By Ebere Agozie
Mr Joseph Daudu, SAN, Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation (ROLDF) has warned that the tilt towards turning Nigeria into a one party state by the All Progressives Congress (APC) will lead to a no contest in the 2027 general elections.
Daudu gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline at the just concluded webinar (series 16) organised by ROLDF in Abuja.
He noted that APC has led the voting populace to conclude that the 2027 election will be a no-contest and might witness the lowest voter turn-out in Nigeria’s history.
“We have noticed the trend for high-brow political office holders to migrate/cross-carpet/transfer their allegiance from the political party on whose platform they rode to power to the ruling political party, APC.
“This gang-up of all the political gladiators, 32 governors and National Assembly members in one political party at the advent of a general election is the first anywhere in Nigeria and the world.
“It represents the laying down of the gauntlet of an epic battle between the political class and the people they seek to govern.’’
The learned silk noted that the battle, though epic, will be one-sided, that it is to be called the election between the people on the one hand, and the political class on the other.
“The political class have perfected the system they have been experimenting with which is the ultimate victory of the political class over the people they govern,’’ he added.
He said that the 2027 election appears in human terms to be over but the lessons to be learnt will be devastating for governance and subsequent elections.
He urged leaders to take conscious steps to fight the main scourge of this country which is corruption.
He reiterated that if any government is genuinely bold enough to fight this monumental vice, then the country will be on the way to fighting other debilitating scourges such as insecurity, banditry etc.
The learned silk also said that there is an urgent need for the judicial interpretation of the implications of reduction of grounds for challenging an election to just two.
“Commentators view the removal of non-qualification of a candidate for an election as a ground for challenging the validity of an election as an attempt by the political class to shield themselves and their records from public scrutiny.
“Same removal also denies the society the opportunity to summarily remove persons of questionable standing and qualification from participating in the leadership of the country.
“They equally argued, and quite rightly too, that when forgery and like offences no longer constitute grounds for disqualification of candidates in an election, same offences should no longer exist in our statute books.
“A nation cannot be seen to practice selective judgment, one for its leaders and another for the ordinary man.’’
He added that it may also not be out of place to test the constitutionality of the limitations now set under the Electoral Act 2026.
“The court should void the limitations that politicians have placed on the rights of citizens to challenge their new electoral act.
“This appears to suppress internal democracy by removing citizen’s right to question eligibility of candidates and the actions of political party leadership.
“That way, a clear message would have been sent to the political class that in a democracy, ultimate power belongs to the people”.
