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All is, indeed, not well with Nigeria now, the country coupled together by the British imperial might in 1914 and the imagined country birthed by the imperial power in October 1, 1960, and christened Nigeria, the Niger area, by the mistress of Lord Lugard. Beyond Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and strong pushing of the Christian genocide narrative by lobbyists from America and Nigeria, the giant of Africa is facing existential threats by terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. Nigeria is also facing hunger threat and food insecurity, mass unemployment and excruciating poverty.
Nigeria can be said to be at war with these enemies of the country. The nation is grappling with the kidnap of 25 female students of Government Girls’ Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State by bandits, who killed their Vice Principal, Malam Hassan Makuku. The country has lost some gallant soldiers in Borno State, including their commander, Brigadier-General Musa Uba in a gory ambush by terrorists. Unfortunately, we are passing through Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls’ abduction saga once again. All these are signs that things are gradually falling apart in Africa’s most populous country and perhaps the largest democracy and even economy on the continent.
Beyond the above ills, the recent drama of shame by factional groups of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and fisticuffs by members of the rival factions of the once biggest party in Africa, a party that then boasted to rule Nigeria for 60 years, 100 years and forever, is condemnable. The role of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in that show of shame at Wadata Plaza, Abuja on Tuesday must be investigated. It is apparent that the police force acted in favour of one faction in the free-for-all at PDP headquarters where tear gas was liberally deployed to ensure that the Wike-backed faction occupied the PDP secretariat.
The role of some serving officials in the APC cabinet in the fracas must also be investigated. The role of the courts with conflicting orders on the same matter and that of INEC over the implosion in PDP must be investigated too. The Nigeria Police Force is for all Nigerians just like any other security agencies, the police should not work only in favour of those working in Bola Tinubu administration against those in PDP. The cancerous development should be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of democracy. The agenda to kill the PDP, Labour Party (LP) and the still-born African Democratic Congress (ADC) will spell doom for our nascent democracy and by extension our country.
The recourse to jungle justice by rival factions of the PDP in Abuja reminds one of the Hobbesian state of nature where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. The police use of force, tear gas and other arsenals in an internal affair of a political party is uncalled for and unacceptable. It amounts to undue interference in the internal affairs of a party. The police should not lock the Wadata Plaza because of the crisis. The police should allow members of the PDP to settle their matter. Our police force should not be partisan in this matter. In the same vein, INEC and the courts should be impartial in the PDP matter.
Those hell-bent on instigating the ongoing crisis in the PDP and other opposition political parties really don’t want this democracy to survive. They are not even patriotic. If our present political experiment fails, the country may not survive it in view of mounting security challenges across the country. The country is passing through a difficult phase compounded by the orchestrated moves and plans to make Nigeria a one-party state.
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Our democracy will suffocate and die under a one-party state. All democrats and lovers of democracy must frown upon the subterraneous moves to turn Nigeria into a one-party state by some political actors. The unbridled political migration to the ruling APC by governors, legislators and political leaders from the PDP, LP and others will automatically make Nigeria a one-party state with its dire consequences to the country and Nigerians. Let lovers of democracy and apostles of human rights vehemently resist this attempt to make Nigeria a country of one political party.
President Bola Tinubu has denied any moves to make Nigeria a one-party state. But he admitted to like seeing the opposition in crisis and even in tatters. This ambivalence is not helpful. Let all politicians be conscious of what is happening to this edifice called Nigeria. If the roof of this edifice collapses by our actions or omissions, it will affect all of us, including those saying ayes to one-party state and those saying nays. As a diverse country, Nigeria will be better governed under multi-party democracy. Our founding fathers birthed the country at independence under multiparty system, Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and Action Group (AG).
These parties controlled the political affairs in the Northern region, Eastern region and Western region, respectively. Apart from military rule which is unitary in nature and conception, Nigeria has since independence been under multiparty democracy. Those at the corridors of power today are tested democrats and ardent believers in democratic ideals, including the president. Therefore, the president should come hard on those trying to make this great country a one-party state and rein in those who appear to be promoting that avoidable political gambit. Democracy thrives where there is virile opposition. The opposite happens if the opposition is driven to extinction as some powerful political actors appear to be doing now.
The death of opposition will mark the death of our democracy and our country. Our politicians should learn from our history and the factors that led to the collapse of the First and Second Republics. Our politicians are playing with those factors now. They are even romancing them. They are daily toying with them and speaking condescendingly on other Nigerians and acting above the laws of the land just like emperors and dictators.
The PDP circus show coming very close to the 2027 general election is ominous and dangerous to our limping and fragile democracy. All these governors and lawmakers and their supporters trooping to APC as captured subjects must do a rethink of their action. Why should a performing governor leave his party and carry his cabinet, family and friends to a new party, an unknown territory? The ruling APC should allow the opposition to breathe. Suffocating them will suffocate this democracy and Nigeria. Let the federal government wage a relentless war against our existential threats and put the country on growth trajectory. Let political actors in the PDP crisis resolve their matter amicably.
