Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma has warned that Nigeria’s democracy could be endangered if opposition parties fail to build strong political structures capable of competing with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general election.
Gatekeepers News reports that Uzodinma spoke on Saturday during the APC presidential primary election where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the party’s flagbearer for the 2027 presidential poll.
The governor said democracy can only thrive when there is healthy political competition, urging opposition parties to focus on strengthening their structures rather than complaining about the dominance of the APC.
“It is no longer a democracy if there is no opposition. I encourage opposition parties to work hard, do what the ruling party has done, and when, by the grace of God, it becomes their turn, they will elect their own president,” Uzodinma said.
The Imo governor also argued that the APC had already built a strong grassroots structure capable of delivering victory for Tinubu in the next election.
According to him, the party’s electronic membership registration and validation exercise significantly boosted participation across the country.
“If you look at what is happening at the grassroots, how the grassroots have been stimulated, starting from the membership registration, which was done electronically, to the validation of members, you can see 35,000 human beings in just one ward in all its local governments,” he said.
“It means that if all our party members vote for President Bola Tinubu, he has already won the election.”
Uzodinma further claimed that the APC’s digital membership registration system improved grassroots inclusiveness and strengthened the party’s political reach nationwide.
“The membership registration as conducted by the All Progressives Congress took care of grassroots inclusiveness, and today it is manifesting in the realities of our democratic situation in Nigeria,” he added.
The governor also praised Tinubu’s leadership style and governance, insisting that the president deserved another term in office.
“President Bola Tinubu has done enough to deserve going back for a second time. I want to congratulate him for taking the time to do politics the way it should be done,” he said.
Tinubu secured the APC presidential ticket on Saturday after recording landslide victories in the party’s direct primary election conducted across the country’s 8,809 wards. The president defeated his only challenger, Stanley Osifo, by wide margins in several states.
