Last week, five members of the House of Representatives, consisting of four Labour Party (LP) and one Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members renounced their membership of the party that gave them the platform to contest to win their seats and defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in one fell swoop.
Then this week, two other members of the Labour Party from Plateau State also defected to the APC.
The defections which are being contested by the LP, have added to the woes of the opposition parties in Nigeria as it has further reduced their number in the parliament and threatens to stifle their voices.
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Before last week’s defection, opposition parties had lost many of their leading members, including a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, who defected alongside a former senator and PDP gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State, Obinna Ogba and that of the Labour Party, Edward Nkwegu. Prior to that, the senator representing Imo-east senatorial district, Francis Ezenwa, also moved to the ruling party.
The opposition also lost former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha and former spokesperson to a PDP presidential candidate, Daniel Bwala.
The leading opposition parties in Nigeria which include, the PDP; LP; NNPP, with the exception of the SDP, are also having it hard keeping their houses in order with each experiencing different type of crises.
With what is happening, observers of political events say the opposition in Nigeria may be recording one of its worst outings with its near absence on the polity and inability to put a united front to hold the government of the day to account.
Many posit that the opposition parties are not doing enough despite the general feeling of discontentment.
The situation appears worse at the legislature which is supposed to serve to check the excesses of the ruling party. Rather than the opposition moving against government policies, it is members of the ruling party that are seen to play such roles.
This is contrary to what is expected in a democracy where the opposition usually keeps the ruling party on its toes with keen monitoring of government policies and activities, clinical observations of events, constructive criticisms and offer of alternative ideas.
On inauguration of the current administration, the APC had 63 senators; while PDP had 34; LP, 5; NNPP; 2; SDP, 2 and APGA,1.
At the House of Representatives, 181 opposition lawmakers won seats into the 10th House with 117 seats for the PDP; LP, 35; NNPP, 19; APGA,5; SDP, 2; African Democratic Congress, ADC, 2; and Young Progressive Party, YPP, 1.
Despite the relatively high number of legislators, the voice of the opposition is hardly felt at the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Added to that, most of the opposition parties are embroiled in international crisis.
Some have attributed this to lack of ideologies and fear of the ruling party while others are of the opinion that the opposition parties may have been infiltrated by the ruling party and have been deliberately destabilised to ensure they do not form formidable fronts against it.
It is also alleged that the ruling party might be behind the crises in the opposition parties in order to keep them divided so as not threaten its chances in 2027.
Many recall how the APC kept the ruling party on its toes when it was formed, as its leaders organised protests, scrutinised and criticised almost every action of the government of the day and sustained its campaigns for change until it swept the PDP away from the presidency.
CSOs speak
Senior Communications Officer at Yiaga Africa, Mr Mark Amaza, while speaking with Weekend Trust, attributed the seeming lack of opposition to the manner political parties are formed where they exist as mere platforms for getting into power but lack ideologies.
“This is why they are unable to offer alternative approaches to governance, and when they get into power, they are often bound together by the patronage system that dominates our politics. The way to make our opposition parties be more proactive has to be from within the parties,” he said.
Executive Director, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Comrade Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said it is not surprising that the major opposition parties are failing in their roles of deepening Nigeria’s democracy because, according to him, the only motivation for participating in politics by most Nigerian politicians is to win election and be in government so as to have access to the nation’s treasury and allocate resources to themselves and their cronies.
“When you have majority of the political elite with this kind of mentality, what happens is that, they see themselves as relevant or useful only when they are in the ruling party. Whenever they find themselves in the opposition, they become politically useless,” he stressed.
Zikirullahi said another major reason for the dearth of strong opposition in the country at the moment is because most Nigerian political parties have very weak internal democratic structures.
He said, “Most of them can barely survive and offer any meaningful contribution to deepening democracy outside of being in power. Most of these parties are mainly funded and controlled by a few moneybag politicians and business men, whose only objective is to gain power and use it to appropriate public funds to themselves.”
Executive Director, Sustainable Gender Action Initiative (SGAI), Dr. Mufuliat Fijabi, said that it is unfortunate there appears to be no opposition parties in Nigeria.
