April 28, (THEWILL) – The Presidency has said that democracy is thriving under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, adding that politicians, human right activists and civil society organisations holding contrary views are expressing baseless and unsubstantiated opinions.
Prompted by a declaration on Sunday by 17 democracy activists, professors, senior journalists, ex-lawmakers and jurists that the government was deliberately derailing democracy by its acts of omission and commission and the prevailing perception that the government had a hand in the recent defection of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, local government chairmen, his cabinet and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the governing All Progressives Congress, the presidency said the defectors expressed their free will and slammed those who criticised their moves as being hypocritical.
It also described the Sunday declaration by a group of 17 as alarmist.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, spoke on behalf of the government on Sunday.
“Without any equivocation, freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of choice are part of the cherished ideals of democracy. When politicians and citizens cannot freely join any association or political party of their choice or cannot openly express their views, democracy is imperilled. Those opposed to the Tinubu administration should understand that they can issue diatribes, without fear, against the government because we practice democracy,” Onanuga said.
Citing the Sunday Statement by the group of 17, Onanuga said, “We have read the alarming claims orchestrated by disgruntled opposition figures, some partisan human rights crusaders and emergency defenders of democracy over recent defections of key members of opposition parties into the governing All Progressives Congress.”
In a statement titled Defending Democracy: A Call to Resist the March toward A One-Party State in Nigeria, which was issued on Sunday, the group of 17 said, “Nigeria’s hard-won “democracy through decades of struggles, sacrifice and steadfast resistance against authoritarian rule, is under grave threat.”
The group comprised Prof Adele Jinadu, Sen Babafemi Ojudu, Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, Chief Tola Adeniyi, Dr Jibrin Ibrahim, Dr. Sam Amad, Olufemi Adegbulugbe, Auwa Ibrahim Musa Rasfajani, Nnimmo Bassey, Adeola Soetan, Richard Akinnola, Abdul Mahmud, Hon Uche Onyeagucha, Uzodinma Uwaogbe, Mma Odi and Osa Director.
“We are witnessing, with increasing dismay, a calculated and systematic effort by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to dismantle the democratic foundations of our republic and reduce Nigeria to a one-party state. Under this administration, political pluralism is being eroded not by persuasion or performance, but by bribery, blackmail and coercion. Serving and former governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, and key opposition figures are decamping en masse to the ruling party, not out of conviction, but out of fear and pressure,” the group said.
It claimed that the pattern being deployed by the government is disturbingly clear, “an invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for questioning on financial impropriety is swiftly followed by political capitulation. “This weaponisation of state institutions for partisan gain corrodes public trust and undermines the integrity of our democracy.
“The drift toward a one-party state is a betrayal of the ideals that many of us—and indeed, President Tinubu himself, fought for during the darkest days of military dictatorship. It is not what we envisioned when we stood in the streets demanding civil rule. It is not what the constitution guarantees. And it is not what Nigeria’s future demands.”
The group called on Nigerians in their numbers to rise up and defend this drift towards authoritarianism because it supports a culture of impunity, where the absence of opposition breeds arrogance and unaccountable governance, jeopardises the federal character principle by suffocating the diversity of voices and interests that make up the republic and stifles the political space for young Nigerians to organise, question and contribute to the national discourse.
THEWILL recalls that also, politicians have criticised the defection of Governor Oborevwori and his team to the APC as a product of coercion, intimidation and manipulation by the Tinubu administration.
Politicians like former APC’s Northwest Vice-Chairman, Dr. Lukman Salihu, who described defection as long-expected and Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, who said the challenge ahead of the 2027 General Election would be between APC versus Nigerians, as well as Alhaji Buba Galadima of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP and Labour Party leaders, who all accused the Tinubu administration of strangulating the democratic space through bad policies manipulation and bribery.
Onanuga said the allegations were fabrications by disgruntled civil rights groups and failed politicians.
“The seismic shift caused by the defection of the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, the former governor and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, and the principal political actors in Delta State certainly threw the opposition and their sympathisers into disarray, “ he said, adding, “The opposition elements are understandably heartbroken and disillusioned over the failure of their fabled grand coalition to gain traction, we find it disturbing that they resorted to peddling false allegations of the promotion of a one-party state against President Bola Tinubu, who is working very hard to reverse decades of economic mismanagement of our country.
“Contrary to the false claims in the sponsored propaganda materials in circulation across mainstream and social media, democracy is not under any threat in Nigeria. Accusations that the administration is moving towards authoritarianism are baseless and exaggerated.”
He said that the administration has no policy, official action, or directive from the Presidency which seeks to “dismantle democracy” or “weaken opposition or create a one-party state.”
Accusations of bribery, blackmail, and the weaponization of state institutions, he said only exist in the “idle minds of politicians and their agents who have failed in their assigned duty of opposition.
“The opposition cannot blame President Tinubu and the governing APC for their poor organisation, indiscipline, and gross incompetence in managing their affairs. It is certainly not part of President Tinubu’s job to organise or strengthen opposition parties.
“We find it curious that those who celebrated the defection of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the formation of a regional grand coalition with the sole aim of defeating President Tinubu in the 2027 election are the same people shedding crocodile tears over Nigeria’s so-called drift to a one-party state and authoritarianism.”
Reacting to the group of 17, Onanuga said, “While the latter-day defenders of democracy raised no anxious voice against the disgruntled politicians cobbling an anti-Tinubu, anti-APC coalition along dangerous regional lines, even before INEC blows the whistle for party politicking, they are quick to ascribe the political shifts in some states to “bribery, blackmail, and coercion” without any shred of evidence.
“It is hypocrisy writ-large when opposition politicians and their collaborators in the ‘human rights’ movement desire that the party of the President should implode so they can gain electoral advantage and cry wolf when their wish does not materialise.
“We want to state that democracy is not threatened or undermined simply because politicians exercise their rights of association. Nigerians migrating to the APC and expressing support for Tinubu are doing so out of their free will, based on the belief that the reforms being executed are in the interest of Nigerians and the unborn generation. It is a gross disservice to democracy in itself for these emergency defenders of democracy to delegitimise the political choices of some Nigerians while upholding the choices of others to form a coalition against Tinubu and APC.”
He defended the administration’s democracy record, saying that under President Tinubu, democracy is strong, and the multiparty democratic system will continue to flourish unhindered.
“President Tinubu is an avowed democrat and a firm believer in multiparty democracy. His political activism and democratic credentials in galvanising and strengthening opposition platforms as a force that defeated a sitting President and the then ruling party attest to his profound credibility as a tested and relentless defender of multiparty democracy,” Onanuga added.
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