2027: More defections loom as APC mounts pressure on opposition figures

Recall that at the beginning of the 10th Assembly, the
ruling party had 59 seats in the upper legislative Chamber, while the
opposition had 50 to make up the 109 seats.

Similarly, in the lower legislative chamber, (House of
Representatives) APC initially controlled 175 seats while the opposition had
182 seats.

However, a few months after the 10th Assembly was inaugurated,
there has been an unprecedented wave of defection from the opposition parties
to the ruling APC, dwindling the strength of opposition in both the red and
green chambers.

According to reports, the APC now has about 265 seats in the
two chambers after six senators and 24 House members dumped the opposition
parties and defected to the ruling APC.

The gale of defection became more worrisome recently after
the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori on April 23, led his predecessor,
Ifeanyi Okowa, and the entire PDP structure in the state to switch allegiance
to APC.

Prior to their resignation from PDP, four members of the Edo
State House of Assembly had on March 12, dumped the main opposition party and
Labour Party for the ruling APC, weakening opposition voices in the state.

The decision of Governor Oborevwori and his political
entourage followed a resolution of governors elected under the PDP platform not
to be part of the coalition being spearheaded by their former presidential
candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

APC intensifies negotiations with more governors and
lawmakers

It wasgathered at the weekend that the ruling party has
intensified its negotiation, wooing other opposition leaders, particularly from
the northern part of the country to join the APC.

A top PDP stakeholder, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the ruling party has resolved to capture more states in the North before
the year runs out.

According to him, northern states like Adamawa and Zamfara
have been a target of the ruling party to further weaken the PDP structure
ahead of Tinubu’s re-election bid.

He noted that “anywhere APC notices a threat ahead of the
next election, they are doing everything possible to capture the place.
Politics is a game and it is a game of personal interest.

“People don’t just defect for nothing. The recent wave of
defection as you are seeing, has a lot of secret agreements between the
individual and the party.

“Aside from money, what they do is to assure, whoever is
defecting, especially the lawmakers, that their re-election into the 11th
assembly is guaranteed.

“As we speak, there is serious pressure on Kano, Akwa-Ibom,
Zamfara, Plateau Governors to defect to the party at least before the year runs
out.

“The plan is to capture many states, especially the
strongholds of all the opposition parties before the primary election next
year.

“Aside from Osun State, where the opposition is seemingly
strong, anything is possible in South West states controlled by the PDP”.

He further stated that the outcome of the much-awaited
National Executive Council meeting of the PDP scheduled for May 27 “will
determine who is going to remain in PDP until the end of the year”.

The source alleged that “one of the conditions being handed
over to Governor Fubara of Rivers State for his return is either to join APC or
publicly endorse Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election as done in Anambra
State recently”.

According to him, “PDP governors defecting and endorsing
Tinubu are those who want to render Atiku useless.

“They are tired of his role in the party. He has a way of
forcing himself on the people and that was why our party lost the 2023
election.

“The only solution is for the PDP to put its house together.
We are hopeful that the coming NEC meeting will bring the desired peace into
the party”.

The possibility of the President Bola Tinubu-led
administration to plunge the country into a one-party state has been a concern
to opposition figures across the country.

The insinuation followed the continuous defection of key
opposition figures into the ruling party, which has relatively weakened the
strength of the opposition voices.

The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje,
recently fueled speculations that the ruling party is all out to ‘destroy’ the
opposition parties.

On Friday, the former governor of Kano State, while leading
a delegation of three defecting senators from Kebbi state to President Tinubu,
told Nigerians that there is nothing wrong with having a one-party system in
Nigeria.

According to him, “leaders worried about a one-party state
have no need to fear. A one-party state is not by force; it is by negotiation.

“It is by other political parties seeing the effect of the
positive governance of our party”.

Ganduje’s latest comments re-ignited speculations that state
resources might be quietly deployed to undermine the opposition in the country.

A political analyst, James Agaba said that Ganduje’s
comments are highly condemnable, stressing that the utterance has the “capacity
to destroy the democracy we are managing to grow.

“That is power intoxication. From what the APC leader said,
it is clear enough that the 2027 election is going to be a do or die affair and
that’s not a good news for our staggering democracy.

“Is there a hidden agenda for the 2027 election? Since
Nigeria returned to Democracy in 1999, APC came into power just in 2015 and the
same party now wants to run a one-party state after they have enjoyed
opposition?. This really calls for concerns.

“The beauty of Democracy is opposition. They put the ruling
party in check and allow things to flow well, so in a situation where there is
no opposition, we will only end up having autocratic leaders, who will do only
what they want.

The presidency had prior to Ganduje’s recent comment, denied
any intention to pursue a one-party agenda.