NIGERIA’S MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY IS TOO DEEPLY ROOTED TO BE CRUSHED
I am not intimidated by legal or political manoeuvres aimed at weakening the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nigeria’s multiparty democracy is firmly rooted and cannot be dismantled. No individual and no political party can monopolise power in Nigeria.
From its earliest days, Nigeria deliberately embraced pluralism as a means of managing its diversity. At independence, our founding fathers consciously adopted a multiparty system as the foundation of our democratic order.
Even during the First Republic, political power was never concentrated in the hands of one man or one party. Despite the towering influence of Sir Ahmadu Bello within the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), other vibrant political movements thrived. These included Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), J.S. Tarka’s Middle Belt Congress, and Sir Kashim Ibrahim’s Borno People’s Union.
In the South West, the Action Group operated in a competitive political space alongside the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and other regional parties such as the Ibadan People’s Party. This rich diversity of political expression defined our early democratic experience.
Nigeria’s democracy has never been one of a single star dominating the firmament. Our political sky has always been filled with many stars.
The current agenda appears designed to weaken major political parties so that none can field a credible alternative—an approach disturbingly reminiscent of the failed self-succession project of General Sani Abacha, who sought to make himself the sole presidential candidate of all political parties. History records the collapse of that scheme, and it will again prove that such ambitions are neither sustainable nor acceptable.
I speak as a living witness and participant in the resistance against military dictatorship, including my involvement in the historic delegation to Fort IBB on June 8, 1998.
The same God who granted us the grace to witness the collapse of the Abacha project will also see us through any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.
Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim
#nigeria
#democracy
