Navigation

© Zeal News Africa

Nigerian Politics: ADC, APC Clash & Democracy's Future

Published 2 days ago7 minute read

Last week, a new political coalition was launched in Nigeria under the platform of the African Democratic Congress. Just like the All Progressives Congress was formed in 2013, the ADC is a force to reckon with, going by the calibre of its membership. Its members include former vice president of Nigeria and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi; former Senate President, David Mark; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal; former chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, several former governors and other bigwigs.

Given that the PDP is a big party, a stranger to Nigerian politics could wonder why the need to have the ADC as the new opposition party. The ADC was formed because of the political situation of the country. Since the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, lost the presidential ticket of the PDP during the party’s convention in 2022, the PDP has been embroiled in crisis till today. The Labour Party has also been in crisis since 2022 when Peter Obi joined the party and ran for president under its platform. The APC has been accused of engineering the crisis in these two opposition parties, although the party has denied the allegation.

Less than 24 hours before the unveiling of the new coalition at the Wells Carlton Hotel, Abuja, the hotel cancelled the contract. Its message to the organisers read in part: “We sincerely regret to inform you that due to an internal compliance matter that has just come to our attention, we are unable to proceed with hosting your scheduled event. We are fully aware that the event is less than 24 hours away, and we deeply apologise for the timing and inconvenience this may cause.” Political interference was read into the cancellation.

Earlier, when some opposition figures announced that they were planning to register a new party named ADA (All Democratic Alliance), another group quickly applied with the same acronym, ADA (All Democratic Alliance), to the Independent National Electoral Commission. Expectedly, INEC rejected the two applications. INEC explained that two different political groups applied to register the same party with the acronym “ADA”, but submitted different national chairmen, different secretaries, and different office addresses, which created some confusion, leading to the rejection of the two applications. It was mission accomplished.

But some have noted that the registration gimmick was a calculated move by the opposition elements to distract members of the APC about their negotiations with the leaders of the ADC. Members of the coalition seem to know that the APC would make attempts to frustrate the plan to register a new political party. Consequently, they sold a dummy to the APC that they were applying to register a political party. Tactically, they also chose the maize as their logo, which has been associated with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This got many members of the opposition angry. Even the use of the Wells Carlton Hotel for the launch of the new coalition was also said to be a dummy sold to the APC, because of the belief that it would thwart the plan.

The ADC is not a new party. It is a party that has been in existence for two decades. At the 2023 election, it won two House of Representatives seats. While the talk about registering a new party was on and all eyes were focused on INEC to register the new party or not, some members of the opposition were perfecting the plan to have the ADC as their new platform. And on the day of the launch of the coalition, the leadership of the ADC stepped down for an interim leadership, led by David Mark, to take over the party. With that, the little-known ADC became the focus of attention in Nigeria. Quick as the lightning of Amadioha, as novelist Chinua Achebe would say, members of the APC unleashed their attack on the new coalition. All eyes are now on the ADC to see who will emerge as its presidential candidates. Will it be Peter Obi? Will it be Atiku? Or will it be someone else?

But the sad part about what happened is the issue of political intolerance that has been rising in Nigeria. Unlike in the early years of the Fourth Republic (between 1999 and 2011), when most leaders of the political parties were retired military men, the key leaders of the APC are full civilians. President Tinubu has been a civilian all his life. The Vice President Kashim Shettima has never been a military man.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, have been civilians all through. The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Nwike, has also been a civilian all through. Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, the erstwhile chairman of the APC who retired last month, as well as the interim chairman, are not known to be former military men. Therefore, on paper, the APC has a full civilian leadership. It is expected to be more democratic than the past administrations of the PDP as well as the past APC administration of Muhammadu Buhari. But that is not so.

Political parties are not expected to defeat their rivals by engaging in anti-democratic activities. They are expected to beat their opponents through purposeful leadership. The masses are supposed to see the actions of the ruling party and decide whether to re-elect it or vote it out. That is the basis of democracy. But what the democratic government led by Tinubu has been doing is taking all actions to neutralise all forms of opposition, ensuring that it is only the APC and only Tinubu that are positioned strategically to contest the 2027 election. While the APC is making all attempts to lure virtually all members of the opposition into the APC, it is also ensuring that no opposition party or candidate stabilises.

Some who don’t understand democracy call this strategy a chess game or political sagacity. But in fully developed democracies, any leader who takes such anti-democratic steps is not praised but punished. This happened last year in South Korea, where the Prime Minister was forced out for taking an action that was considered anti-democratic.

On December 14, 2024, Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea, was impeached by the National Assembly for various offences, which included ordering the military and police to block legislators from entering the National Assembly, ordering the arrest of judges and Supreme Court justices, and unilaterally declaring martial law.

He went to court, and the decision of the lawmakers was upheld because his offences were considered serious violations of the South Korean Constitution.

After 26 years of unbroken democracy, Nigerian democracy is expected to have matured or be showing clear signs of progressing towards maturity. But that is not the case. The political elite should be giving the masses signs that show that democracy is the best form of government. The advantages of democracy should reflect in the quality of life of the masses as well as their rights. They should feel in word and in deed that power belongs to them.

That point brings us to the electoral body, INEC. After the 2023 election, many Nigerians lost hope in the ability of INEC to conduct a transparent and trusted election. Till today, INEC has not given a convincing reason for the purported glitch that only affected the presidential election, which was running concurrently with the legislative elections. INEC has not explained why it accepted mutilated result sheets. Given that Professor Mahmood Yakubu is still the chairman of INEC, many are wondering if the election of 2027 will be transparently free and fair.

Politics should not continue to be seen as a dirty game. Politics should attract the brightest and the best. Nigerian democracy should be showing signs of progress and growth. Those in power should know that democracy has not stopped being government of the people by the people and for the people.

    X: @BrandAzuka

Origin:
publisher logo
Punch Newspapers
Loading...
Loading...

You may also like...