“It is unfortunate that we do not have a strong opposition party in Nigeria’s governance process at the moment and there cannot be any until self-interest, both on the part of politicians and political parties, is buried in the interest of good governance and nation building,” Fijabi said.
State of the parties
At the party level, the conditions of the opposition parties appear pitiable.
The PDP has not been able to put its house in order since it lost the presidential elections in 2015. A major disagreement ensued among its leaders after the 2023 elections which has dogged the party and has not allowed it to pursue a common goal.
For the LP, since the 2023 elections, there have been two factions claiming the national leadership and the issue is yet to be resolved. The lingering disputes and trade of recriminations amongst party leaders have not allowed the party to organize itself or muster the kind of strength required.
Same with New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) where a faction insists that the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, remains expelled from the party.
Though the SDP appears less rancorous of the major opposition parties, its structure has not been formidable enough to give the APC any concern.
Opposition in the past
Nigeria witnessed one of its fiercest oppositions during the 2nd Republic when the then parties, UPN, GNPP, PRP and NPP come together to form alliances to challenge the overbearing influence of the then ruling party, NPN.
The former president Olusegun Obasanjo administration also had a taste of opposition when the parties organised themselves and challenged his policies and actions.
Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by a ruling party was during the run up to the 2015 elections when the APC was formed.
Surprisingly, the current opposition parties do not think they’re underperforming in their roles. They insist they are playing their roles well and blame the ruling party for trying to emasculate them.
A member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, Timothy Osadolor, while speaking to Weekend Trust, blamed the prevailing hardship and the influence of the APC for the weak state of the opposition in Nigeria.
He said, “This government has made it a practice and a hobby to weaponise poverty and hunger to the level that a man who is struggling to eat once a day does not have the moral fibre to be talking about what is right and what is wrong”.
Labour Party’s spokesman, Obiora Ifoh, said the work of opposition is to voice out the frustration of the people and also to give constructive criticism on how best the policies can be implemented to achieve results and that the LP has been doing just that.
He said, “We are not expected to go beyond that. And we have done that on daily basis. Nigerians are always inundated with LP’s position in every critical policy of the government like the removal of subsidy. We argued it and told the world how best we could have done better.”
National chairman of the SDP, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, also insists that his party has been playing the role of opposition very well.
He said people should be fair to the SDP, adding that there is no party that has been more vocal in terms of raising observations, and offering constructive advice to the government to remedy the situation.
“Virtually every week we update citizens about what is happening and advise the government. We are doing everything humanly possible to offer friendly advice.
The system is already chaotic so we don’t want to add to a fragile system because nobody knows who is going to be a victim and all we are doing are within the limits of civility using modest language so as not to escalate the situation,” he said.
We’re not behind opposition parties’ problems – APC
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied allegations that it is responsible for opposition parties’ travails.
The APC National Director of Media and Publicity, Alhaji Bala Ibrahim, told Weekend Trust in a telephone interview that the allegations are baseless and lacked substance.
He asked opposition leaders to acquire training at the APC’s Progressive Institute, recently established in Abuja.
He said, “The APC cannot be behind the crises in opposition parties. This is just to tell you that the opposition is not serious! They simply don’t know the meaning of opposition.
“If you are in opposition, you must be ready to oppose constructively, democratically and in a way and manner that will endear you to the citizens.
“You cannot be in opposition and expect the party in power to be managing your affairs. No way. The ambition of every political party is to win the confidence of the populace and take control of power.
“So if the opposition does not understand the meaning of opposition, I think the time has come for them to come to the Progressive Institute which the APC has established, which is ready to teach people the art of politics and democratic governance.”
He also dispelled the claim that the APC was planning to foist a one-party system on Nigeria, saying the existence of opposition parties brings out the beauty of democracy in any country.
The former presidential candidates
Former presidential candidates of the three major opposition parties, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, have, with the crises in their parties tried to sustain the opposition.
They have individually voiced out their opposition to what they perceive as missteps of the government.
However, some political analysts say their inability to galvanise their parties behind them has often robbed them of the verve to sustain the heat. They added that the constant failure to find a common ground has watered down such protestations.
Many Nigerians fear that at the rate the opposition parties are going, a one party state may become a reality sooner than expected.
Contributions from: Abbas Jimoh, Itodo Daniel and Saawua Terzungwe
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