Challenging the APC’s Politics of Deception and Anti-Intellectualism: A Daunting Task for the SDP -By Joshua Ogbonna

“We can no longer go backward; we must move forward. And I said that when you talk about change, the only thing that can bring a lasting change in this country is the implementation of the National Conference that all Nigerians gathered to come up with a document… These people who are talking about ‘change’ refused to participate. They said they will not implement it, so what change are they bringing?

Every time you listen to them, you see the bitterness in their heart. Bitter, anger, as if someone has taken their property. Venom. And I say that, look, you cannot give what you don’t have. If you don’t have a peaceful heart or a friendly heart, you cannot bring peace to people. For you to bring peace, you must be somebody who can forgive…”

— Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, 2014.

Many Nigerians were critical of President Jonathan’s performance in office, but a decade after this statement, it is evident that the APC’s governance—marked by a deliberate suppression of intellectual discourse—has caught up with them. Leading up to the 2023 election, it was clear that Bola Tinubu was among the least favored candidates in the primaries. If not for the unprecedented monetization of Nigeria’s political landscape—where he was the chief architect—and the self-serving interests of the Northern Governors’ Forum, who were deceived into thinking they were paving the way for themselves (particularly the APC governors from the Northwest blinded by their vice-presidential ambitions), Tinubu’s path would have been far more difficult.

Let’s not forget that all serving governors—except for Aminu Bello Masari, whose unwavering loyalty to a cynical President Buhari kept him in line, and belatedly, Nasir El-Rufai, who fell out with the president due to Buhari’s duplicity in his ministerial nominations—secured their places at Tinubu’s table. Of course, Yahaya Bello’s complicated relationship with Tinubu stemmed from two factors: first, his unexpected emergence as governor in 2016, which disrupted Tinubu’s planned political takeover of Kogi through Hon. James Abiodun Faleke; and second, his inflated ego and political naivety, which led him to believe he was Nigeria’s next big political force after becoming governor at 40.

It is difficult to see how the APC can advance Nigeria’s political economy. For a party operating like Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Uganda, expanding intellectualism is a direct threat to its survival. In their book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that political institutions shape economic incentives and determine a nation’s success or failure. The presence of strong economic institutions enabled visionaries like Thomas Edison and Bill Gates to thrive in the United States.

Across social media, the rise of right-wing extremism continues to shape public opinion, and Nigeria is not immune. Today, misinformation and propaganda weaken institutions, eroding diplomatic relations and multilateral cooperation. As Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim questioned in Project Syndicate, “Can democracy really function when so much of the policy discourse is driven by lies, and when— instead of reassuring voters—some leaders resort to stoking fear and division for political gain?”

The warning signs of failure were always there. Apart from the notoriously flawed 2007 election, this was the first time a Nigerian president assumed office without genuinely convincing voters. In historically decisive electoral strongholds, with population clusters, Tinubu lost—his adopted home state of Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Kano, and Kaduna all rejected him, favoring the PDP and Labour Party candidates. Yet, he became the first president in Nigeria’s history whose victory remains largely unconvincing. Even in 2007, despite admitting to benefiting from a compromised electoral process, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua would have won without Obasanjo’s infamous do-or-die politics.

The APC, and by extension the Bola Tinubu administration, operates like a woman giving birth in a market square, unconcerned with her exposure. The party has become numb to Nigerians’ suffering, disregarding institutional integrity while allowing political expediency to dictate national conversations.

One might ask: How did the APC get it so wrong? The answer lies in its foundation, which was never designed to sustain its current structure. This fundamental flaw is why the party continually falters. The appointment of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as APC’s national chairman—despite multiple corruption allegations against him—speaks volumes about the party’s policy direction. If Buhari’s administration tore the veil of deceit surrounding the APC’s change mantra, Tinubu’s government has aggressively dismantled any remaining hope for Nigerians.

Beyond the shallow political debates dominating national discourse, a closer look at the President’s appointees—from his ministers to key National Assembly officers—reveals a government running on empty. The APC appears bereft of ideas—if it ever had any. Take, for instance, the crisis in academia, where vice-chancellors are shuffled around like a gambler’s deck of cards, or Tinubu’s tacit endorsement of his brash, overzealous Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. Wike’s obsession with controlling his successor has led to his blatant disregard for the rule of law, further undermining democratic institutions.

