By Abiola Olawale
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party, has issued a call to President Bola Tinubu, appealing to him to extend the same “democratic intervention” seen in the recent political crisis in Guinea-Bissau to safeguard Nigeria’s own opposition against what it terms systemic collapse.
PDP’s appeal comes amidst heightened internal party conflicts and waves of high-profile defections that have continued to plague and weaken the country’s major opposition party.
The PDP specifically referenced the role Nigeria, under President Tinubu’s administration in addressing the political turmoil in Guinea-Bissau.
Recall that Tinubu granted asylum and special protection to Guinea-Bissau opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa following a military takeover in the country.
A statement from the PDP National Publicity Secretary on Tuesday urged the President to recognize that a functional, vibrant opposition is as crucial to Nigeria’s democracy as regional stability is to ECOWAS.
The PDP national publicity secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said Tinubu should replicate the intervention, which was aimed at preserving peace and democracy in Guinea-Bissau and, by extension, the West African sub-region, back at home.
He said: “This includes checking and curtailing the activities of anti-democratic forces within his cabinet and political machinery, who openly orchestrate, fund, and engineer crises in major opposition parties.
“Although the President is not expected to assist opposition parties, he has a constitutional duty to ensure that Nigeria’s political space remains free, open, and competitive. Presently, this space is being constricted through coercion of elected officials to defect to the ruling party and the sponsorship of crises in opposition parties.
“The philosophical underpinning that catalysed Nigeria’s intervention in Guinea-Bissau should also guide the President’s conduct domestically to safeguard Nigeria’s electoral democracy from decline and prevent the slide toward a one-party state.”
“The President must act promptly in defence of democracy in Nigeria. He cannot present himself as a defender of democracy in the sub-region while enabling anti-democratic practices at home that undermine democratic institutions and processes.”
