The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has warned that Nigeria is drifting dangerously toward a one-party state, a development that could suffocate democratic accountability and impose heavy human and economic costs on citizens.
CHRICED’s Executive Director, Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, in a statement issued on Sunday, said the growing wave of defections from opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) represents more than routine political realignment, describing it as “a slow but steady march toward a civilian dictatorship cloaked in democratic garb.”
According to him, governors, senators and members of the House of Representatives who were elected on opposition platforms are increasingly abandoning their mandates, not because of superior policies or governance outcomes, but due to “coercion, inducement, fear and the instinct for political survival.”
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“Nigeria stands at a dangerous crossroads,” Zikirullahi said. “History teaches us that one-party dominance rarely emerges from competence or visionary leadership. It grows from greed, arrogance and the systematic weakening of institutions meant to protect democracy.”
Drawing parallels from other countries, CHRICED warned that Nigeria risks repeating painful global experiences where prolonged one-party dominance led to economic collapse, repression and mass suffering.
Dr. Zikirullahi pointed to Zimbabwe, Russia, Cameroon and Kenya as examples where defections and patronage entrenched ruling parties while citizens bore the cost. “In these countries, politicians crossed over to ruling parties not to serve the people, but to secure protection and access to state resources. The result was poverty, instability and migration,” he said.
He expressed particular concern about Nigeria’s current trajectory under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting that since 2023, defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC have intensified. Governors from states long regarded as opposition strongholds, such as Delta, Enugu, Akwa Ibom and Rivers, have switched allegiance while still in office.
“These defections are framed as support for reforms,” Dr. Zikirullahi said, “but citizens see little evidence that their lives are improving. What they see instead is elite consolidation, not people-centred governance.”
The organisation also criticised the National Assembly and the judiciary, accusing both institutions of enabling the trend. Dr. Zikirullahi described the legislature as “a rubber stamp,” alleging that it has failed to question the constitutionality of defections or protect opposition voices. “Rather than defend the electorate’s mandate, defections are celebrated as strengthening democracy, when in fact they betray it,” he said.
On the judiciary, he alleged that court rulings have consistently legitimised defections by treating party membership as a purely personal choice, even when officials were elected on specific party platforms. “By sealing opportunism with legal approval, the courts have become accomplices in Nigeria’s slide toward one-party dominance,” Zikirullahi stated.
Beyond institutional decay, the Executive Director warned of the human cost if the drift continues unchecked. According to him, one-party dominance often leads to economic mismanagement, worsening insecurity, collapse of social services and mass migration. “When opposition is silenced and accountability disappears, poverty deepens, insecurity spreads and hope dies,” Dr. Zikirullahi warned. “Dictatorship does not always arrive with guns; sometimes it arrives with applause.”
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He stressed that democracy rarely collapses overnight but withers gradually when citizens fail to resist. “Each defection is not harmless politics; it is a brick removed from the foundation of accountability,” he said.
He, however, called on Nigerians, civil society, the media and opposition parties to resist what it described as the arrogance of power and to defend democratic pluralism. “Democracy is not about the convenience of politicians,” Zikirullahi said. “It is about the will and welfare of the people.”
The CHRICED boss concluded with a stark warning: “Nigeria’s democracy will not be stolen in one night. It will be suffocated by defections, rubber-stamp legislatures and compromised courts—unless the people rise to stop it.”