It is easy to discern why President Bola Tinubu is trudging on despite the huge drawbacks of his administration. Opposition political parties that are supposed to take him and his APC-led administration to task simply do not exist. Where they appear to exist at all, what you see is a pitiful exhibition of inaction and moroseness. They have nothing to commend them. They lack the grit and gravitas that a vibrant opposition needs to function effectively.
Perhaps, the only voice crying in the wilderness is that of Peter Obi, the foremost presidential hopeful with a tricky magic wand. Without him, the opposition in Nigeria can be said to have gone with the winds. But Obi, no matter the crowds that he commands, is not a political party. This fact limits how far his interjections can go. The political parties that are supposed to galvanize Nigerians into real action are fast asleep. Even the new coalition political party called the ADC is still wobbling. It is yet to come to terms with the huge task ahead.
This scenario presents Nigeria with difficult times. The fickleness of the opposition is the brand new headache that the country is grappling with. We have an administration that has provided the opposition so much materials to work with. But rather organize itself into a voice of action, the opposition is either scratching issues on the surface or looking away while the country flounders. It is disturbing that those who are supposed to be the face of the opposition are behaving as if they are new to Nigerian politics. They seem not to have an idea of how the APC as an opposition political party practically ran President Goodluck Jonathan out of office through ceaseless and sustained criticisms. Then, unlike now, the opposition behaved as if Nigeria would drown the next moment if the country was not saved from Jonathan. Yet, the issues we grappled with under Jonathan pale into insignificance when we square them up with the disaster that has befallen the country under Tinubu. Regrettably, the opposition which is supposed to cash in on the hopelessness of the moment has gone into deep slumber. It is timid and wingless. It has allowed oddities to become part of our national life.
Under the Tinubu administration, Nigeria has become a satellite American state. The country’s sovereignty has become compromised. On Christmas Day of 2025, the Donald Trump administration took liberties to bomb some terrorists hideouts in Nigeria. Nigerians just woke up that fateful morning to that strange reality. That was an earth-shaking incident that borders on the sanctity of the country’s sovereignty. That being the case, the government owes Nigerians an explanation on the matter. But no explanation came. Government maintained a studied silence. If you expected the opposition in Nigeria to rise to the occasion, you missed the point. They were simply not there. It was only several weeks after one or two voices from the National Assembly weighed in on the matter that our government said casually that America informed Nigeria before the invasion. Of course that was a huge lie from the pit of hell.
Since then, American troops have continued to move in and out of Nigeria at will. A standby American troop is stationed in Nigeria at moment. So, where is our government? Where is our sovereignty? What manner of defense pact does Nigeria have with America, if any? What is going on in Nigeria beats the imagination. But it is being treated by the opposition and the rest of the people as normal. How did we get to this point of doleful inactivity? What is going on is an indication that our government has failed spectacularly to manage the country. The Trump administration is remotely and directly dictating how Nigeria’s security situation is being managed. This is happening before our very eyes. But those whose duty it is to to raise objections and point the way forward are saying nothing and doing nothing.
That is not all. For the opposition in Nigeria, the insecurity that has been claiming hundreds of lives on a daily basis is also normal. Nobody is drawing the attention of the APC administration to the monumental failure it has recorded in this regard. The Kaiama massacre in Kwara state has become a symbol of the country’s failure to protect its citizens. But the people are not outraged. Nobody has bothered to remind the Tinubu administration that the primary reason for the existence of government is the protection of life and property. This is what happens to a country when complacency becomes a way of life.
Again, the opposition in Nigeria is watching morosely as Tinubu and his APC prepare grounds for the manipulation of the 2027 elections. What transpired in the Senate last week over electronic transmission of votes is a pointer to this. The Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 has passed through third reading with the Senate rejecting real-time electronic transmission of votes. Mr Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu’s henchman in the Senate, was behind the manipulation. Most senators are now singing discordant tunes over the matter. We know what all this means. Tinubu and his APC are trying to ensure that your votes do not count. What will count will be manipulated figures. This ongoing subterfuge needs to be heavily attacked. But where is the opposition? We cannot find them. That is why Tinubu and his APC are getting away with blue murder.
Then again, before our very eyes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which we expect to be impartial if elections conducted by it must pass the test of credibility is showing signs of partiality. Its handling of the crisis in Labour Party points in that direction. It is also showing open bias in PDP affairs. All this is for dubious reasons. Who will call Joash Amupitan and his commission to order before they get steeped into partisanship? We ask because the opposition political parties that are supposed to do that do not know what to do. What a tragedy!
It can safely be said that the thriving culture in Nigeria now has become that of say nothing and do nothing. Even those who say something at all do not make any impact because they do not go beyond mere condemnation or denunciation. The instruments that should be deployed to force government into taking a second look at its unpopular actions have been thrown away. There are no more street protests. Civil society organizations no longer go beyond press conferences. Labour unions are stopped on their tracks with court injunctions. This country is drifting dangerously into the abyss. At this point, we cannot but pose this nagging question: who will bell the cat?
