It will be a strange coincidence that all the opposition parties considered strong enough to give the ruling APC a run for its money have been ensnared in internal crises, which have eventually impacted their fortunes at the polls since 2023.
As was the case with the People’s Democratic Party and the Labor Party, it appears it will be with the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
One thing is for sure: the ruling APC cannot completely feign ignorance or pretend to be indifferent in all of this. What is at the heart of this intervention is the urgent need for all to preserve what we have because the alternative to democracy is better imagined or inconceivable. It’s an alternative that would do no good to both the ruling APC and opposition parties. Our democracy may just be drifting to the abyss.
This dangerous trend must be arrested immediately.
It is easy for APC to derisively dismiss the opposition as calling this upon themselves, but the truth is that all of this might just culminate in an end never envisioned.
APC, as an opposition party prior to the 2015 election, was very vibrant and given enough room to operate. It was possible for it to operate, and most of the time, confrontational and combative. They maligned the government of Goodluck Jonathan without any restraint. The hallmark and beauty of democracy are the accommodation of divergent and dissenting positions and views. Any attempt to constrict, gag, restrict, and silence dissent would be contrary to the very spirit or dictum of democracy and remains an anathema.
The ADC’s planned convention almost failed to take place last Tuesday. They claimed that the ruling party attempted to frustrate their efforts. It was alleged that event venues denied them use of their facilities and that even hotels refused them accommodation, adding that even after booking, they were refunded.
Of course, the ever-combative and intemperate Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, was quick to run to the media to refute this claim by the ADC.
Wike, in dismissing that political parties are being denied access to the Eagle Square in Abuja, said the allegations are incorrect and not based on any official application process.
The minister said, “Who denied them? I am not aware of any such development, and I don’t even know which party you are referring to. If it is the African Democratic Congress, such claims are their usual attempt to gain public sympathy.
“As we speak, no formal application has been submitted to my office or any relevant authority to use Eagle Square.
“For example, when the People’s Democratic Party held its convention, it followed due process and paid the necessary fees. The same applied to the All Progressives Congress.
But anyone with the slightest idea of the person of the former Rivers governor knows that he is capable of doing this and more. There is no limit to Wike’s capacity for mischief.
Is it a coincidence that the APC, with more members, held its convention at Eagle Square with no such problem? Is it also a mere happenstance that Wike’s faction of the PDP, which has carried on as an affiliate of the APC, held its convention at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, with no hitch, yet ADC, which is a supposed smaller party, was running everywhere and could not secure those venues?
Party officials alleged that they were denied access to major public venues in the Federal Capital Territory, including the Eagle Square and the Indoor Sports Complex—locations commonly used for large political gatherings.
Wike had no business citing the APC he serves and the PDP he leads as an example.
His tongue-in-cheek explanation is childish; who could have denied the APC and his faction of the PDP event venues when Emperor Wike runs things in Abuja, and both parties are working towards one objective: returning President Tinubu to Aso Rock next year.
The ADC nevertheless proceeded with its national convention at the Rainbow Event Centre in Area 8, Garki, Abuja, despite ongoing leadership challenges surrounding the camp of former Senate President David Mark.
The party leadership opted to retain the scheduled date for the convention, even as the court is yet to deliver a ruling on the dispute over its leadership structure.
The party’s decision to move ahead in spite of the drawbacks arising from the court and INEC decision to withdraw their recognition is a resolve to maintain internal processes and avoid further delays, despite uncertainties hanging over its hierarchy.
The fate of ADC is hanging in the balance as the court decision could sound the death knell on the Mark-led faction as the Nafiu Bala Gombe-led group, for all intents and purposes are pretenders to the throne.
The Gombe group is clearly playing the same role the Wike-backed PDP is out to achieve: to ensure that the Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the party is encumbered and stopped from presenting any formidable opposition to President Tinubu in 2027.
For as long as President Tinubu continues to allow Wike the leeway to generate avoidable controversies and heat the polity, the more opposition attracts the sympathy of the electorate.
Why, for heaven’s sake, should Wike be the one as Minister approving the use of event venues? Why should the request of a routine exercise, such as the use of an event venue, require Wike’s approval? Is this beyond the capacity of a clerk?
Wike, as the minister of the FCT, has no right to deny Nigerians the right to use event venues built with public funds.
The continued heating up of the polity and the frustration arising from the increasing insecurity and hunger in the land may just be all the people need to let out their pent-up frustration against the Tinubu administration.
It is important to ensure that we protect this democracy and avoid any reason that some undemocratic forces could exploit to scuttle our hard-earned democracy.
