Leading opposition parties in the country yesterday flayed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for publicly expressing his happiness over the ongoing crisis in their folds ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The president had while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly on the occasion of Democracy Day celebration yesterday in Abuja, said he is pleased that opposition parties in the country were in disarray.
Tinubu said he cannot put their houses in order for them, but advised that they should examine their internal processes as part of a scheme to resolving their internal wranglings.
Daily Trust reports that major opposition parties in the country are neck-deep in crises. They are the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and others.
The parties have consistently accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the crises in their folds. But the ruling party has always dismissed the allegation as false.
However, President Tinubu said, “Political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by examining their internal processes and affairs rather than fearfully conjuring up demons that do not exist.
“For me, I would say try your best to put your house in order. I will not help you do so. It is, indeed, a pleasure to witness you in such disarray.”
Tinubu aso said the APC cannot stop receiving defectors from opposition parties into its fold, adding that the party would be guilty of political malpractice if it shuts its doors.
“We would be guilty of political malpractice if we closed the door on those from other parties who now seek to join the APC and I sincerely welcome our party’s newest members from Delta and Akwa Ibom States led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Pastor Umo Eno and other members of this National Assembly,” he said.
FG behind crises in opposition parties – ADC
Reacting to the development, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) accused the Tinubu led government of spending huge sums of money to destabilise opposition parties.
The ADC National Chairman, Dr Ralph Okey Nwosu, told Daily Trust in a telephone interview that it was unfortunate the statement came from President Tinubu.
He said, “It’s most unfortunate that one of the persons who fought the military, so badly and then one of the chieftains of NADECO, happened to be in the driver’s seat today and they are spending state resources to muzzle the opposition and then trying to form a one-party fascism that is even more draconian than the military. It’s unfortunate.
“We are mindful of all their plots and we are navigating it as patriots. 2027 will show them what the opposition are made of and also the will of the Nigerian people.”
Speaking on the preparedness of the opposition for 2027, Nwosu said a coalition is already very strong.
“The coalition is so strong. I have had meetings with all the critical stakeholders in this coalition, and their preoccupation for now is to build a party that Nigerian people will own as their own party and to begin the journey to a truly new Nigeria, as the patriots who worked hard to see the military off.
“We, the leaders of ADC are handing over the party, but let us build a party that has a clear ethical standard. So, whatever they are causing, spending government resources just to cause problems within the opposition, it will not work for them. We have gone beyond that.
“PDP leaders, a lot of APC leaders, Labour Party leaders and many other patriots, we have gone beyond that and time will tell,” he added.
Defeat awaits you in 2027, PDP replies president
Also reacting, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said Tinubu would be shocked when Nigerians vote him out of power in 2027.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi, told Daily Trust in a telephone chat that the party is not perturbed about Tinubu’s comment, stressing that the avalanche of challenges bedeviling the country alone would push Nigerians to vote Tinubu out of power in 2027.
Abdullahi said, “After this convention that is coming, the PDP will stabilise. A year before the election, APC will realise what they have done to themselves.”
He said the APC should wait and spend 16 years in the saddle before it can say anything about the PDP.
“If Nigerians are the ones that truly vote in a democracy, then let’s wait and see,” he said.
“When APC is able to have 16 years in power, then it would be in a position to speak. Because between you and I, we know what Nigerians are facing and we know what Nigerians are planning to do in 2027. So there is nothing for us to worry about,” he added.
Atiku accuses Tinubu of dismantling gains of June 12
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused the present administration of dismantling the gains of June 12, saying that “those who laid down their lives did not do so for Nigerians to groan under the yoke of authoritarianism and economic suffocation.”
Atiku, in a post on his social media platforms, also said the ongoing process by opposition figures to form a coalition will defend the legacies of the June 12 struggle.
According to the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, in the last election, “what we are witnessing is not governance, it is conquest.”
The opposition leader said, “The gains of June 12 were hard-won. But sadly, the democratic promise that blossomed in 1999 is being steadily dismantled before our very eyes.
“Today, Nigeria teeters on the edge of a dangerous precipice—a creeping one-party dictatorship is replacing the democratic order we bled for.
“Those who laid down their lives did not do so for Nigerians to groan under the yoke of authoritarianism and economic suffocation.
“The ruling party and its federal government now govern with the unmistakable intent to dominate, subdue and silence. Their tactics are not subtle.
“Opposition voices are being systematically erased. National institutions, once symbols of unity, are being brazenly renamed in honour of a sitting president, as though the country were a private estate.”
The former Vice President also lamented that the present government “represents the lowest ebb in our democratic journey. “Institutions have been weaponised. Policies are crafted not to empower the people but to entrench fear, obedience and control. The common Nigerian has been abandoned at the altar of elite comfort. And make no mistake: this is the antithesis of everything June 12 stands for.
