Nenadi Usman, caretaker committee chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has warned that Nigeria risks becoming a one-party state if opposition parties fail to unite and prioritize national interest over personal ambitions.
Gatekeepers News reports that Usman represented by her media adviser, Ken Eluma Asogwa gave her view on Nigeria’s political future during African Democratic Congress (ADC) award night in Abuja on Monday.
The committee chairman accused All Progressives Congress (APC) of undermining the country’s democratic foundations through deliberate efforts to weaken rival parties.
According to Usman, the ruling party has resorted to using state institutions to harass, intimidate and manipulate the opposition.
She said, “Since the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the ruling party, there has been a deliberate and relentless campaign to undermine the opposition.”
“Tactics range from infiltration and co-optation to the use of state institutions for harassment, intimidation, and even judicial manipulation.”
“The ruling party has become adept not just at consolidating power but at weakening every form of challenge to it. This is not democracy. This is domination masked as governance.”
Usman, however, admitted that external sabotage alone was not responsible for the opposition’s challenges, noting that internal divisions, greed, and personal ambition had also weakened their ranks.
She said, “But let me also be brutally honest: while external interference from the APC has played a role, it is not the only culprit. The opposition has too often been complicit in its own weakening.”
“We must acknowledge that personal ambition, greed, and internal divisions have made us vulnerable. No amount of external sabotage can succeed if there is no internal decay.”
“That is why I say the most potent antidote is not merely vigilance, but patriotism — genuine, uncompromising patriotism.”
“When our leaders put Nigeria first — above ambition, above ego, above the lure of quick power — no ruling party can break us.”
“It is time to stop acting like victims and start behaving like visionaries. Our role is not to whine about the state of the nation but to fight for its redemption.”
Usman called on opposition leaders to form a united front, urging them to rise above ego and provide Nigerians with viable political alternatives.
She said, Democracy thrives not through silence or submission but through robust debate, critique, and the offering of credible alternatives.”
“Without a strong and functional opposition, we cannot claim to be practising democracy, only a shadow of it.”
“Around the world, we have seen how opposition movements shape democratic resilience. Yet here at home, we are witnessing the slow suffocation of opposition voices — not by accident, but by design.”
The committee chairman warned that the absence of a strong opposition could erode public trust in democratic institutions.
She said, “It does this country no good to operate a system where one party dominates unchecked. Even the APC, if it is wise, should understand that democracy dies not with a bang but with the silence of dissent.”
Usman also encouraged opposition parties to go beyond criticism and begin proposing concrete policy solutions that offer Nigerians real hope.
