Babachir Lawal, ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of plotting to foist a one-party state on Nigeria because it fears defeat in a credible poll. Speaking on Channels Television's Politics Today on Wednesday, Lawal declared: "They want a one-party system… this government cannot afford to go to an election in a free and fair manner because they will lose woefully."
The ADC leader claimed his party's internal polls back the assertion but refused to release them, citing confidentiality. His outburst comes weeks after the Independent National Electoral Commission withdrew recognition from every faction of the ADC, including the David Mark-led National Working Committee, and announced it would no longer monitor the party's congresses or convention pending a court ruling. Undeterred, the ADC held its national convention on Tuesday; Lawal hailed the exercise as a "success" and insisted the party will field candidates in 2027 irrespective of INEC's stance. "We don't listen to INEC… we are going to be on the ballot whatever INEC says," he maintained, adding that the party's immediate goal is to halt the APC's continuation in power.
Babachir Lawal's claim that the APC is engineering a one-party future is less a prophecy than a description of the incremental strangulation of opposition parties through regulatory chokepoints. By stripping the ADC of recognition and refusing to monitor its internal processes, INEC has handed the ruling party a bureaucratic cudgel to bludgeon rivals without firing a shot.
The subtext is a familiar Nigerian script: when a ruling formation senses electoral vulnerability, it weaponises state institutions to shrink the political space. The ADC's defiant convention and Lawal's vow to contest in 2027 expose the limits of this strategy—parties can still bypass monitored congresses, cite legal opinions and dare the commission to disqualify them on technicalities. Yet the gamble is huge; without INEC's stamp, ballot access becomes a litigious minefield that drains resources and time.
For ordinary voters, the tussle translates into fewer genuine choices and rising apathy. If the only parties cleared to compete are those an incumbent finds convenient, elections mutate into coronations and issues like soaring food prices or insecurity remain unchecked. Nigerians who crave policy alternatives are forced to pin hopes on courtrooms rather than polling booths.
Lawal's rhetoric also signals a wider fragmentation of the 2015 coalition that brought the APC to power; when former SGFs become opposition attack dogs, the centre can no longer hold. Unless courts swiftly resolve the ADC's status, expect more parties to stage parallel conventions and test the electoral umpire's resolve, turning the run-up to 2027 into a legal chess game where voters are the first casualties.
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