As the momentum for the 2027 political dispensation gradually gathers pace, the Presidency has labelled groups insinuating that democracy has been compromised as alarmists.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, took on the opposition on Sunday, insisting that his principal, Bola Tinubu, is not plotting a single-party state as has been speculated.
Sunrise recalls that recently, the former Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, and his successor, Sheriff Oborevwori, both key members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, surprisingly crossed over to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The development left stakeholders within the Nigerian polity analysing that the country was gradually drifting towards a single-party state ahead of 2027, when the next general elections will unfold.
According to Onanuga, “We have read the alarming claims of disgruntled opposition figures, some partisan human rights crusaders and emergency defenders of democracy over recent defections of key members of opposition parties into the governing All Progressives Congress.
“The seismic shift caused by Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno’s open declaration of support for President Bola Tinubu, the defection of the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, the former vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, and the principal political actors in Delta and Rivers States certainly threw the opposition and their sympathisers into disarray.
“While the opposition elements are understandably heartbroken over the failure of their fabled grand coalition to gain traction, we find it disturbing that they resorted to peddling false allegations of promoting a one-party state against President Bola Tinubu, who is working very hard to reverse decades of economic mismanagement in our country.”
He went on to dismiss the claims, saying that, contrary to the falsehoods circulating across mainstream and social media, democracy is not under any threat in Nigeria.
He stated that accusations suggesting the administration is moving towards authoritarianism are baseless and exaggerated.
His statement reads further, “We must add that no policy, official action, or directive from the Presidency seeks to ‘dismantle democracy’ or ‘weaken opposition or create a one-party state.’ Accusations of bribery, blackmail, and the weaponisation of state institutions only exist in the idle minds of politicians and their agents who have failed in their assigned role of opposition and are fishing for scapegoats.
“The opposition cannot blame President Tinubu and the governing APC for their poor organisation, indiscipline, and gross incompetence in managing their affairs. It is certainly not part of President Tinubu’s job to organise or strengthen opposition parties.
“We find it curious that those who celebrated the defection of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the formation of a regional grand coalition with the sole aim of defeating President Tinubu in the 2027 election are the same people shedding crocodile tears over Nigeria’s so-called drift to a one-party state and authoritarianism.
“While the latter-day defenders of democracy raised no anxious voice against the disgruntled politicians cobbling an anti-Tinubu, anti-APC coalition along dangerous regional lines, even before INEC blows the whistle for party politicking, they are quick to ascribe the political shifts in some states to ‘bribery, blackmail, and coercion’ without any shred of evidence.
“Without any equivocation, freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of choice are part of the cherished ideals of democracy. When politicians and citizens cannot freely join any association or political party of their choice or cannot openly express their views, democracy is imperilled. Those opposed to the Tinubu administration should understand that they can issue diatribes, without fear, against the government because we practise a thriving democracy.
“It is hypocrisy writ large when opposition politicians and their collaborators in the ‘human rights’ movement desire that the party of the President should implode so they can gain electoral advantage and cry wolf when their wish does not materialise.
“We want to state that democracy is not threatened or undermined simply because politicians exercise their rights to freedom of association. Nigerians migrating to the APC and expressing support for Tinubu are doing so out of their free will, based on the belief that the reforms being executed are in the interest of Nigerians and the unborn generation. It is a gross disservice to democracy in itself for these emergency defenders of democracy to delegitimise the political choices of some Nigerians while upholding the choices of others to form a coalition against Tinubu and APC.”
Onanuga also insisted that President Tinubu and the National Working Committee of APC, under the leadership of Abdullahi Ganduje, deserve commendation for making the ruling party viable and attractive to all Nigerians willing to participate in the democratic process.
He described Tinubu as an avowed democrat and a firm believer in multiparty democracy. His political activism and democratic credentials in galvanising and strengthening opposition platforms as a force that defeated a sitting President and the then ruling party attest to his credibility as a tested defender of multiparty democracy.
“We urge all Nigerians to join hands with the administration in protecting our democracy by respecting our people’s choices and giving alarmists, who draw their narratives from the pool of fiction, a wide berth,” he submitted.
