Renowned human rights activist, Okechukwu Nwanguma has warned Nigerians against putting their hopes in the present crop of unpatriotic, self-serving political elite, both in the ruling party and the opposition.
Instead, Nwanguma believes that Nigerians should create a credible alternative, powered by civic vigilance and youth-led engagement, for the country to break the cycle of betrayal and broken promises that the nation has found itself in.
The warning is coming as massive defection into the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC at the center sweeps across the country, and plans for the formation of a formidable coalition to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027 thickens.
According to Nwanguma, there is no rationale for the Tinubu Presidency to describe defectors from the ruling APC as ‘desperate politicians seeking power not for the service of Nigerians but for selfish ambition’.
Nwanguma regretted that since assuming power, the Tinubu administration has struggled to inspire confidence, with cost of living and insecurity soaring, as citizens have become victims of a government that seems increasingly distant from their pain.
He wondered why politicians who remained in APC would not be called ‘complicit enablers’, if those who left APC are accused of desperation.
“The Presidency’s statement, delivered through Bayo Onanuga, reeks of irony. Onanuga, like many others who once risked their freedom and lives to fight military dictatorship in Nigeria, has today become a mouthpiece for ethnic bigotry and political intolerance. The transformation is not only disheartening, it is disgraceful,” he insisted.
The rights activist warned that Nigerians must no longer be distracted by the internal squabbles of politicians who have no ideological grounding, no moral compass, and no commitment to national service.
In his opinion, the noisy defections and counter-accusations between APC and ADC defectors are nothing more than a battle of bruised egos and lost patronage.
“Rotimi Amaechi, Abubakar Malami, Hadi Sirika, Rauf Aregbesola, Kashim Imam, and John Odigie-Oyegun, are they suddenly patriots because they’ve defected? Certainly not. Many of them played central roles in the rot that defines today’s Nigeria.
“But neither can those still within APC, the ones issuing statements and firing cheap political shots, claim any moral superiority.
“What separates those who left from those who stayed? Nothing but the comfort of power and the fear of political irrelevance,” he said.
Nwanguma urged Nigerians to stop hoping for redemption from within the present political class, be it APC, ADC, PDP, or any other opportunistic platforms.
He advocated that the people, must now do what these politicians fear most, which is to organize, and take back the country from the elite cabal of recycled actors who jump parties and shift alliances only to protect their privileges, not to advance the people’s collective good.
He quipped, “We must build a new political consciousness, one rooted in accountability, citizen power, and truth. Not in tribal loyalty or media propaganda. Not in shouting matches between yesterday’s allies turned today’s enemies.”