“We are again at a historic threshold. Nigeria must choose: the path of democratic renewal or the dark alley of despotism.”
It’s executive rascality – SDP
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Araba Segun Aiyenigba, said the party is not distracted by the president’s comment, describing it as “executive rascality, and ego tripping of the day.”
“We are focused on strengthening and strongly positioning our capacity to meet the quest of Nigerians in becoming the credible alternative and the much-looked up to veritable vehicle for national redemption and to make life more meaningful for Nigerians,”he said.
It’s a threat to democracy– CUPP
In the same vein, the National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Chief Peter Ameh, said President Tinubu’s action is a threat to democracy.
“President Tinubu’s brazen exultation in the crippling crises tearing apart Nigeria’s opposition parties, while feigning opposition to a one-party state is a grotesque display of hypocrisy that savages the very soul of democracy.
“His insidious remarks not only betray his intimate knowledge of these orchestrated turmoils but also expose his administration’s sinister complicity in engineering them.
“No patriot, let alone a democrat, would revel in the ruthless dismantling of political rivals essential to a vibrant democratic system. Tinubu’s venomous double-speak is a calculated assault on Nigeria’s pluralistic ideals, laying bare a despotic ambition that imperils the nation’s future,” Ameh said.
He said the deliberate sabotage of opposition parties, which President Tinubu “shamelessly celebrates, is a heinous act of political warfare.”
Ameh who is former Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said, “By strangling the opposition’s stability, Tinubu is orchestrating a chilling purge of dissent, paving the way for a tyrannical monopoly that suffocates political participation and obliterates accountability.”
It’s confirmation of my earlier position – Obi
Also, the Chief Spokesman for the Obi/Datti Presidential Campaign Council for the 2023 presidential election, Dr Yunusa Tanko, who spoke on behalf of his principal said Tinubu’s comment was a confirmation of Obi’s earlier submission that the APC led government was behind the crisis in opposition parties.
“It’s a confirmation that President Tinubu is responsible for crisis in opposition parties. It is also important for the international community to take serious note of what is happening so that it would not be too late for them to call Mr President and his party to order as their deliberate undermining of the opposition is a threat to democracy and peace in the country,” he said.
CSOs speak
Speaking on the matter, the Executive Director of the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said such statement coming from the president is a clear confirmation that the APC is pushing for a one-party state.
“It is disturbing that President Tinubu who stood out as an enviable icon of opposition politics in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 is now desperately plotting to eliminate opposition, as a strategy to remain in power beyond 2027.
“While we agree with the president that it is not his duty to help the opposition parties put their house in order, he must understand that as a democratically elected president, he has the moral and constitutional responsibility of ensuring that he creates a enabling democratic environment for opposition politics to thrive.
“Failure to do this will strip him completely of the little that is left of his credentials as a democrat,” Zikirullahi said.
Lending his voice, the Executive Director, Grassroots Center for Rights and Civic Orientation (GCRCO) Mr Armsfree Ajanaku, said the president’s comment should rather be seen by the opposition as a challenge they must overcome.
“President Bola Tinubu reference appears to be to the PDP. His description of the party as a sinking ship, from which members are jumping without life jacket could have been described as fair rhetoric in political contestation, except that there are concerns that he (the president) is in alliance with a prominent member of the PDP, who is being allegedly used to destabilise the party.
“Although APC loyalists would argue that the president is giving as much political jabs as he is getting from his opponents, the key lesson is the need for the opposition to rise to the occasion. The opposition needs to demonstrate resilience, put aside petty bickering and robustly challenge the ruling party.
“The real task is for the politicians in the opposition to pick up the gauntlet and contest the space. The opposition has to understand that in this game of contest for power, it takes superior ideas, hard work, resilience and belief to win. If this jibe by the president will make the opposition wake up from its slumber, so be it,” Ajanaku said.
For Dr. Gabriel Akinremi, a Data Protection and Cybersecurity Expert, President Tinubu’s remarks reflect a bold, perhaps provocative, tone in the context of Nigeria’s evolving democratic space.
“While such political candor may resonate with supporters, it also underscores the deepening polarisation between governing and opposition parties.
“In a maturing democracy, moments like these highlight the importance of constructive engagement over mockery, especially during symbolic events like Democracy Day, which should ideally promote unity, dialogue, and institutional strengthening.
“A stable opposition is essential for a healthy democracy, and leaders—regardless of party—should model restraint and statesmanship in public discourse,” Akinremi said.
Analyst weighs in
A political scientist and university don, Professor Abubakar Umar Kari, has raised concerns over what he described as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s undemocratic political maneuvers, accusing him of steadily crippling opposition parties in a bid “to establish a de facto one-party system in Nigeria”.
