Seeing that forcing a one-party system will be difficult, the ruling party is now using state power and invisible measures to weaken political parties. They are not even hiding this agenda.
The focus is now on weakening the major platform for opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections—the ADC. We must not forget that they used Wike to completely weaken the PDP. They are assured that PDP is no longer a threat to Tinubu’s re-election. They have also created uncontrollable chaos in LP and the NNPP. The leadership tussle has weakened both parties that challenged them in 2023. They know that leaving them without chaos will cause them difficulty in 2027.
The INEC Chairman is not without blame. I say so based on the evidence from his Good Friday interview on Arise TV. It was surprising to hear how the INEC Chairman, Prof. Amupitan, relied on social media for reports about a lawsuit in which INEC is listed as a defendant.
The David Mark-led ADC concluded that Amupitan is siding with the ruling party, and many will agree with that conclusion after watching the interview. A few weeks ago, Nigerians called for Amupitan’s resignation because we expect such a person to be beyond suspicion of partiality. Sadly, he is proving to be as compromised as Nigerians suspected. Now, the allegations against Amupitan being compromised will become much stronger than they were previously.
Amupitan even went as far as to threaten the David Mark-led leadership against holding the planned Congress. He explicitly stated it could be a futile effort, even citing examples from Zamfara State and Plateau State. His speech sounded like a script written for the APC media team. He appeared partisan, poorly informed for a law professor and INEC Chairman.
Even if the lawsuits go in the David Mark-led ADC’s favour, the party may have to work against time with patched-up executives just to ensure that party primaries are conducted in accordance with the electoral guidelines and timetable. And APC will be celebrating this event as they see a major opponent being pushed into disarray.
In hindsight, the ADC should have requested an expedited hearing when Bala filed the lawsuit in September. The decisions made by the ADC lawyers are questionable. They seem to ignore the reality that they are running against time and against a nasty opponent during an election year.
The lawyers should not have delayed addressing their lawsuits for so long. It is surprising that their lawyers did not consider requesting an expedited hearing at the High Court six months ago. They should not have waited for the Appeal Court to do that for them. Also, the lawyers ought to have responded to the March 12 appeal ruling much more promptly. Hesitating over it did no good for the party.
With foresight, the ADC leadership ought to have sought a general interpretation of the Appeal Court’s ruling of March 12. Even if the David Mark-led leadership had understood what the court meant, it would not have stopped the INEC Chairman from putting them in this mess.
Most importantly, as the main opposition platform, it should adopt offensive strategies rather than being defensive all the time. The ruling party is not going to stop attacking them. So, the first example they need to make is to file charges against Amupitan and the INEC for gross negligence that results in a loss of resources in running the party’s affairs. Yes, calling for his resignation is a welcome idea.
ADC knows who benefits from this chaos, and no one is discounting the indirect influence of the ruling in all this. Besides, the strategies of the ruling party are always made public. Nigerians did not pressure them before their leaders started calling for a one-party system. Wike takes pride in promising to weaken the PDP simply so Tinubu will be re-elected. Governors were happily re-nominating Tinubu just a few months after the inauguration. And now, we have seen Amupitan’s TV interview with various threats against the ADC. They rarely make any plans in secret. Therefore, it is important to take every piece of information seriously before it becomes too difficult to handle.
No doubt, this is a deliberate attempt to throw a major political party into chaos, or in Tinubu’s words, disarray. They are not even hiding from it. The administration has not denied its goal of imposing Tinubu on Nigerians through a one-party system in 2027. In the end, INEC’s decision to disregard the Mark-led ADC leadership only benefits the ruling party.
This is dangerous. It is anti-democratic. And it is pushing Nigeria toward autocracy.
This approach is not new. Authoritarians around the world have popularised weakening democracy, one piece at a time. It is a method to cement their power. One may argue this is not obvious, but one cannot deny it happens gradually.
Nigerians must take this seriously. It is easy to forget the anti-democratic actions that happened last week, last month, or last year. In fact, people have moved on from what happened during the 2023 elections and even the local government council elections in various states. As a result, things that Nigerians considered impossible to happen a few years ago have eventually become normalised.
If Nigerians sit back without taking action against the undemocratic process of the Tinubu administration, INEC and the courts will also support what the people desire. The choice must be clear. You are either with those aiming to free democracy in Nigeria or against them. Choose wisely.