By Ikechukwu Amaechi
At best, Nigeria’s democracy in this Fourth Republic has been wobbly, standing, as it were, on feet of clay. And a quarter of a century thence, rather than getting better, things have got worse as the politicians are busy dismantling all the guardrails of democracy – civic participation, which undergirds every genuine democratic project; the rule of law, that norm which says no one is above the law and makes a democracy function properly; separation of powers and checks and balances, democratic values which ensure that no individual or institution would have too much power over others; federalism and limited government, which Dr. Meena Bose, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, at Hofstra University, described as “principles that ensure that the American political system protects liberty and natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Unfortunately, these guardrails which are currently under serious assault in Nigeria are the ramparts that safeguard representative government, without which the concept of democracy becomes a mere cliché.
I have written in the past about the tragic reality that confronts us, which is, democracy without democrats. The fact that we succeeded in dislodging the military in 1999 did not translate to democratic governance.
Today, we have political leaders to whom free and fair election is an anathema – men who don’t take prisoners in electoral battles. It is worse under the watch of President Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban of Nigeria’s politics because democratic values have been shredded, so much so that state governors are now openly inciting violence against fellow citizens.
That was exactly what the Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo, did on Friday when he insisted that the former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, must obtain security clearance from him before visiting Edo State again, otherwise, his security cannot be guaranteed.
Obi’s crime was that earlier in the month, he visited St. Philomena Hospital School of Nursing Sciences in Benin, the capital of Edo State, where he made a donation of N15 million. Rattled by the warm reception accorded Obi, Okpebolo, a man lacking in self-confidence, went berserk. Speaking at a welcome rally for a federal lawmaker, Marcus Onobun, he warned Obi never to come to Edo State again without his authorisation.
“That man who says he has no ‘shishi’ came and dropped N15 million. Where did he get it from? After he left, three people were killed. For this reason, Obi must not come to Edo without security clearance. His visit coincided with a resurgence of violence in the state and this will not be tolerated,” he bellowed.
What impunity! But anyone who knows Okpebholo will know that he was not the one speaking. He simply does not have that capacity. The political forces who imposed him on the good people of Edo State were speaking through him – the axiomatic hand of Esau and voice of Jacob.
It is insulting for an Okpebholo to ask Obi, a successful businessman and one of the few Nigerian politicians who financed his election without the help of any godfather, where he got N15 million from. One wonders what he was doing when Obi became chairman of Fidelity Bank at the young age of 37.
Besides, he did not tell Nigerians where, how and when the alleged “three people were killed” and by who. Assuming without conceding that three people were indeed killed, what did Obi’s visit got to do with it? How someone who occupies such high office could make such a spurious claim without any iota of evidence speaks volumes about the quality of leadership the country is saddled with right now.
Granted, he has tried to moderate his harebrained and inane comment, which he now says should not be misconstrued as a threat, but the outburst of his fellow serfs, including the Edo State APC chairman, Jarret Tenebe, who claimed that Obi is ‘well-hated’ by Edo people, betrays his mendacity.
Obi, deeply hated by Edo people? Incredible! This is a state that is unarguably the melting pot of Obedients in Nigeria, a state where he floored Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, polling a total of 331,163 as against Tinubu’s 144,471 votes. So, what could explain the phenomenon of these same haters massively voting for their supposed bête noire in an election?
As if choreographed, the Kaduna State Police Command took the baton of infamy from Okpebholo and Tenebe when it stopped a planned rally by Obi’s supporters in honour of his birthday on the spurious excuse of a purported intelligence information, which it claimed revealed that certain criminal elements were planning to infiltrate and hijack the rally.
The question is: Why are the police always claiming knowledge of hoodlums planning to use otherwise peaceful rallies as a platform to cause disruption, incite violence, and disturb prevailing public peace without making any arrests after aborting such rallies? Hackneyed excuse!
As if that was not bad enough, there was a report on Monday that a so-called National Association of Polytechnics Students, NAPS, barred Obi from their campuses nationwide. The leader of the association, Eshiofune Paul Oghayan, not only declared Obi a “persona-non- grata” on all Polytechnic campuses across the country but also barred him from coming near a distance “of not less than 10 kilometres from any student community.”
In April 2025, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia cautioned Obi against visiting the state for a humanitarian mission without official clearance, citing security concerns. Obi subsequently canceled the trip, citing the politicisation of his charitable efforts. Yet, when terrorists descended on the state and slaughtered innocent people in their sleep, Alia didn’t see that coming.
In January, the APC spokesman, Felix Morka, in an Arise TV interview accused Obi of “crossing the line” in his public criticism of Tinubu’s administration and ominously warned that he “deserves whatever comes his way and he should be ready to take it.” Nigerians, aghast and nonplussed, demanded a retraction and an apology from him. None came.
But that is not surprising. As an Igbo adage says: “If you see a bird dancing by the side of the road, know that there is a drummer beating a drum inside the bush.” Peter Obi is being threatened all over the place because the minions know on whose behalf they are making their reckless, roguish and incendiary comments. This can only happen in Tinubu’s Nigeria. As the legendary novelist, poet and critic, Chinua Achebe, would say: “A boy sent by his father to steal does not go stealthily but breaks the door with his feet.”
Sadly, it will get worse because these harassments are dress rehearsals for the political battle ahead, in line with a Tinubu media adviser’s 2023 warning to Ndigbo against “interfering” in Lagos politics in 2027.
For the avoidance of doubt, Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, guarantees freedom of movement for all citizens. It states that every citizen of Nigeria has the right to move freely throughout Nigeria, reside in any part of the country, and cannot be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry or exit. Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act guarantees the fundamental right of every citizen to life.
The APC overlords know these facts. Yet, they don’t care. For them, the end justifies the means and the more toxic the politics, the better for them. The idea is to scare away lily-livered competitors from the field. For the sake of our democracy and our country, Nigerians must resist this madness. If not, governors in APC-controlled states will determine who comes to their states to campaign in 2027.
Nigerians must, therefore, take these anti-democratic capers of the Tinubu administration serious. Anyone who thinks it is all about Peter Obi misses the point. It is a dress rehearsal aimed at testing the political waters. It is an existential threat to Nigeria’s democracy. In Tinubu’s Nigeria, opponents do not have the luxury of a free political pass. In Tinubu’s Nigeria, free, fair and credible election is an anathema. They don’t take prisoners.
So, what happens when, in the words of Okpebholo “high-profile individuals, particularly politically exposed persons” fail “to notify and seek security clearance from the governor before embarking on any public engagements within the state?” Will they be stopped from campaigning? Don’t say never.
But it is good that the political malcontents are showing their hands early. As the African axiom says, “a war foretold does not kill the cripple.” Politics in Tinubu’s Nigeria is war. To survive, there must be balance of terror.
*Amaechi is the publisher of TheNiche (ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com)
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