The Labour Party (LP) has raised alarm over what it describes as calculated moves by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to destabilise opposition parties and suppress dissent, warning that such actions threaten the foundation of Nigeria’s democracy.
This concern was expressed during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Global Award and Dinner Night held in Abuja on Monday. Representing the Labour Party’s Acting National Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, her Senior Special Adviser on Media, Ken Eluma Asogwa, delivered a strongly-worded message that accused the APC of weaponising state institutions to silence opposition voices and entrench political control.
According to Usman, “Since the emergence of the APC as the ruling party, there has been a deliberate and relentless campaign to undermine the opposition. Tactics range from infiltration and co-optation to judicial manipulation and intimidation through state institutions.”
She stressed that this trend is not only dangerous but also contradicts the essence of democracy. “This is not democracy; this is domination masked as governance,” she said, warning that the absence of a strong and functional opposition weakens democratic accountability.
Usman further lamented the diminishing space for dissent, arguing that Nigeria’s democracy is at risk of becoming a one-party system in disguise. “Without a strong and functional opposition, we cannot claim to be practising democracy — only a shadow of it,” she added.
In a swift rebuttal, the National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, dismissed Usman’s comments. Speaking with Hobnob News in a phone interview, he described the opposition alliance as an “association of internally displaced politicians.”
“They can’t work together,” Basiru said. “The so-called planned coalition is the figment of the imagination of some individuals who thought that they were big. What coalition are you talking about?”
While Usman criticised the APC’s alleged tactics, she also acknowledged the role internal divisions within opposition parties have played in their decline. She called on opposition leaders to put aside personal ambition and infighting in order to present a united and credible front to the Nigerian electorate.
“But let me also be brutally honest,” she noted. “While external interference from the APC has played a role, it is not the only culprit. The opposition has too often been complicit in its weakening. No amount of external sabotage can succeed if there is no internal decay.”
Usman concluded by urging all political actors to show greater patriotism and responsibility. She warned that unchecked political dominance undermines democracy and puts the legitimacy of the entire system at risk.
“It does this country no good to operate a system where one party dominates unchecked,” she said. “Even the APC, if it is wise, should understand that democracy dies not with a bang but with the silence of dissent. Once the people are left with no real alternative, the legitimacy of the entire system is at risk.”
As political tensions continue to rise, observers await whether these criticisms will prompt a more unified front among Nigeria’s fragmented opposition or further entrench political polarisation.
