Opinion
By Chiedu Uche Okoye
NIGERIA Democratic Party (NDC) has become the political counter-weight to the ruling APC as the number of NDC’s members has swelled up, geometrically, upon Mr. Peter Obi’s defection to it. Until he crossed over to it, it was a relatively unknown political party. But Obi’s admirable personality traits, which endear him to people, have made innumerable number of people defect to the party. But will the politicians, who are battling for NDC’S tickets to contest elective political posts, remain in the party if they lose the party’s primary elections?
Were they united by shared party ideologies, they will not leave the party even if they lose the primary elections. But in Nigeria, political strange bedfellows, who do not profess the same principles, belong to the same political party. The indisputable fact is that political parties are vehicles, which are used by politicians, to achieve their political goals. That is why Nigerian politicians switch parties, frequently, in the same way as menstruating ladies change their underwear(s).
Our politicians change parties as often as it is possible because our political parties are not undergirded by political and economic ideologies. And our politicians do not set store by those western constructs. But the obverse obtained in the first republic when Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Obafemi Awolowo held sway, politically. Didn’t Chief Awolowo, as the premier of western Nigerian, execute projects and implement policies that aligned with the socialist leaning of the Action Group, to which he belonged?
Again, in the second republic, we had the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), a party of the commoners. It held fascination for the common people, who toiled in the rain and sun to earn their livelihoods. The poor people, who lived in the margins of society, belonged to the party. It was to this party, whose leader and founder was Malam Aminu Kano, that the iconic raconteur, Chinua Achebe, belonged.
Over the years, after democratic governance had returned to Nigeria, our political party system has kept on evolving for the worse. Now, no political party in Nigeria abides by the teachings of a school of thought. Instead, they are vehicles which our morally bankrupt politicians use to access political power at the different tiers of government. As a result, in the immediate past, our politicians switched political parties not because they had experienced moments of epiphany, but because they believed that they would leverage the structures of their new political parties to win elections.
Today, NDC is bursting at the seams with members as politicians have defected to it en masse, recently. They want to ride on the coat tails of Mr. Peter Obi to realize their lofty political ends. Mr. Obi is an iconic and charismatic politician, who is well-liked by millions of Nigerians, who belong to different age demographics. But will NDC’S political aspirants remain in the party to make it formidable if they lose NDC’S primary elections?
The battles for the NDC’S tickets for the 2027 election have pitted party members against one another. Bitter feuds have erupted among them. For example, in Anambra state, the battle for the NDC’S ticket for Idemili North and South Federal Constituency House of Representatives election has pitted the supporters of Engr. Eric Nnamdi Anyamene against the supporters of Hon. Uche Harris Okonkwo. Their political feuding will soon degenerate to a slugfest of muckraking instead of the primary election becoming a contest of ideas.
But the political aspirants who are fighting for the NDC’S tickets should know that NDC has emerged as the only true opposition party in Nigeria, now. PDP is on a life support machine while ADC has been decapitated. The Labour Party, as it is constituted now, poses no threat to APC, the ruling party, whose leaders want to control the levers of power at the centre. So, I urge all NDC members to work for the survival of the party even if they lose the primary elections.
As Nigeria is in a critical condition now, NDC party members should work together to rescue Nigeria from the leviathan, APC. Nigeria is at the cross-roads of national crisis as the country’s economy is in the doldrums and the country’s security challenges have proved insurmountable. Have millions of Nigerians not been reduced to sub-humans, who live below the breadline? Has Nigeria not been turned to a river of blood by terrorists, Fulani cattle herders, insurgents, armed robbers, and kidnappers?
So because the NDC is emerging as a political counter-weight to the ruling APC, and as its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, is a better alternative to the bumbling and fumbling geriatric, President Bola Tinubu, we should work for the survival of NDC. We should work hard to stop those who have run Nigeria aground from regaining power at the centre.
***Chiedu Uche Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra state
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A.I
May 22, 2026
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