Nigeria’s Democracy Under Attack with Tinubu in Charge

-July 9, 2025

”In trying to fool Nigerians, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has since assumption of office being trying to build something on nothing as he continued to do things in military ways while putting on the toga of a civilian President. For three notable antidemocratic acts carried out by President Bola Tinubu within his two years in office, allowing him to continue towards ending his first term in 2027 is a risk to the foundation of democracy for which precious lives of Nigerians were sacrificed to earn, and anyone who advances any excuses that Nigerians should have waited until he completes the remaining two year in office before he should be judged is nothing but the agent of the devil and enemy of progress”.

The greatest disservice that any leader can do to a country like Nigeria which happens to be the largest Democracy in Africa and whose Democracy has been uninterruptedly stable for Twenty-five years since the beginning of the Third Republic and the return to Democracy in 1999, is to undermine the democratic structures by acts that connote antidemocracy and autocracy. What Nigeria has been reduced to as far as the system of government which supposedly is democracy is worse than what obtained during the military regimes especially that of the late Head of State General Sanni Abacha. There is a wise saying that you can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time, and that exactly is what President Tinubu and the ruling party APC have lost sight of, being out of touch with reality and disconnected from the people who entrusted the power to rule to them. In trying to fool Nigerians, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has since assumption of office being trying to build something on nothing as he continued to do things in military ways while putting on the toga of a civilian President. For three notable antidemocratic acts carried out by President Bola Tinubu within his two years in office, allowing him to continue towards ending his first term in 2027 is a risk to the foundation of democracy for which precious lives of Nigerians were sacrificed to earn, and anyone who advances any excuse that Nigerians should have waited until he completes the remaining two year in office before he should be judged is nothing but the agent of the devil and enemy of progress.

Siminalayi Fubara (Suspended Governor of Rivers State)

Recall how President Tinubu imposed the state of emergency on Rivers State on March 18, 2025 and went on to suspend the Governor of the State and his deputy, all members of the State Assembly, and sacked all Heads of Statuary Agencies in the State. He also corrupted the legislature by making both the lower and upper chambers of the National Assembly to dance to his tune by illegally endorsing his decision on the state of emergency using voice vote instead of the electronic or manual head count voting to arrive at a two-thirds majority as stipulated by the constitution. The President of Nigeria committed this atrocity which is criminal in nature to satisfy the whims and caprices of the immediate Former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike who also is his minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Recall also, how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu single handedly overturned the decision of the Lagos State House of Assembly which through a constitutional means removed the speaker of the House on the grounds of gross misconduct and abuse of power putting his own personal interest over that of the members of the House of Assembly, “ On 13 January, Mr Obasa was impeached by two-thirds majority of the House members while he was on holiday in the United States, ending his decade-long hold on the office. The members cited alleged high-handedness and financial misappropriation for his removal and promptly elected Mosjisola Meranda as their new Speaker. However, Mr Obasa rejected his removal, saying it did not follow the procedures of the legislative assembly. He immediately headed to court to seek redress. At its last sitting on 13 February, the members passed a vote of confidence in the new Speaker, who was under pressure from some party leaders to resign and adjourned their sitting indefinitely.” The end result of the drama you may which to know was the resignation of the new speaker, has made possible by the Federal might. This experience is in every respect similar to that of the Rivers State and fits in for description as silencing the voice of the people and suppressing dissenting ideas. The high-handedness and political maneuvers of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu portrays a leader who has only learnt the tricks of the trade and not the trade itself.

Lagos State House of Assembly

Moreover, how do we explain the deplorable conditions of all the political parties especially the major opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), just to mention a few who are gasping for air in other to survive from the seed of disunity and destabilization which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his ruling party APC have sown to weaken them as well as the unprecedented defections of members of these political parties, including members of the National Assembly and Governors to the ruling party for no justifiable reasons, except for the alleged intimidation and coercions by the Tinubu led administration, using the agencies of government, such as the anti-graft agency known as The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to threaten some of the governors whose political God fathers and predecessors have cases of financial misappropriation to answer. What is clear to Nigerians by these actions of President Bola Tinubu is a ploy that takes Nigeria in the direction of one-party State.

Symbols of Political Parties

On a final note, President Bola Tinubu has learnt nothing but forgotten everything from history about the treacherous ends of tyrants and autocratic leaders. He also being a self-acclaimed king maker, who can only make Kings whose reign is short and limited, should know that there is God Almighty who has the final say and authority over all mankind. God has had the groanings of Nigerians and has come down to turn around the table against the oppressors of the people. Nigeria is due for a change and rescuing the country between now and beyond 2027 is a task that must be done. “View the whole world and with impartial eyes. Consider and examine all that rise. Weigh well their actions and their treacherous ends. How greatness grows, and by what steps ascends. What murders, treasons, perjuries, deceits, how many fall, to make one monster great?”