THE trajectory of the Nigerian project has always been fragile, but today, it stands on the precipice of an existential abyss.
For years, the Nigerian electorate has lived under the comforting—albeit fraying—delusion that the transition of power in 2023 signaled a maturation of our democracy.
We were wrong. We are not witnessing the evolution of a multi-party state; we are witnessing the cold, calculated, and systematic orchestration of a one-party autocracy.
The mask has finally slipped. When a government that rode to power on the backs of democratic agitation begins to systematically fund the destruction of the very opposition it once claimed to respect, it ceases to be a government and becomes a regime.
*The Smoking Gun: When the Mask Falls*
The recent viral footage featuring the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, is not merely an incident of political interference; it is a confession. To see a high-ranking official of the Presidency actively urging factional leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to ensure there is “no peace” within the party is a chilling insight into the Aso Rock machinery.
It is no longer a matter of backroom whispers or speculative hearsay. It is now a documented, televised fact that the levers of the Presidency are being used to manufacture discord, sponsor chaos, and destabilize the opposition. This is the hallmark of a regime that fears the ballot box and prefers to win by burning down the house of the opponent.
*Institutional Capture: The Death of the Umpire*
The ambition of a one-party state requires the total colonization of democratic institutions. Under the current administration, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been reduced to a rubber-stamp appendage of the ruling party.
When the umpire is compromised, the match is not won; it is stolen.
But the rot does not stop at the ballot box. We have watched with mounting horror as the judiciary—once the last bastion of hope for the common man—has been increasingly pressured to prioritize political expediency over constitutional truth.
The military, the police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) are being transformed into a Praetorian Guard, tasked not with the security of the nation, but with the preservation of a singular political hegemony. When the sword of the state is unsheathed to intimidate political rivals rather than protect citizens, the social contract is void.
*The Vanquished Nation*
President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu campaigned on a platform that projected the image of a democrat—a man of the “struggle.” Yet, the reality of his tenure suggests a deep-seated allergy to genuine political competition.
By funding the collapse of opposition parties, the administration is effectively announcing that the Nigerian voter’s choice is an inconvenience to be managed, not a mandate to be respected.
If the opposition is hollowed out, if dissent is bought or broken, and if the democratic architecture is used to dismantle the very house it was built to support, then Nigeria, as a democratic entity, is vanquished.
*A Call to History*
A one-party state in a diverse, heterogeneous nation like Nigeria is a recipe for catastrophic failure. It creates an echo chamber where incompetence is shielded by power, and where the lack of accountability inevitably leads to the bankruptcy of the state.
History will not be kind to those who presided over the autopsy of the Nigerian dream. Posterity will record that while the country gasped for breath under the weight of economic hardship and systemic insecurity, those in power were busy obsessing over the annihilation of political rivals.
The pursuit of a one-party Nigeria is not strength; it is a profound weakness. It is the coward’s way of governing. We must recognize this for what it is: an attempt to truncate the Nigerian spirit and replace it with a stifling, unitary rule that serves the few at the expense of the many.
The people are watching. The institutions may be captured, and the opposition may be under siege, but the spirit of a people who have tasted the freedom of choice cannot be permanently suppressed.
If the current administration persists in this “third-term” mentality and the forced consolidation of power, they are not just destroying the ADC or other opposition parties—they are destroying the very foundation upon which their own legitimacy rests.
The road to a one-party state is a road to nowhere. And if Nigeria is to survive, the march towards this tyranny must be halted, not by the grace of the ruling party, but by the united voice of a people who refuse to be silenced.
Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: ikhideluckyerasmus@gmail.com
