The Nigerian masses and the civil society must rise and march to Aso Rock and protest against the recent plot to destabilize the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Clearly, the recent maneuver by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cripple the ADC is not an administrative error; it is well calculated. That is the renewed hope agenda at a critical hour. That is the political assassination attempt of the entire opposition at a critical juncture. It is the pivot of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ongoing plot to tighten its grip on the throat of Nigerian democracy, moving us closer to a suffocating one-party state. It is the final hour of the renewed hope agenda of President TInubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stand unopposed in the forthcoming 2027 elections, despite enthroning the worst regime in national democratic history.
But the protests this time must be different to succeed. The way and manner to protest against the TInubu Tyranny must change, if we need true change.
First, instead of protesting at the INEC or the National Assembly as has been the case in the past, the valid venue is the Aso Rock where TInubu lives and works. The agencies like the INEC or the other branches of government, such as the Legislature and the Courts have become mere rubber stamps to carry out Tinubu’s evil policies.
For too long, the Nigerian masses and the civil society have been trying their hardest but have continued to play a losing game. We typically march to the gates of INEC; we shout at the walls of the National Assembly or complain at the Courts. But it is a common knowledge that these agencies are basically lifeless extensions of the executive’s will. Those agencies or the other branches are the tail of the beast. If we are serious about stoping the predator, we must not step on its tail; we strike at the head.
The time for performative protests at agency headquarters ought to be over. The source of this democratic decay is the Aso Rock, the very seat of presidential power. That is where the policies are forged, where the strangulation of multipartyism is plotted, and where the mandate of the people is being diluted into a single, autocratic voice.
If we are to save the soul of this nation, the protest must move to the doorstep of the power-broker-in-chief. We must occupy the seat of power, not its shadows.
The ADC is just the latest victim; tomorrow, it will be the very idea of a free Nigeria.
Also very important, WE NEED A BOLD AND VISIBLE OPPOSITION. The time has come for the opposition leaders to broadly adopt the SOWORE style by leading from the front, leading the protesters. Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, Mr. Peter Obi, and Mr. Atiku Abubakar have joined in recent months but the presence of the opposition leaders must be elaborate sustained.
SKC Ogbonnia, former APC Presidential Aspirants writes from Ugbo, Enugu State
