Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has drawn widespread condemnation from Nigerians after declaring publicly and without apology that Kaduna has become a one-party state under the All Progressives Congress, a statement that has been received with outrage and disbelief, particularly given the governor’s own roots in the National Democratic Coalition, the pro-democracy group that risked lives fighting military dictatorship to restore the very multi-party democracy he now boasts of having eliminated in his state.
Speaking on Thursday in Kaduna while hosting a presidential delegation that included Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, Sani stated: “Kaduna State, as we are speaking, we have no opposition. That’s the fact of the matter. We have brought Kaduna into a one-party state and I have no apology for that.”
The statement has triggered a storm of condemnation from Nigerians across political, ethnic, and regional lines, with citizens describing the governor’s boast as an affront to democracy, a betrayal of the NADECO legacy, and the most explicit confirmation yet of the opposition’s warnings that the ruling party is systematically working to impose a one-party system on Nigeria.
Addressing his commissioners and the visiting presidential delegation, Sani was unapologetic in his characterisation of Kaduna’s political landscape.
“To my commissioners, I just want to thank you, and I can assure you that Kaduna State, as we are speaking, we have no opposition. That’s the fact of the matter. We have brought Kaduna into a one-party state and I have no apology for that,” Sani stated.
He dismissed journalists who have criticised his administration, accusing them of approaching interviews with preconceived opinions.
“Some latter-day journalists were asking questions. You go to studio, they ask questions and they answer the questions themselves. Before getting to the studio, they already have their own opinion, and they want you to listen to them. But we can’t do that. Most of them have no historical perspectives of where we are coming from,” the governor added.
Sani used the occasion to declare unqualified support for President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, making sweeping claims about the president’s impact on the North.
“No president has supported northern Nigeria as President Tinubu has done in less than three years,” Sani stated.
“And that is also why I cannot see any zone, not even the South-West, coming down to vote more for him than us. Let me make it clear to all of you, President Tinubu has done more for the North than any leader in this country,” the governor declared.
He pointed to security improvements in Birnin Gwari as evidence, recalling Tinubu’s visit to the area in December 2022.
“It was a journey of less than two hours, but it took us five hours. The problem was security, because at that time you could not travel from Kaduna to Birnin Gwari without military escort. But today, you can go there without police escort,” Sani stated.
He added that infrastructure improvements had boosted economic activity: “When you go to Birnin Gwari, you will see hundreds of vehicles passing to Lagos. It has improved the economic prosperity of our people who are farmers and small business owners.”
The governor cited a recently approved project for Kano State worth “almost N1 trillion” as further evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to the North.
Sani dismissed concerns about Tinubu’s re-election prospects with a distinction between social media sentiment and real-world electoral support that many Nigerians found ominous rather than reassuring.
“All the people talking that the president won’t win elections ,if elections are conducted on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and social media, that’s where he will lose. But if it is people that vote at polling units, he is going to get 70 per cent of the votes. That is the fact of the matter,” Sani stated.
“It’s not about social media, it’s about working on the ground. The masses appreciate President Tinubu because they know poverty has no religion and no tribal boundaries,” the governor added.
Nigerians were quick to point out the troubling implication of the governor’s formulation: if the president would lose on social media where opinions are freely expressed but win at polling units where the ruling party controls the machinery, the 70 per cent he predicts may reflect the power of incumbency and electoral manipulation rather than genuine popular support.
The reaction to Sani’s statement has been overwhelmingly negative, with Nigerians across different platforms condemning the governor’s boast as an assault on democratic values.
“He is celebrating the death of democracy in his state. This is not an achievement. This is a funeral,” one widely shared reaction stated.