ABUJA — The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is facing sharp criticism from political analysts and opposition figures following its recent mid-term summit, which some have branded a premature victory parade and a sign of growing political insecurity.
Lawyer and public affairs analyst, Chris Nwokobia, described the flurry of endorsements for President Bola Tinubu’s second term and the wave of defections to the APC as signals of fear, not strength.
Appearing on ARISE News, Nwokobia, who once campaigned for the APC but now leads the Country First Movement, said: “If you’re winning, you don’t panic. If you’re confident, you don’t manipulate. The APC is jittery.”
He warned that the celebration of defections and talk of “sweeping clean” the opposition amounted to flirting with authoritarianism.
“When the president celebrates the death of opposition, it’s not democracy — it’s dangerous,” he said, adding that Nigeria is witnessing “a democracy in freefall, driven not by performance but propaganda and fear.”
Just days away from Tinubu’s two-year mark in office, the political climate has grown tense, with the APC absorbing key opposition figures and positioning itself for 2027. Tinubu has described the new entrants as joining the “winning team,” while Senate President Godswill Akpabio hailed him as “the sole candidate” for the next election.
But former presidential candidate Adewole Adebayo slammed the summit as “a celebration of failure.”
Speaking to Trust TV, Adebayo said: “This was not a summit; it was theatre. They paraded applause, exaggerated achievements and mocked the suffering of Nigerians. That’s not leadership — it’s mockery.”
He criticised the absence of any real performance audit and accused the APC of diverting public resources for partisan gain. “Nigerians deserve a mid-term report, not a campaign launch,” Adebayo said.
Referencing the cost of living crisis, insecurity, and youth unemployment, he questioned who the government was truly serving. “What about the woman in Bama who can’t pay her hospital bills? The graduate in Kogi whose degree is gathering dust?”
He also took issue with the replay of Tinubu’s infamous 2023 campaign remark — “Grab it. Snatch it. Run away with it” — saying it undermines public confidence in electoral fairness.
In defense of the APC, Senator Smart Adeyemi described the party as the vessel of national aspiration, stating: “Don’t blame people for jumping off a sinking ship when they have no life jackets.”
Still, the wave of criticism underscores growing concerns over what observers describe as the shrinking space for opposition politics and the politicisation of governance.
As the 2027 race looms large, both Nwokobia and Adebayo warn that Nigeria’s democracy could be at risk — not from the absence of elections, but from the erosion of accountability, competition and public trust.
