April 20, (THEWILL) — In Nigeria’s current political climate, one fault line defines the contest: parties that govern versus parties that grieve. The All Progressives Congress, APC, is campaigning on a record. Its rivals are increasingly campaigning on resentment.
The weapon the rival parties are wielding against the ruling party is ‘victimism’.
Victimism is the attitude or practice of consistently regarding oneself or others as helpless victims, often used to avoid responsibility, justify inaction, or seek special treatment. It is a psychological pattern where individuals adopt a victim identity to protect themselves from failure or pain. In politics, it becomes a substitute for policy: blame replaces budgets, and pity replaces projects.
APC: The Burden and Benefit of Responsibility
Governing parties have no hiding place. From Abuja to Ado-Ekiti, APC has carried the burden of unpopular but necessary decisions – subsidy removal, FX unification, tax reform. It also carries the benefit of measurable delivery.
In Ekiti, Governor Biodun Oyebanji met salary arrears and a security crisis. He did not issue communiqués on “how Ekiti was marginalised”. He paid workers, cleared gratuities quarterly, and made Ekiti, Nigeria, the most secure state by 2026. The state topped audit transparency indexes and opened rural roads to all farm clusters. That is the anti-victim playbook: own the problem, then solve it.
APC’s message is simple: Nigeria is difficult, so what did we build today? It is not glamorous. But it is the government.
PDP: From Power to Pity
The Peoples Democratic Party governed Nigeria for 16 years and many states for 24. Yet its 2026 rhetoric is built on victimism. When it loses, INEC is the problem. When its governors defect, it is “victimisation” or “betrayal”. When it fails to pay salaries, it is a “federal allocation”.
In Ekiti, PDP’s 2026 aspirants have framed their campaign around “taking back our state from outsiders” and “ending APC imposition.” No white paper on jobs. No cost plan for pensions. The same PDP that left gratuities unpaid for years now presents itself as the victim of the APC’s payment culture.
Victimism lets PDP avoid a hard question: If 16 years at the centre and 12 years in Ekiti didn’t fix these problems, why should grievance fix them now? The voters who lived through those years are no longer buying the story. Former Governor Ayo Fayose’s endorsement of BAO is the clearest rejection of PDP victimism by PDP’s own founder in Ekiti.
ADC: Opposition as Permanent Lamentation
The African Democratic Congress branded itself as the “third force” for the disaffected. In practice, it has become the party of perpetual litigation and press statements.
Study ADC’s pattern thus far: Lose a primary, cry “imposition.” Lose a court case, cry “judicial capture.” Lose an election, cry “rigging.” Win zero states, claim moral victory. The April 2026 Federal High Court judgements in Ekiti dismissed the rival-backed suits as “statute barred”, “academic exercise”, and “abuse of judicial process”. The court was speaking to a political style: dispute everything, deliver nothing.
ADC’s victimism protects it from governance. You cannot be blamed for bad roads if you never build roads. But Nigeria in 2026 is asking for roads, not reasons.
Accord and Others: Victimism at the Subnational Scale
The Accord Party and smaller platforms have adopted the same playbook in states where they contend. The script is familiar: “We are excluded”, “The system is against us”, “Our people are marginalised”. Yet none can point to a local government they control and have transformed.
In Ekiti, as well as in other states, candidates of these smaller platforms campaign on “we were rigged out in 2022” rather than “here is our model LGA.” Victimism becomes a business model: the more you lose, the more righteous you claim to be. But the electorate now asks: if you cannot organise a ward, how will you organise a state?
Why Victimism Is Collapsing in 2026
Three forces are ending the market for grievance politics: First, demographics. 70% of voters are under 40. They don’t vote on civil war history. They vote on salary alerts, internet speed, and transport fares. ADC and PDP tell them who hurt their parents. APC tells them who paved the road to their farm. The second answer wins.
Second, hardship. Inflation has no sympathy. A trader in Ikole doesn’t care if your party was “cheated in 2003”. She cares that BAO’s rural road cuts her transport cost by 40%. Victimism cannot reduce garri price. Projects can.
Third, institutions. Courts are now striking out “busy body” cases and telling parties to use their internal mechanisms. INEC is deploying BVAS and iREV. The space for “we were rigged” as a perpetual excuse is shrinking. Parties must now earn votes, not just allege theft.
The Cost of Victimism to Nigeria
Victimism teaches that power is given to the pitied, not the prepared. It teaches regions that progress comes from allocation, not production. It tells candidates that ballots are owed, not earned.
APC’s alternative is imperfect but mature and reasonable: take power, take blame, deliver what you can. That is why former rivals now endorse BAO. Payment of gratuity to a PDP retiree converts him from “PDP victim” to “Ekiti beneficiary.” Performance ends the grievance cycle.
June 20 and January 2027: The Emerging Choice
Ekiti votes on June 20, 2026. Nigeria votes in January 2027. The ballot will not ask: “Who suffered most?” It will ask: “Who served best?”
Rival parties can continue to trade in victimism. They will get applause at press conferences and retweets from activists. But they will not get the schools, the roads, or the votes.
APC is not without fault. But it is on-site. From subsidy removal to farm settlements, it is taking the hits and laying the bricks.
Victimism had its season. That season is ending.
Arrogance builds walls. Victimism builds excuses. Humility builds bridges. Governance builds states.
The APC builds. The rivals lament. Ekiti and Nigeria will choose the former over the latter. Know this, know peace.
*** Segun Dipe writes as the Spokesperson of the APC in Ekiti State.
