BY AUGUSTINE OMILO
With final defection of Governor Sim Fubara from his former party, PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress, the final nail appears to have been placed on the head of vibrant opposition in Nigeria’s democratic setting. The APC has now become the toast of almost all the politicians in the country. With the exception of Governor Adeleke of Osun state, all defecting governors have now identified with the APC, thereby making the nation tilt towards a-one party state.
There is hardly any politically enlightened Nigerian that does not hold the view that the poor economic performance of the country is traceable poor leadership. This is especially so since 1979 when the nation embraced the American presidential system of democratic governance.
The type of government has not failed in the US since 1789 when George Washington became inaugurated as the first president of the country.
Unfortunately, Nigeria copied the American government pattern without taking into account the components that guaranteed its success. For instance, the Democratic National Committee, DNC was formed in 1848 alongside the Democratic Party. The committee’s responsibilities include the formulation of strategies to ensure, not only the victory of the party at the polls through credible party primaries for choosing credible candidates but also to assist towards making the people of the country feel the positive impact of the party after winning elections.
By constitutional provisions, if the Democratic Party wins the presidential election, the committee submits itself to control from the white house through the president. The same rule applies to the Republican Party with its own Republican National Committee, RNC. In other words, political organs in the US are made to have bodies that moderate the activities of political party members with a view to making sure that they are on the same page at all times in terms of party manifestos, organisations, fund raisings for campaigns, discipline of erring members and so on and so forth.
The over 175-year old structure of the Democratic Party has remained in force till date. Having considered his experience as the former Chairman of the Democratic party of Southern Carolina, former President Joe Biden nominated Jammie Harrison for the position of the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2021. This was accepted by members of the committee, who later elected him to that position. Needless to say that since its formation, the Democratic Party has continued to alternate governance of the US with the Republican Party with members of the society joining either of them based on ideological principles and beliefs.
However, political parties in Nigeria appear to be operating without ideological and administrative structures. And this has remained the bane of democratic leadership crisis in the country. Though, presently a shadow of its former self, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP is the only party proudly run by board of trustees that can be likened to the DNC of America. All the other parties are run with political party election contestants acting mainly in manners that are at variance with their political parties’ principles.
Unfortunately, today’s PDP has become so tattered in organisation that the hope of its revival has remained very slim. Its last NEC meeting held November 2025 is still a subject of political debates. While the former acting chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagun and the likes of Yesom
Wike and Samuel Anyanwu are still parading themselves as members of the party, the new leadership under Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, SAN as chairman along with Governor Seyi Makinde of
Oyo state hold the view that they remained expelled from the once largest party in Africa.
Organisationally speaking, none of the opposition political groups, including the so called Coalitions seem formidable enough to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives’ Congress, APC come 2027. Both PDP and the LP have lost many of their National Assembly members to the ruling APC. The coalition led by ADC is yet to find their feet.
For the records, the PDP performed fairly well when it held sway (1999 – 2015) mainly because of its robust structure with men like late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Barnabas Gemade, Chief Tony Anenih and others as BoT chairmen at one point or the other. The party’s fortune crashed when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president (1999 – 2007) refused or failed to sustain the leadership style of the party when he took over as the first former president to function as its chairman of Board of Trustees.
In the final analysis, Nigeria cannot be dreaming of credible democratic leadership when the leadership at the political parties’ levels is faulty. Parties cannot conduct primary elections characterized with irregularities and rancour and expect good governance to emerge from them.
