By Felix Ofou

The Supreme Court of Nigeria recently dealt a terrible blow to the Saminu Turaki led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was a death knell that signalled a seeming choreographed script to suffocate opposition parties from the democratic space ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Former Jigsaw State Governor and erstwhile Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaj Sule Lamido had approached the courts with the claim that he had been unlawfully excluded from contesting at the PDP National convention which held in Ibadan, Oyo State. He asserted that his rights had been violated.

Interestingly, it was at the said Ibadan convention that Turaki, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), along with his executives were elected into the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP. By the Supreme Court’s decision it means that the rug had been effectively pulled from under the faction.

With the ruling by the apex court, it also meant that a rival faction led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike had gained the upper hand the supremacy battle that has raged for years. The Wike group have become emboldened, setting up structures in preparation for future elections. It simply ignored an earlier ruling by the same apex court for the PDP to reorganize itself based on internal consequences mechanism.

But it is not yet Uhuru for the Wike faction of the PDP. It still stands on broken limbs. There is a subsisting court order upholding the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary, having served out two terms prescribed by the PDP constitution. Since Anyanwu still functions as scribe to the Wike faction, it means any letter or document signed by him is null and void.

Those who should know told Sunday Southerner that the Anyanwu faux pass is deliberate. It’s to ensure that the PDP which ruled Nigeria from 1999 to 2015 remains in political wilderness, unable to organize itself to prepare for any electoral contest. “Wike and his group know there’s still a problem. They know Anyanwu has served out his two terms. All they want to achieve is that PDP will no longer be an effective rival in future elections,” confided a source.

In fulfilment of the directive of the court, former President of the Senate, Senator Adolphus Wabara has been at his wits end trying to put the party together from scratch. As chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Wabara has been trying to reconcile the warring factions without success. No one seems to be heeding his call to sheath the swords.

By contrast, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which initially replaced the PDP as main opposition party has been torn into shreds. It has been rendered rudderless. It is now a shadow of itself. And it is doubtful, if it will be able to gather momentum early enough before the 2027 elections. Matters are not helped by the exit of political heavyweights from the ADC in recent times.

The ADC shot into national reckoning with the influx of heavyweights into the party. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola and Senator David Mark, by far the longest serving President of the Senate, having served for eight years, were among those who made the party thick.

However, a groundswell of movement of the people into the ADC started soon after the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi decided to pitch his tent with the party. His entry immediately sparked controversy as members of the Obidient Movement who were behind Obi’s superlative performance in 2023 started joining the party in droves.

Then was the entrance of the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Alhaji Rabiu Kwakwanso into the ADC and his reported acceptance to run as running mate to Obi. The leader of the Kwakwansiya movement shocked everyone when he dumped the NNPP for the ADC.

Matters had come to a head between Kwakwanso and his protegee, Governor Abba Yusuf over support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Whereas the Governor opted to support the President, Kwakwanso felt otherwise. The result was that benefactor and his mentee had to part ways, with Governor Yusuf and the state’s political structure joining the APC.

No one expected that Kwakwanso would dump the NNPP for ADC, especially because the former Minister was able to prove his worth by ensuring that his followers won all the elections in Kano in 2023. As it turned out, it was the prospect of pairing with Obi against Tinubu in 2027 that became the incentive for quitting the NNPP.

Despite the reprieve granted by the Supreme Court recently to the ADC, by recognizing the David Mark led NWC, many political gladiators are not convinced that all is well with the party. At present, there are three factions in the party and analysts have predicted that each faction would fight until ADC is finally buried. Nobody is taking the warning by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that what befell the APC in Zamfara State in 2023 may become the lot of the ADC, lightly. Things have indeed fallen apart for the ADC.

The Labour Party was very formidable in 2023 with its flag bearer, Mr Peter Obi insisting that he won in the Presidential contest. Although the Supreme Court ruled that the APC won in that election, the bloody nose inflicted on the President and his party are still fresh in our minds. But that outstanding performance turned out to be an anticlimax.

LP today has three factions. The party is in tatters and efforts to rebuild it has not yielded the desired results. Notwithstanding that the party has Governor Alex Otti as it’s national leader and former Minister, Nenadi Usman as the recognized national chairman, there are no signs that the other two factions have given up the fight for control of the party. Obi’s exit from LP more or less compounded it’s fortunes.

Enter the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC. At first, it seemed like a party on the fringe. Even when former Bayelsa Governor, Senator Seriake Dickson decided to join the NDC, nobody gave it any chance of making any impact in future elections. It was mainly regarded as an innocuous political party.

Today, the story has changed. It has become the beautiful bride in the political space. Disgruntled politicians have found the NDC as a safe haven to ply their trade. Anyone with ambition and believes that the ruling APC would not give filip to their hopes, have now found the NDC as the place to be.

Top on the list are Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwakwanso alleged to be warming up to be Presidential candidate and running mate respectively. Their supporters are said to have joined the NDC in large numbers. Suddenly, the party is being touted as the platform around which a massive coalition against the APC is to be built. It has become a rallying point for opposition politics in Nigeria.

But, it would seem as though the days of long knives are not over with claims of impending schisms said to be brewing. Whether externally instigated or as a result of clash of ambitions, there are talks that all may not be well, even though it is still too early to make such doomsday predictions about a fledging political party.

Essentially, it may not be out of place to announce the nunc dimittis of opposition politics in Nigeria. Moreover, a pattern of unending attrition in our political parties seems to have emerged lately. There is no guarantee that we have seen the last of infighting among politicians driven by inordinate ambition.

Analysts are however hopeful that men with altruistic mien would be able to pilot the opposition out of the doldrums. Whether that would happen before the 2027 elections remain a matter of conjecture. It is too early for the ruling party to sing the hallelujah song because of the dearth of opposition in Nigeria.