The APC struggles to define its ideological stance. One moment it leans left, the next it swings right, and by evening, it claims the center. Like a child of many fathers, the party provides no clear direction or consistency—perhaps intentionally, to avoid accountability for anything.

The problems before the SDP are somewhat difficult to solve but not impossible. The APC’s 10 years of putrid desecration of our hallowed institutions make it difficult to make sense of what the coming years will be like. As a party consistent in its pragmatic adoption of politics of conscience and progressive democratic emancipation, it must focus on not just developing and leveraging the newer opportunities available to it but must eschew the subterfuge tactics the APC and PDP have used for short-term gains to balkanize our nation.

For the next sixteen months, the party hierarchy and stakeholders at all levels must make the necessary sacrifices to build a nationally acceptable and inclusive party designed to broaden the framework of true nationalism. Starting from the restoration of our institutions, judicial reforms must be at the top of the party’s agenda. It must look beyond the PDP’s stuttering—not just its failure to get back to power or the fallout of its last presidential primaries—but must circumscribe and treat with all sanctity the affliction of the PDP as a party that fell because it acted for too long as a special-purpose vehicle for people without character, morality, and a holistic vision for participatory democracy.

To get the chance, Nigerians must see the SDP as not just a credible alternative to the cankerworm (PDP) and palmerworm (APC) that have ravaged Nigeria’s landscape for nearly three decades. Nigerians, especially those who have emigrated, see the country’s economic fortunes as irredeemable. This cannot be divorced from the attitude of those in power. As much as the party aspires to gain ascendancy, it should plan to accommodate the recruitment of intellectuals, thought leaders, and experienced policymakers as it mounts the stage to save Nigeria from the claws of rapacious individuals who are well-innervated at our common patrimony.

If the last election was an eye-opener, the next one will go further to prove that Nigerians, especially young Nigerians, are willing to mobilize support for candidates who can identify and provide adequate, pragmatic solutions to Nigeria’s endemic challenges. The days when people voted for candidates who shared rice and other trifles are gradually coming to an end—this is in spite of the APC’s weaponization of the twin plagues of hunger and poverty. The task of selling the party to the electorate should not be left to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. In all honesty, he comes across to many Nigerians as a go-getter but a bad politician.

In my encounter at the grassroots, the grassroots leaders are badly disconnected from the collective vision of the party. The party is also absent in frontal discussions about the economy and polity. It then seems to outsiders that the party image-makers are more conscious of how “tolerant” and gentlemanly they appear than selling the party. In fact, in some states, the party doesn’t have a permanent address or secretariat, and awareness of the party is quite low. Granted, the party’s name and reputation precede it, as it easily comes across as renowned. However, this is not enough. There is no better time than now for the party chairman, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, a skilled and versatile political strategist, to roll up his sleeves and embark on a national tour to understand the party’s peculiar challenges and rebrand the party through a very conscientious and detailed process that will give the party an irrevocable occupation in the minds of voters come 2027.

One of the goals of the party must be to ensure that it has strong candidates for the 1,497 seats organized by INEC and the over 7,500 positions at the state levels. To competitively participate is to put in the work and the numbers. That is the only way the party can gain national prominence, respect, and remain competitive.

To counteract the APC’s monopolistic, regressive politics and repressive programs goes beyond mere rhetoric. We can draw a lesson from President Woodrow Wilson of the Democratic Party (and Governor of New Jersey), who, against the run of play, unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt. In his book, The New Freedom, Wilson noted that: “If monopoly persists, monopoly will always sit at the helm of government. I do not expect to see monopoly restrain itself. If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.”

As President Wilson wrote, our party, the SDP, should rest assured that President Tinubu and the APC will do everything to derail the efforts of the opposition. As they’ve done through their lackeys in the NNPP, Labour Party, and PDP, they won’t cease to identify, isolate, and annihilate any party that stands in their way. They say all’s fair in love and war. The next election is a war against the de-democratization of Nigeria. It is a war against the promotion of hateful and divisive electoral processes. It is a war for the soul of INEC and the judiciary, and we must stand back to back and fight without letting go of the ultimate prize—the liberalization of Nigeria.

Joshua Ogbonna is a scholar, a public policy and data analyst, and a member of the Social Democratic Party. 

joshuakaycogbonna@gmail.com