ACCOMPLISH MAGAZINE DEC 2023

FEATURE / ANALYSIS
•President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
•Atiku Abubakar
These steps would have enabled the
opposition parties do further ‘damage’
with hard facts during the campaigns
that preceded the polls. It would have
also enabled the opposition parties
to collate an irrefutable body of
evidence in preparation for the battle
of jurisprudence that took place at the
election tribunal, the appellate court and,
finally, the apex court. Well, what did we
get? An opposition fixated on caricaturing
the ruling party’s presidential aspirant on
health grounds and poor management
of presumed certificate infractions.
The entire process and the outcomes
question the opposition parties’ readiness
and bid to wrest power from the
incumbent.
Can democracy truly thrive with
feeble, uncoordinated and tactless
opposition? Unequivocally, the vibrancy
of the opposition is the barometer or
a true reflection of the health of any
democracy and its absence, sponsors
leadership failure, and societal collapse.
Hence, democracy without consistent,
persistent, rugged and informed strategic
engagement of the opposition is the
beginning of dictatorialism and the
emergence of a democratic monarch,
especially in the African milieu.
The opposition, during the First Republic,
was very vibrant and kept the political
space fully charged and sometimes
spilling into unnecessary violence.
There was an opposition that bestrode
the political landscape effectively. One
remembers at the height of its glory
or infamy, the handlers of the Peoples’
Democratic Party, PDP, boasted that the
party would rule the country for 60 years
uninterrupted, and such assertion was
based on the arrogance of success and
driven by its sheer grip of incumbency.
Unfortunately, encumbered with endless
policy missteps and massive corruption,
Can
democracy
truly thrive
with feeble
uncoordinate
and tactles
opposition?
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