By Femi Anamelechi
Renown Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mike Ozekhome has warned that Nigeria is gradually becoming a one party state. He warned that the development is capable of leading to dictatorship. The legal luminary while speaking on Channels Television Program “Hard Copy” on Saturday, warned of the dangers of a one party state and consequences of dictatorship. Chief Mike Ozekhome pointed out that the executive has subsumed the other two arms of government, the National Assembly and Judiciary, a situation he said does not portend well for the country. The human rights lawyer spoke amidst the huge criticism that has greeted the recent defections of some opposition leaders into the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The recent schemes by the Tinubu’ led APC to totally annihilate and conscript all operational has generated criticism from Political analyst watching what is going on in the country. As many insist that there’s is a targeted plan by the ruling party to ‘swallow up” opposition political parties in the country ahead the 2027 election. This undemocratic development defies the gains of our nascent political development. In the last two weeks no fewer than two state governors from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have dumped their party to join APC. The latest is the governor of Akwa Ibom state, Umo Eno who defected to the APC on Friday alongside some of his aides and Commissioners.
Some Senators and House of Representatives members have also dumped their parties to join the APC in the last few weeks. Ozekhome explained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may be the only presidential candidate in the 2027 election, as there will be nobody to run against him. He warned Nigerians to resist the plan of APC to turn the country into a single party state. Speaking further, the Human Rights Activist lamented that the government has weaponized poverty in the country, making Nigerians poor so much so that it will be difficult for them to resist.Ozekhome said, “In a one-party state, dictatorship reigns supreme.“Everybody will agree. National Assembly pocketed, judiciary will be pocketed, and everybody will be saying ‘yes, yes, yes.’”
