Osun: APC Is Digging Own’s Grave In Guise Of Stifling Democracy -By Sarafa Ibrahim

When military handed over power in 1999, Nigerians rolled out the drums and relished the prospect of the country under a civilian rule. A lot of reasons abound for the high hopes that trailed the returned to democracy, and one of such is the expectations that in democracy, unlike in military rule, the people will enjoy the benefits of options in their choice for those who administer their affairs.

Nigerians have grown weary of the high-handedness that is common with military rule and entertain the hopes that in a democracy, the ballots will not only be the avenue to choosing leadership but also enables a multi-party system that gives options. But lately, the faith of Nigerians in democracy is hugely shaken. And this is largely due to the overt design of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to eliminate the idea of alternatives (which is what distinguishes democracy from military rule) and impose an undemocratic culture of ‘grabbing power and running away with it’.

Between 1999 and 2015, Nigeria made considerable progress in it’s democratic process, paving the way for the APC to upset the balance of power and take over the reigns of governance in 2015 through the ballot. One would have expected the APC to appreciate the value of democracy and strive to deepen it, but reverse is the case as there are clear attempts to stifle opposition.

Nigeria democracy is more vulnerable today than it has been since its independence 65 years ago. Many Nigerian have become increasingly concerned about the APC intolerance to ideas that differs from its political ideology and going as far as the extreme, to impose itself on the people by circumventing known democratic norms.

This is exactly what is playing out in Osun state as the APC is doing everything to avoid political contest and just walk its way to power. The disturbing thing about this development is that they are not hiding it, leveraging the immense power of its control of the central government to maneuver the political environment and leave opponents helpless.

Public institutions that ought to serve Nigerians, irrespective of their partisan persuasions or religion inclinations, have literally been reduced in form and shape to an enforcer of Osun APC’s political interest, manipulating the system to create a culture that allow it to act with impunity. A typical instance was the unlawful withholding of Osun local governments allocation and the follow-up attempt to release them to people who had already sacked by the courts.

The decision is purely political and as many observers have pointed out, conveys the extent of the desperation of the APC to seize power without the will of the people. The sobering truth is that the APC doesn’t care about democracy. All it cares about is feeding its greed for absolute power, and the only way to do that, as it is horrendously showing in Osun state, is to embrace fascism.

Democracy was derived from two Greek words “demos kratos”, which essentially canvases the contest of ideas and the unrestrained exercise of the will of the people in arriving leadership choice. However, given the APC’s sheer impunity, insidious interference in oppositions affair and manipulation of institutions, one would have no trouble recognising the party’s disdain for democracy.

In Osun, the APC is not thinking of a contest for the mandate of the people in the 2026 poll. It is rather counting on undemocratic measures to gain power. You don’t have to take my words for it, just visit the social media pages of the party’s fiercest supporters and you will have a feel of the lack of regard for democratic norms they canvasses.

These undemocratic voices appeared to be emboldened by the dangerous rhetorics of people like the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, who recently threatened that the party will deploy ‘every machinery in motion to convincingly win the off-cycle election’. It is quite disturbing that someone who had at a point managed our electoral processes as a Commissioner in the INEC, would portray the likelihood that muscling of strength (which invariably implies federal forces) and not necessarily the thumb of the electorate, would weigh on the Osun governorship election.

Things are that bad and unfortunately, bring back memories of the dark days of military rule. It is quite concerning that 26 years after the restoration of democracy in Nigeria, the Osun APC still struggle to recognise that the only acceptable route to power is the ballot and not manipulations. Perhaps it’s faced with the reality of its past failing and believes the only way to bypass the harsh rejection of the electorate, is to game the rule and impose itself on the people.

There cannot be a democracy without the contest of ideas decided by the electorate at the ballot. This is why the scheming of the Osun APC in cohort with certain elements in Abuja should worry every lovers of democracy. Since Governor Adeleke emerged as the candidate of the ACCORD for the 2026 governorship poll, the APC has pushed all sorts of schemes, including the highly ridiculous promotion of a factional candidate, to create confusion and uncertainty.

Even though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected this undemocratic approach by firmly denouncing the existence of another primary other for the ACCORD than the December 10, 2025 primary that produced Governor Adeleke as candidate, the APC appeared unyielding in pursuing the dangerous agenda of eliminating a viable opponent out of the election to walk to power unchallenged.

Facts on record pointedly dispelled the existence of a faction in the ACCORD party at the nation level or even in Osun state, yet the APC continues to use a section of the media with affinity to its party to vigorously sell lies to the public. A check on the INEC website up till this moment clearly showed that the national leadership of the ACCORD is led by Barrister Maxwell Mgbudem, and it is this same structure that conducted the primary that produced Governor Adeleke.

In fact, the recently held primary of the party in Ekiti state was organised by the Mgbudem-led leadership. Professor Chris Imumulolen and cohorts, particularly Clement Bamgbola are at best hire-hands purposely propped up to create the false appearance of instability in the party and scare away the electorate. This tactic is crude and spotlights the extent that the APC is willing to go to bypass the normal route to power in a democracy.

For the Osun APC, the point in this strategy is to restrict the democratic environment by undermining opponents through crooked means. The effect is destructive for everyone as it reduces our democracy to nothing but imaginary. This isn’t so different from a routine often followed by those who are already aware of their rejections by the people and want to game the system to force their ways to power. Democracy will meant nothing but just mere word when the control of state institutions, and not the superiority of ideas or the robustness of offers to electorate sways the pendulum of power.

Unfortunately, in every democracy, there will always be people who abhor its tenet. They justify their misanthropic ideas with democracy and tried to disguise their interest as a collective one. That is what makes them so dangerous, even though they don’t wear uniforms and bear no weapons in the open but their ideas of democracy has always being the exploration of crude tactics.

Since Nigeria has accepted democracy as the most effective form of government in offering power to the people and involving them in the decision-making, we must ensure that radical and manipulative people have no chance in turning the rule upside down. Manipulating institutions and instigating internal sabotage to weaken opponents distorts our democratic process and every conscientious people must speak up loud against those who intents to derail our democracy out of their selfishness and greed.

As recent events clearly showed, Osun APC is pushing to drain life out of this democracy and that is a red flag of the danger that lies ahead. Overcoming the challenges posed is however not insurmountable but the first thing is that, we must all come to the reality we’re in a democracy, and the unlike the military rule, contest is the norm and the people are the ultimate decider, otherwise, we will watch as the APC take out life out of this democracy.

•Sarafa Ibrahim writes from Iwo, Osun state.