-
Insists State Institutions used to intimidate, harass, weaken opposition
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The acting National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Senator Nenadi Usman has taken a swipe at the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the ruling party of lacking the commitment in protecting the nation`s democratic structures.
Sen. Usman further accused the party and the federal government of using various tactics to infiltrate and cause crisis within the ranks of the opposition parties.
The LP boss who was speaking at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Global Award and Dinner Night held on Monday in Abuja, also frowned at what she described as APC’s style of using state institutions to intimidate, harass and manipulate the opposition just to weaken them.
In the speech delivered by the Senior Special Adviser, Media, to the acting National Chairman, Ken Eluma Asogwa, Senator Usman noted “Since the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the ruling party, there has been a deliberate and relentless campaign to undermine the opposition.
“Tactics range from infiltration and cooptation to the use of state institutions for harassment, intimidation, and even judicial manipulation. The ruling party has become adept not just at consolidating power but at weakening every form of challenge to it. This is not democracy. This is domination masked as governance.
“The APC cannot in good conscience profess commitment to democratic ideals while simultaneously working to destabilize opposition parties like the Labour Party and others.
“A system that weaponizes state resources to sow discord within rival parties is not one committed to free and fair competition – it is indeed one invested in authoritarian control.”
The LP while stressing the need to build and sustain a virile and patriotic opposition, maintained that democracy depends on the presence of dissent, adding that the system “thrives not through silence or submission but through robust debate, critique, and the offering of credible alternatives.”
According to Usman, without a strong and functional opposition, Nigeria cannot claim to be practicing democracy, but only a mere caricature of it.
“Around the world, we have seen how opposition movements shape democratic resilience. Yet here at home, we are witnessing the slow suffocation of opposition voices – not by accident, but by design.”
However, she called on opposition parties in the country to drop personal egos, ambitions, greed and internal divisions, and focus on providing Nigerians with much needed credible alternatives.
“But let me also be brutally honest: while external interference from the APC has played a role, it is not the only culprit. The opposition has too often been complicit in its own weakening.
“We must acknowledge that personal ambition, greed, and internal divisions have made us vulnerable. No amount of external sabotage can succeed if there is no internal decay. That is why I say the most potent antidote is not merely vigilance, but patriotism – genuine, uncompromising patriotism.
“When our leaders put Nigeria first – above ambition, above ego, above the lure of quick power – no ruling party can break us. It is time to stop acting like victims and start behaving like visionaries. Our role is not to whine about the state of the nation but to fight for its redemption.
“It does this country no good to operate a system where one party dominates unchecked. Even the APC, if it is wise, should understand that democracy dies not with a bang but with the silence of dissent. Once the people are left with no real alternative, the legitimacy of the entire system is at risk”.
She concluded by insisting that Nigerians must continue to call out the failures of the APC administration, its economic mismanagement, insecurity, shrinking civic space, and worsening inequality.
