The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Nigeria’s democracy is not under any threat, dismissing recent comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The party described Abubakar’s claim that democracy faces an “existential threat” as a mere alarmist and ironic.
Recalled that Abubakar, in a statement on Tuesday by his spokesman, Mr Paul Ibe, had accused the Tinubu administration of deliberately weakening opposition parties and shrinking the country’s democratic space in a manner that could lead to a de facto one-party state.
He alleged that Nigerians had endured nearly three years of severe economic hardship under the Tinubu-led government, alongside policies and political actions he claimed undermined democratic values.
Reacting, the Lagos State APC spokesman, Mr Seye Oladejo, in a statement on Thursday in Lagos said the former vice president and his ADC were afraid of their own shadows.
He said that democratic institutions were functioning normally under President Tinubu.
Oladejo urged the opposition to stop seeking relevance by predicting the collapse of a democracy “that has continued to mature despite their constant doomsday prophecies”.
“Nigeria’s democracy is not under threat; what is under threat is the opposition’s fading relevance.
“Since May 29, 2023, democratic institutions have functioned as designed.
“Elections have been conducted, courts have adjudicated disputes, the legislature has exercised oversight, and citizens have continued to enjoy constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.
“The opposition has spoken freely, protested freely, and litigated freely,hardly the attributes of a nation under democratic siege,” Oladejo said.
According to APC spokesman, it is increasingly apparent that the ADC may implode under the weight of its own contradictions and inherent deceit.
“Beneath the loud rhetoric, borrowed moral outrage, and manufactured alarmism lies a fragile coalition of protagonists whose singular ambition is the Presidency.
“Each (of the protagonists) are nursing private entitlement while threatening fire and brimstone should that ambition be denied.
“No political house built on sand can withstand the inevitable internal whirlwind that follows unchecked ambition without ideology.
“It is, therefore, disingenuous to blame the ruling party for the visible desperation of ADC leaders who already see the forthcoming elections as their final bow on the national stage,” Oladejo said.
He reminded critics that winning and losing are integral and inseparable components of the democratic process.
According to him, democracy does not collapse because personal ambitions are frustrated or imperiled.
Oladejo added: “This coalition, as presently constituted, appears to have its expiry date engraved upon it.
“Longevity, sadly, does not appear to be its portion.
“What we are witnessing is not the defence of democracy, but the last convulsion of a political arrangement held together by fear, impatience, and the fading relevance of its leading lights,” he said.
He affirmed that Nigeria’s democracy remained resilient and firmly anchored under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
He said that the ongoing reforms, though demanding, were rooted in constitutional order, the rule of law, and democratic accountability-principles “that cannot be wished away by those who lost the confidence of the Nigerian people.”
“We therefore advise Atiku Abubakar and his new political companions to confront reality honestly. Nigeria is not afraid.
“Democracy is not collapsing. It is only the opposition that is frightened by its own shadow-and by the unmistakable reality that Nigerians have moved on,” he added.
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