The convener of The Alternative Movement and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Segun Showunmi, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu cannot be blamed for the struggles of opposition parties in Nigeria.
The Ogun chieftain, on Monday via a statement on his official X account, dismissed claims that Nigeria’s democracy is under threat, insisting that opposition parties are not being “strangled” and that accountability under the law is a normal feature of political competition.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not invent political contestation, nor is he responsible for the opposition’s inability to present a coherent alternative. A competitive system demands resilience, organisation, and credibility, not perpetual claims of victimhood”, the statement partly reads.
He also stressed that democracy remains intact despite opposition setbacks. “Democracy is not weakened because the opposition is struggling; it is weakened when leaders refuse introspection and instead reach for alarmist rhetoric. Nigeria’s system remains open; what is required is better politics, not louder accusations,” he added.
Showunmi dismissed claims that political parties are being strangulated, emphasizing that the recent wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is a natural outcome of internal crises and strategic failures within opposition ranks.
“No one is strangulating political parties in Nigeria. What we are witnessing is the natural consequence of political competition colliding with accountability under the law,” he said.
“People should be careful not to conflate personal political setbacks with a collapse of democracy. Political parties are not entitled to immunity from internal crisis, defections, or the consequences of poor strategic judgment. If anything, what is being exposed is a failure of opposition cohesion, not the death of democratic space.
“If ambition is no longer aligning with political reality, the honest course is to acknowledge the limits of one’s journey. Politics, like life, is generational. The younger cadre will inevitably come of age, and leadership is ultimately judged by what it has sown in those coming behind. You cannot neglect that responsibility and then lament the outcomes when the moment shifts.
“On the matter of investigations or enforcement actions, the principle is straightforward: those who have committed infractions must answer to the law. Public figures cannot be insulated from scrutiny simply because of political alignment or timing. Allegations of wrongdoing must be tested in accordance with due process, not dismissed wholesale as persecution,” Showunmi explained.
He further emphasized that party rules and legal accountability are part of democratic order.
“Equally, those who have abused the internal rules of their political parties or attempted to game the system must understand that consequences are part of institutional order. Law and party discipline are not instruments of oppression; they are the scaffolding of any functioning democracy,” he added.
