While the nation was bleeding under the weight of aggravated insecurity, increasing poverty, and hunger—indices now validated by the World Bank which recently reported that over 104 million Nigerians are living below the poverty line—President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took a French leave to France for his stem cell treatment and to work on his contacts in the United States to forestall the FBI’s planned release of his drug trafficking indictment report. Officially, however, we were told he was on a “working visit” to review his administration’s policies and chart a new course.

 

This act of deliberate deception comes at a time when Nigeria’s inflation rate stands at 33.69% as of March 2025, with food inflation nearing 42%, a critical situation that demands active presidential leadership and not medical tourism or covert image laundering.

 

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Yesterday, he quietly sneaked back to the country under the cover of darkness, having failed to secure any cooperation from the USA authorities that the planned release on 2nd May 2025 can be forestalled. This cloak-and-dagger return confirms that the President remains far more concerned about his personal legacy than the collective destiny of the Nigerian people.

 

To douse the impact of the planned release and put up a farcade of popularity and approval from within since he returned, he has determined two issues to deflect media and national attention from his sordid drug past. These are:

1. The immediate defection of some PDP governors to the APC; and

2. A dubious state creation exercise.

 

The plan is to have some PDP governors decamp to APC to deplete the number of states controlled by the opposition. We are alerting Nigerians that this alleged plan by the Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government to coerce and induce Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors to defect to APC is a stark reminder of the party’s brazen disregard for democratic principles and the rule of law under this administration that is hell-bent on entrenching a one-party state in Nigeria.

The move, if successful, would not only undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system but also pose a significant threat to the country’s democracy.

 

The attempt to strong-arm opposition governors into defecting is a blatant disregard for the democratic process. By using coercion and inducement, the APC is essentially trying to buy its way to a one-party state, disregarding the will of the people who elected these governors to represent their interests. This approach undermines the foundations of Nigeria’s democratic system, which is built on the principles of a multi-party system, free and fair elections, transparency, and accountability.

 

The use of coercion and inducement to manipulate politicians into switching parties is also a serious threat to democracy. This tactic not only undermines the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system but also erodes the trust of its citizens. When politicians are coerced or induced into defecting, they are no longer accountable to their constituents, who elected them and to the political parties that sponsored them and are the primary holders of the mandate, but rather to the party that facilitated their defection. This creates a culture of loyalty to the alien party rather than to the people, which is antithetical to democratic principles and ethos.

 

As Ruth Youngland Nelson profoundly stated: “The slow erosion of democracy does not always come from a bomb or a bullet, but from the steady betrayal of trust, from those who should guard it the most.”

 

The danger of the France policy review retreat outcome, which is to accelerate the push to a one-party state, is that if the APC’s plan is successful, and Nigeria becomes a one-party state, it would stifle dissenting voices and opposition. This would have far-reaching consequences for the country’s democracy, including:

1. Loss of checks and balances: A one-party state would concentrate power, eliminating the checks and balances that are essential to a healthy democracy. Without a strong opposition, the ruling party would be able to act with impunity, potentially leading to authoritarianism.

2. Suppression of opposition: The absence of a strong opposition would allow the ruling party to suppress dissenting voices, potentially leading to a culture of fear and silence. This would undermine the ability of citizens to hold their leaders accountable, leading to a decline in transparency and accountability.

3. Erosion of citizens’ rights: A one-party state often results in the suppression of citizens’ rights, including freedom of speech, assembly, and association. Without a strong opposition, citizens would have limited avenues to express their grievances, potentially leading to social unrest and instability.

To this extent, the APC government’s plan to coerce and induce PDP governors to defect is a clear indication of its disregard for democratic principles. By pursuing this plan, the APC is essentially trying to consolidate power and eliminate opposition, rather than working to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy. This approach is antithetical to the principles of democracy, which emphasise the importance of competition, transparency, and accountability.

 

It is important that all Nigerians rise up to their civic responsibility to save this democracy from such creeping one-party dictatorship, which has led to the capture of the 10th National Assembly led by Sen. Godswill Akpabio and the Judiciary led by Kekere Ekum. Because the impact of the APC’s one-party state plan on Nigeria’s democracy would be far-reaching and fatal to its continuation.

 

Once the one-party state is consolidated, the first noticeable erosion would be the extension and use of coercion and inducement to undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system, potentially leading to a decline in voter turnout and trust in the system. This would create a culture of impunity, where the ruling party is able to act with little or no accountability, thereby undermining the rule of law and potentially leading to human rights abuses.

This would return Nigeria to the dark days of Abacha, and perhaps the elimination of term limits for a monarchial-type democracy of one-man and family rule, where Seyi Tinubu would be programmed to succeed his father based on current happenings.

 

Joseph Chilton Pearce, in his enduring wisdom, warned: “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. But when leadership criminalizes dissent, creativity dies, and conformity becomes the law.”

 

Another potential danger of the one-party state agenda of the APC is that it would stifle economic growth and development, as the absence of competition and innovation would lead to stagnation and complacency. Nigeria, already grappling with a youth unemployment rate exceeding 53%, cannot afford this.

Needless to reemphasise that the planned one-party state by the Bola Tinubu-led APC government to coerce and induce PDP governors to defect, if successful, would undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system, concentrate power, and potentially lead to authoritarianism. Nigerians must therefore rise up to demand that the APC government prioritize the strengthening of Nigeria’s democracy, rather than pursuing a plan that would undermine its foundations. The people of Nigeria deserve a government that is accountable, transparent, and committed to democratic principles. Anything less would be a betrayal of the trust placed in them.

 

On the state creation, we firmly believe it is designed just to engage the nation in a divisive debate to take away attention from the glaring failures of the Tinubu-led APC government, hence we need not dwell any further on it.

 

Ukpai Emma Ukpai
For: PDP RENAISSANCE GROUP.