Slow down, dangerous curves ahead [OPNION]

By Simon Kolawole

Anybody who knows me well will be aware of my cynicism about Nigerian politics and politicians. For the life of me, I do not believe most of our politicians care about democracy or development. Their bellies are their God. There was a time in my life when I believed our politicians said and did things in the national interest — to defend our democracy, to protect our freedoms, to rescue us from poor governance. I passionately believed the battle was between the good guys and the bad guys, the heroes and the villains, the saints and the sinners. My deliverance came ahead of the 2007 elections. I heard things. I saw things. I lost my naïvety. I started calming down and began to see through political posturing. That was when I started writing the series, ‘Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics’.

Regardless, I remain a firm believer in constitutional democracy, no matter its imperfections that stare at us daily. I will pick democracy above any other form of government any day. I believe in multiparty democracy. I believe in competitive elections. I believe in freedom of choice. That is why I am very worried about the dangerous choice of words by some individuals as we approach the 2027 general election. I was very disturbed watching a video of someone who was identified as an aide to Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo state saying: “The only banner we want to see in Edo state is Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu). If we see any other political banner, the person who puts the banner will learn new things. We must take this state for Asiwaju.” Pray, when are our politicians going to grow up?

Just last month in the same state, Mr Peter Obi, presidential hopeful, and Chief John Odigie Oyegun, former governor of Edo state, were attacked on their way from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) secretariat in Benin. We are yet to be told suspects have been arrested. We still do not know who was behind the attack, although the state government, which is under the control of the All Progressives Congress (APC), insinuated that it was an intra-ADC matter. It is not impossible, but Okpebholo did not cover himself in glory in the past when he insisted Obi needed prior security clearance to visit the state. Not even Lagos, where President Bola Tinubu comes from, erected such a barrier. No matter Okpebholo’s intention, the events following his pronouncement are ominous.

Meanwhile, two weeks ago, the ADC office in Ubima, Rivers state, was set on fire. Who did it? We still don’t know. There are no reports of arrests. Ubima is the hometown of Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation, who is also an ADC presidential hopeful. Politics in Rivers is not for the faint-hearted, though. I am restrained in apportioning blame or pointing accusing fingers because of the state’s peculiarity. Rivers is often full of dead bodies in political seasons. In March 2003, Chief Marshal Harry was murdered. He had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to support Gen Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election. Chief AK Dikibo, an associate of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was also murdered in 2004. Rivers is something else.

Recently, the police in Cross River state sealed off the venue of the inauguration of the ADC membership registration, mobilisation and revalidation committee, preventing party members from convening. The police action was reportedly based on a petition by some party members, not even a court order. The inauguration was eventually moved to a private residence. This is quite worrisome. Also, a meeting of the ADC Coalition Movement in Bakassi, in the same state, was attacked by hoodlums. Several members were beaten and wounded. An operative of the secret police who was on official duty was said to have been assaulted and almost stripped naked. Cross River has never been not known for political violence, so this should really worry observers ahead of the elections.

Naturally, the ADC will point accusing fingers at the ruling party — the APC — which has all the state instruments to persecute or undermine the opposition. It is also conceivable that some of these incidents are local politics or intra-ADC, but my understanding of Third World dynamics is that the ruling party will always take maximum advantage of its hold on power to undermine the opposition. We are all witnesses to how the PDP has been reduced to smithereens since the APC displaced the once mighty party from Aso Rock in 2015. The last two years have been devastating. The PDP is now an empty shell with probably more followers on Twitter than on its membership register. Nobody in the whole world can convince me that the APC did not take full advantage of the PDP internal crisis.

Maybe the APC is on a revenge mission. The PDP did all it could to undermine the move by the opposition parties to form the APC in 2013. As soon as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) announced the merger, strange things began to happen. Some politicians, suspected to be PDP members, quickly sent an application to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking to register their own APC, named “African Peoples Congress”. Another APC surfaced, called “All Patriotic Citizens”. The rumour then was that the PDP was trying to do everything to irritate and frustrate the opposition. The APC, it must be said, survived it all.

The ADC is also facing its own irritation and must make its own countermoves. Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe, former vice-chairman of the ADC, has been laying claim to being the authentic leader. He has announced his own dates for the national convention. A leadership crisis similar to that of the Labour Party seems to be unfolding. His set of national working committee (NWC), headed by Chief Ralph Nwosu, had resigned in July 2025 to pave the way for the take-over of the party by politicians who had left the PDP and APC in pursuit of their ambitions. INEC recognised the new NWC led by Senator David Mark as national chairman. Gombe claims his resignation letter was forged, insisting that he is the authentic acting chairman after Nwosu’s resignation. We know all these things.

As a fan of competitive democracy, I believe the opposition should be allowed to “breathe”. I still do not believe the battle in the Nigerian political space is between good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains, or saints and sinners. I got my deliverance from that nonsense 20 years ago. But I strongly believe that no matter what, people should be allowed to play their politics as they like. Freedom of choice. Freedom of association. Imagine Sunday Igboho, the Yoruba nationalist, threatening that only Tinubu would be allowed to campaign in the south-west. What if other parts of the country react in kind? All these threats can set the country ablaze — as if the inferno from banditry, terrorism and separatism is not enough. We must nip these dangers in the bud to avoid the consequences. Caution.