APC’s “One Big Cathedral” and the Death of Nigerian Democracy -By Vitus Ozoke, PhD

It’s a cathedral built on quicksand. APC’s ambition is clear: to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. Every defection is celebrated as a victory for “national alignment,” but what it really symbolizes is the erosion of ideological diversity. There is no genuine conversion happening here – only congregation. Defectors are attracted to the APC not by conviction but by convenience. They come to Abuja not to serve but to be served. They come not to build their states but to beg for federal allocations.

In a genuine federation, governors focus on building economies in their respective, not making monthly pilgrimages to Abuja. They are meant to generate wealth for their states, not beg for aid. However, under Nigeria’s warped federalism, the path to state development goes through the corridors of Aso Rock. People become state governors not to work on growing their state economies but to walk to Abuja, via its “access” roads, cap in hand, for federal allocations. And as oil revenues shrink and federal coffers run dry, this access politics is turning into a game of diminishing returns – a queue of shameless beggars before a hollow vault.

The tragedy is that APC’s rise is neither challenged nor countered by a better idea from the opposition. Because, truth be told, APC and PDP are staged reenactments of the same crime scene. There is no philosophical boundary, no ideological gulf – only alternating actors in the same moral vacuum. Nigerian politics has become a marketplace of prostitution, not postulations; conventions, not convictions. Politicians cross over for survival, not service. Their guiding star isn’t principle but expedience. “Any Government in Power” (AGIP) has become the only real ideology — and it is the ideology of greed. It’s an ideology of nothingness. AGIP is political lasciviousness, shamelessness, and greed wrapped up, packaged, and sold to the gullible as pragmatism in the snake oil market.

APC’s swelling size has become its biggest weakness. When a party consumes everything in its path, it risks choking on its own excess. Like a python that swallows too many roosters, it cannot dance anymore. The federal center, swollen with opportunists and career defectors, is now expected to feed, protect, and appease them all. But the stomach isn’t deep enough, and hunger stirs rebellion. APC must be careful what it wishes for. Its goal of a one-party state through a “Project 36” will backfire, leading to chaos and failure. Given that there is no clear and discernible ideological difference between it and the PDP – just two identical doppelgangers – packing the loot room with too many looters is creating a tinder box for a bloodbath – a civil war.

Cathedrals are built to welcome everyone. They serve as a refuge for the wealthy, the weak, and the weary alike. The Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican is a vast and inviting cathedral. But Aso Rock is no Vatican. Unlike the Catholic Church, whose pope commands respect worldwide, the landlord of Aso Rock only commands resentment. APC’s cathedral is not a sanctuary of shared belief but a fortress of privilege. The “Tinubu International Conference Center,” as some now call it, is an exclusive club where loyalty is rewarded and competence is an afterthought. It is a tribal tent for families, kindred ministers, and fraternal heads of lucrative parastatals. The gatekeepers decide who enters. The rest – the 5 percent, the dots, the dissidents – are turned away or, even worse, kidnapped and detained.

So, this cathedral, built on corruption, cannot offer salvation. A one-party system built on greed cannot deliver governance. If APC insists on swallowing every opposition state in its quest for domination, it will soon realize that he who eats everyone must eventually eat himself. The essence of democracy is choice — the ability to say “no.” When one party becomes the only viable option, democracy becomes dictatorship by another name. The PDP’s implosion does not vindicate APC; it indicts our entire political class. Nigeria does not need a bigger party but better politics. We do not need unity in patronage but diversity in ideas. The actual test of leadership is not how many defectors you can buy, but how many citizens you can convince.

Here’s a warning from the future. If APC keeps going on this path, Nigeria will not become a stable one-party state; it will become an unstable no-party state. The people are watching—hungry, angry, and growing more disillusioned. When the illusion of pragmatism falls apart and the promises of “renewed hope” fade into renewed hardship, the congregation will revolt. The chickens will come to roost, the roosters will come to collect, and there will not be enough in the python’s belly to go around.

APC must resist the temptation of total conquest. A cathedral without critics becomes a cult. The party must rediscover policy over politics, governance over gamesmanship, and inclusion over intimidation. If it truly wants to lead Nigeria, let it prove it through performance, not absorption. Let it build an economy where states thrive independently, not as dependents and clients. Let it restore politics as an arena of ideas, not as a feeding trough for the powerful. But it may be a fool’s errand to require a “British branch in Africa” (Vladimir Putin’s words, not mine), not to engage in sub-clientelism.

In the end, when the dust from this wave of defections settles – and the defects of the defectors are exposed – one truth is guaranteed to remain: Nigeria, like any other serious society in the modern era, needs a strong and lively opposition. Without opposition, the emperor becomes deaf. Without dissent, his courtiers turn into flatterers. And someday, when the applause fades, he will look into his stained mirror and realize he’s naked. Because truth, once silenced, doesn’t die – it simply hides, waiting to be rediscovered in the ruins of pride. Power that isn’t challenged decays from within, mistaking fear for loyalty and silence for peace. The emperor who forbids the correction that comes from opposition builds his throne on shifting sands, and every cheer he buys becomes a whisper that can bury him. Only in the echo of honest voices can a leader hear the true measure of his own humanity.

So, APC must be careful what political patronage it is buying up for itself, with our shared patrimony. Otherwise, Nigeria’s grand cathedral will collapse under the weight of its own hype and hypocrisy, and when that happens, the rubble will bury both the priests, the pews, the pimps, and the punks.

Dr. Vitus Ozoke is a lawyer, human rights activist, and public commentator based in the United States.