A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Segun Sowunmi, says the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is not forcing opposition politicians to defect.
Sowunmi described such arguments as intellectually lazy and
politically convenient.
He said this in an article titled “Democracy Is Not an
Entitlement: A Response to the Alarmism Ahead of 2027,” published on X on
Tuesday, in reaction to narratives that Nigeria’s democracy is under threat
following recent defections to the APC, including that of Kano State Governor,
Abba Yusuf.
According to him, democracy should not be measured by the
comfort or fortunes of political actors.
“By any serious standard, democracy is measured not by how
comfortable political actors feel but by whether citizens retain the power to
choose their leaders,” he wrote.
He added that warnings about a looming democracy without
competition were based on a misreading of democratic principles and Nigeria’s
political reality.
The PDP stalwarts said critics were wrongly equating
political disadvantage with democratic erosion and loss of influence with loss
of freedom, noting that democracy does not guarantee political relevance to
parties but protects rights such as freedom of association, speech,
contestation and voting.
“Democracy does not impose a duty on a ruling party to
preserve its opponents. Parties earn competitiveness; they are not entitled to
it,” Sowunmi said.
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