By
Mahmud Shuaibu Ringim
The 2027 election cycle is already heating up even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally drawn the battle lines. The pressure mounted on opposition parties today resembles a calculated carrot-and-stick strategy deployed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), aimed at weakening rivals through inducement and intimidation.
The glaring absence of ideologically driven opposition parties has gradually turned the APC into the nucleus of what increasingly looks like an emerging one-party state. Politics in Nigeria has largely been reduced to opportunism rather than principle.
The recent political adventure embarked upon by former President Olusegun Obasanjo—attempting to pair Peter Obi of the Labour Party with Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP—was dead on arrival. The effort failed largely because there is no ideological chemistry between the two leaders, given their divergent worldviews and approaches to governance.
In the absence of a clearly defined ideological political space, Nigerian politicians are generally driven by the desire to secure public office as the fastest route to power and access to state resources. This reality has become even more pronounced under the Tinubu administration, which has unapologetically consolidated key economic and security institutions within a single geopolitical zone.
It is high time Nigeria’s political space was reshaped around ideology. One option is a left-of-centre political platform that promotes a state-controlled economy, where government plays a dominant role in economic management, with limited private sector participation.
Alternatively, a right-of-centre ideology would favour a private sector–driven economy, with the state focusing on creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
A third option is the Russian or Chinese model, where political power is highly centralized, while economic power largely resides in the private sector, with the state acting primarily as a regulator.
After nearly twenty-five years of uninterrupted democratic governance, Nigerian politics remains largely anchored on identity rather than ideology. Despite operating a federal system that grants subnational governments constitutional authority and financial allocations, power remains excessively centralized. As a result, the federating units function more like appendages of the centre, where critical economic and security decisions are monopolized.
By contrast, recent tensions in Minneapolis, United States—a country that operates a similar presidential federal system—demonstrate the robustness of federalism. Even after over 250 years of practice, states still actively assert their autonomy against federal overreach.
One crucial responsibility of the Nigerian electorate is to ensure that the party controlling the executive arm of government does not also dominate the National Assembly. Such a balance would compel the ruling party to remain accountable and responsive, thereby strengthening democratic governance.
At present, the APC can be clearly categorized as an advocate of a free-market economy. The removal of petroleum subsidy, the floating of the naira, the hike in interest rates, and increased taxation policies all reflect its commitment to market-driven reforms.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) may therefore need to embrace a left-of-centre ideological identity, especially if they intend to reverse the harsh economic reforms of the APC. Dismantling these policies could relieve Nigerians from the suffocating economic pressure currently experienced.
Politicians who resist the temptation to defect to the APC will stand out as credible alternatives, offering Nigerians a genuine choice in the face of painful reforms.
Defection, in practical terms, is akin to a ship’s captain abandoning his vessel at the first sign of strong winds and stormy seas during an election cycle.
Nigeria has never operated a one-party state, and the current trajectory suggests a dangerous drift in that direction. A multiparty democracy is the lifeblood of any functional democratic system, ensuring competition, accountability, and effective governance
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