With the sedimentation of reactionary opposition fragments, it appears — once again in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic — that there is a coalescing of misfits who have become incompatible with the current administration. These sections of the ruling class, who are no better than those in the APC, have united under the guise of “rescuing Nigeria”. This is quite like what we saw with the 2013 formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This coalition events have parallels in Nigeria’s political history. We must not let them fool us. We the people must stand firm for the unity of our class and not some sham unity with our oppressors.
The major capitalist political actors who have now come together under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) umbrella include a lot of formers: former governors, former ministers, former special advisers, and a former vice president. They have chosen ADC as the special purpose vehicle of their so-called coalition for the 2027 general elections.
At the meeting where this coalition was cemented and sealed, those who are to become major players in this opposition were seen together holding talks as they finalised and announced the terms of their unholy matrimony They included several politicians who were notorious for how they made living hell for poor working people when they were in power, such as; David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, and Atiku Abubakar. Their coalition agreement should not be expected to make life better for us, drawing from our experiences of what they did when in power and what they stand for, which is for the interest of the class of rich people: their own interests.
To all who have observed the politicking that has taken place within the country over the last two years, the APC-led Federal Government’s attempt to whittle down all opposition by hook or crook has been clear to see. We have seen a gale of defections which reek of political strangulation of opposition parties’ governors and their state representatives at various levels. These defections, along with a storm of internal crises being faced by the country’s biggest opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have led many to wonder what the ballots would look like in 2027. The gradual decline of the PDP has spurred many several capitalist politicians who are not in the good books of President Bola Tinubu’s APC administration regime to try to find a way to ensure that 2027 won’t have just one major capitalist party on the ballot. They have come together to sell us another false capitalist recipe for how to “rescue Nigeria” from the dilapidated state that the Tinubu government has placed it.
These current happenings share a rather uncanny resemblance to the events preceding the 2015 general elections, with the formation of today’s monster, the APC. In their bid to kick out the PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan as president so that they could step in to control the looting of the state, most of the capitalist opposition political parties at the time and some aggrieved PDP members came together and formed the APC; a party that has today sunk us even deeper into economic ruin.
In 2013, we saw the formation of the All Progresives Congress (APC) as a new party, even though it was made up of disgruntled members of the same ruling class, and who had been in power either at the national level for those in PDP or in states across several regions for the smaller parties like the ACN and ANPP. Partly due to the level of insecurity and economic instability the nation faced at the time, and the false toga of General Muhammadu Buhari as a no-nonsense anti-corruption general, their campaign received significant support. For many people, they were sick and tied of the Jonathan administration’s cluelessness about how to handle the economic crisis and state of insecurity. They were convinced that someone with Buhari’s supposed credentials actually offered a positive “change”. Thus, the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration was born, and the pangs of pain brought by APC’s false crusade of “change” can still be felt today.
Also, at the polls in 2023 we saw a disjointed opposition put up a fight against the continuation of the reign of APC’s regime of sufferation for Nigerians, with the emergence of Bola Tinubu as president. But this failed to stand. Neither the PDP or the Obidient Labour Party was strong enough to stand on its own against the electoral machinations of the APC.
With this coalition formed under the umbrella of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), there appears to be not a single breath of fresh air. It is the same faces who have been actively involved in the destruction, destabilisation and disintegration of Nigeria since 1999 (some even earlier) that have now been presented as a new alternative to the APC. With names such as Dino Melaye, Abubakar Malami, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, David Mark, Nasir El-Rufai, Bukola Saraki, and Rauf Aregbesola all on the line-up, and the brewing crisis that is soon to erupt between factions of the party, it appears that what the ADC actually stands for is, Another Democratic Circus.
It is clear as day that the coalition is a coalition in the interest of sections of the same ruling class of exploiters that have made Nigeria hell on earth for the poor. It does not stand for working-class people. With the economic policies of Bola Tinubu’s government, there has been a crack in the affluence of many, if not all other capitalist politicians, who are outside of his circle. In an attempt to now take control of the implementation of government policies and the regulation of how these policies affect their class as a whole, a fraction of the Nigerian capitalist class has come, yet again, hoping take back power from a faction within their class that has failed to carry many of them along.
As the Nigerian capitalists have aligned and formed coalitions to protect their interest, class consciousness and class solidarity have been key ingredients. We, the poor working people, must not be deceived by any section of the ruling class. We should rather unite to fight against all of them. The working class must take note of the fact that the coalition of the capitalists is not one that is in our interest. Our interests and the interests of those who exploit us are diametrically opposed.
As working-class people, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the antics of the new democratic circus in town. We should rather focus on building a peoples’ coalition that is aligned with our own class interests. We cannot stand with a coalition which provides no fundamental alternative to the current crippling policies in place. The working people and youth must learn from the mistakes of the recent past and refuse to align with any coalition made up of the same failed leaders that have plunged every part of the country into ruin. We must build a working people’s alliance in order for us to recover our country from the pillaging hands of all the capitalist bosses. In class solidarity lies our only hope.
by Oghenero ABU
