – direct and indirect democracy. With either direct democracy (the type in operation in Switzerland), or indirect as is practiced in the USA and Nigeria where people vote for representatives who then enact policy initiatives, there are central key features that qualifies a country as democratic or not. These six main key features are-:
1) Respect for basic human rights,
2) A multi-party political system,
3) A democratic voting system,
4) Respect for the rule of law,
5) Democratic governance, and,
6) Citizen participation.
Multiparty system is what lubricates democracy no doubt. However I have a serous fear today that Nigeria may lose one of the 6 key features of democracy. And if we don’t fight those who are bent on taking it away from us, democracy would be weakened or even outrightly kill our rights of choice.
Why because in Nigeria, the second key feature of democracy ie the multi-party political system is seriously threatened by APC. People are being intimidated as members of other political parties, are coerced into abandoning their political parties and joining the APC. My fear is that if the APC succeeds in doing this, multiparty political system would be dead. What would follow will be that the foundation of democracy in Nigeria will be weaker.
Today, either for fear of arrest by the EFCC or imprisonment by the courts, forced defections are systematically taking place which is weakening the opposition, especially the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
If we don’t immediately arrest this, we may end up as one party state. This may make people refuse to go out to vote in the 2027 elections because of lack of alternative political party or absence of alternative candidates to choose from.
The threats and intimidation are real. The beginning was in the 5 states of the south south, where the governor, Ben Ayade of Cross River state sold out his conscience and joined APC as a sitting governor voted on the platform of PDP and without a faction in the PDP. He ended up losing the senate seat he contested for in 2003. Then last month, former governor Okowa of Delta state and the present governor Sheriff both defected to APC for fear of prosecution of the latter. With governor Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom who has been infected by senate president Akpabio just as governor Fubara of Rivers state was infected by Wike, governor Diri Douye of Bayelsa state is so far the only real man standing in the south south.
But they will all regret it. As the defection of governor Ben Ayade proved in 2023, a governor’s defection does not necessarily result in the defection of the ordinary people of the state.
Most importantly Peter Gregory Obi won the 5 states of the south east, he won Delta state in the south south, Lagos state in the south west and Nasarawa stare in the north central, all without a governor.
Also Alhaji Atiku Abubakar did not only win the state Osun state in the south west, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states in the south south and Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi, Katsina and Kaduna states in the north west without a governor, he also won Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe in north east, of course the last two, without a governor.
The greatest fear is that defections for fear of persecution or of prosecution have the same consequences. They can turn a country from being a multiparty state to one party state. It is dangerous to democracy. One party state is a path or way to dictatorship and a ready tool for scuttling citizens’ right to choose.
Let us not make the mistake. If it starts with president Tinubu, the governance structure in this country will become that of a single political party controlling the ruling system. And with the kind of National Assembly we have today, if APC succeeds, gradually all opposition parties will either be outlawed or be made to enjoy limited and controlled participation in elections. This is not good for us.
Do not say it does not concern you now because you are in APC today. If you lose favor with the powers that be in the ruling party tomorrow, as it happens often, you will have only yourself to blame. Not only would you have no party on whose platform to actualize your ambition, you may fear going to Kuje prison and claim to be an CPC man who is in the APC like Hadi Sirika, and of course be mute, especially if you have painted an Ethiopian Airline plane in Nigeria’s color and have a case with the EFCC.
Again, if you remain with APC despite the party’s failures or you join them or decide to remain with them for fear of being prosecuted, you may have to make people vote for them for money or for more money.
As former president Goodluck Jonathan rightly said, “under this administration, political pluralism is being eroded not by persuasion or performance, but by bribery, blackmail, and coercion”.
Former governor Okowa was said to have been arrested by the EFCC over alleged diversion of N1.3 trillion Naira and his passport seized. I am therefore not surprised that he and his mentee defected to APC. On Thursday 8th May, 2025, APGA candidate for Anambra state governorship election Prof. Soludo said he has adopted president Tinubu as the party’s presidential candidate for 2027 election while we are in 2025. I am not surprised. Soludo wants a smother sail to his second term.
I am also not surprised that the National Chairman of APC Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said on Friday after leading a delegation of three senators from Kebbi state to meet with President Bola Tinubu that “there is nothing wrong with one party system”.
Why not? Kwankwaso is breathing over his soldiers. Ganduje knows too well that he risks losing the party’s number one position if Kwankwaso comes in. And despite being Ph. D, Ganduje even surprisingly likened Nigeria to China which is a one party state, not mindful of the fact that saying so puts him in the same category with some northerners who argue that because China has over a billion population and is industrialised, northerners should continue producing children they cannot feed nor educate since China, a one party state, has over a billion people.
I am also not bothered that senators Adamu Aliero, Yahya Abdullahi and Garba Maidoki of Kebbi state have declared their intention to join the APC. I know it is not because the president has invested one kobo to the development of Kebbi state. They will defect just for their re-election since the Kebbi state governor has performed well, while the three senators have not yet impacted their communities positively in the red chamber in 2 years.
The poor in the north west, which is the nation’s most politically conscious zone are wiser than they were in 2023. Defect to any party in the north west if you like. But if the president does not make any effort to stop the killings in Zamfara, Niger, Kebbi, Sokoto and Katsina states and/or mitigate the effect of banditry and kidnappings in the zone, defection can take any senator no where.
In all, it is my opinion that one party state is inherently undemocratic. It is evil. Democracy gains its strength from the ability of the voters to “”kick out” non performing president, senators and House of Reps members, which is not possible with one party system. Without multiparty, which means the democracy where voters can’t reject the ruling party and try a different lot, that system is not a democracy.