In a sharp critique, Professor Kari said the president’s recent actions and political decisions run contrary to the democratic ideals he once claimed to uphold, particularly during the struggle for the actualisation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
“What they (the government) are saying is contrary to what is happening in the real sense. Tinubu’s politics was once grounded in pro-democracy values, but today, what we see is a calculated effort to stifle political plurality and pave the way for a one-party system,” Kari said.
The professor, who teaches at the University of Abuja, said Tinubu appears desperate to distance himself and his government from the democratic ideals he once publicly embraced.
“That image of him being pro-democracy is something of the past. It dates back to the early 1990s when he joined politics during the Third Republic and participated in the agitation that followed the annulment of June 12,” he recalled.
Kari noted that many who supported the June 12 struggle—including those within the interim government of Ernest Shonekan and former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida—did so with an eye on the future, hoping to usher in a democratic order. He argued that Tinubu, once a vocal advocate of democratic governance, has now embraced an authoritarian style of politics.
“Anyone watching what Tinubu is doing today will struggle to reconcile it with the image of a political activist. That label no longer fits. Even during his time as Lagos governor, it was becoming evident that his style was one of control, of dictating who gets what, when, and how,” Kari said.
According to him, the cornerstone of democracy is the freedom of citizens to choose their leaders without undue influence, a principle, he alleged, the president has flouted.
“Democracy is about letting people make their choices freely. But what we’re seeing today is a political environment where outcomes are pre-determined by those in power,” Kari added.
He accused the president of double-speak and of playing a leading role in weakening opposition parties through co-optation and manipulation.
The scholar pointed to the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as a case in point.
“Everyone knows Wike is being propped up by Tinubu. He’s from the biggest opposition party, yet he boasts openly that he will deliver votes for the president. That alone speaks volumes about the state of our democracy,” he said.
Opposition parties in turmoil
Daily Trust reports that all the major opposition parties in the country are enmeshed in leadership crisis, a development that has denied Nigerians the benefits of vibrant opposition.
PDP, which is the leading opposition party in the country has been enmeshed in crisis since it lost federal power in 2015. All efforts to resolve the contentious issues and reposition the party have so far failed.
The crisis worsened when a former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, failed to clinch the party’s presidential ticket and was equally not recognised for the vice presidential slot ahead of the 2023 general polls.
Efforts by governors who are members of the PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC), Board of Trustees (BOT), its members at the National Assembly and other key figures of the party to resolve the issues have consistently proven abortive.
The party eventually lost the 2023 polls. Since then it has struggled to recover from the fallout of the G5 governors’ who rebelled against it prior to the elections. But efforts to unify the party have repeatedly failed.
The Labour Party is also entangled in deep leadership crisis with the Julius Abure and Lamidi Apapa led factions claiming legitimacy. The party has suffered setback following litigations that trailed it.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) also has its own share of internal wranglings bothering on the control of party structure.
The party has suffered several litigations following the rivalry between the faction loyal to its 2023 presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and another loyal to its founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam.
Other opposition parties like the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) also have their own crises.
‘Nigeria won’t become a one-party state’
Despite expressing his pleasure over the state of opposition parties in the country and resolving that the APC would continue to welcome opposition members defecting to its fold, Tinubu ruled out the possibility of Nigeria becoming a one-party state under his watch.
The president flayed the opposition for accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government of an attempt to foist a one-party state on Nigerians, saying “while your alarm may be as a result of your panic, it rings in error.”
Daily Trust reports that opposition parties in the country have consistently accused the APC of plans to turn Nigeria into a one-party state following the defections of opposition members to its fold in recent times.
The leading opposition parties in the country – People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) – have witnessed high level defection of members to the APC at different times within the year.
But addressing the issue of alleged plot to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, Tinubu said, “At this point, I plead for your indulgence so that I may put a terrible rumour to bed. At no time in the past, nor any instance in the present, and at no future juncture shall I view the notion of a one-party state as good for Nigeria.
“I have never attempted to alter any political party registration with INEC. Equally, my friends, we cannot blame anybody seeking to bail out of a sinking ship even without a life jacket.
“Look at my political history. I would be the last person to advocate such a scheme. To those who ring the alarm that the APC is intent on a one-party state, I offer you a most personal promise. While your alarm may be as a result of your panic, it rings in error.”
Tinubu said he was one of those that fought against the enthronement of one-party state in the country, explaining that he and others later came together to form the APC because of that.
Going down memory lane, Tinubu said, “In 2003, when the then-governing party tried to sweep the nation clean of political opposition through plot and manipulation, I was the last of the progressive governors standing in my region.
“In all their numbers and false grandeur, they boasted of ruling, not governing, Nigeria for the next half century or more. Where are they now? Yet, I stood alone. My allies had been induced into defeat.
“My adversaries held all the cards that mortal man could carry. Even with all of that, they could not control our national destiny because fate is written from above. A greater power did not want Nigeria to become a one-party state back then. Nigeria will not become such a state now”.
PUNCH.
