A public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has cautioned political leaders against promoting a one-party system, warning that such a path often ends in failure and disgrace.
Shehu gave the warning in a post shared on X on Thursday, where he reflected on the dangers and perceived benefits of one-party dominance in a democracy.
According to him, true democracy is built on active citizen participation and the availability of multiple political parties.
“True democracy is predicated on free and unimpeded citizens’ participation in regular elections and guaranteed adult franchise under multiple party platforms,” he said.
He, however, noted that many leaders tend to weaken these democratic principles after gaining power in a bid to remain in office for as long as possible.
“History has shown that some of the tenets of democracy become inconvenient to many leaders who have ascended to power, such that they dilute those tenets to serve their inordinate desire to cling to power till death,” Shehu added.
Citing global examples, he pointed to countries where opposition parties exist but play little or no meaningful role.
“Just recall China, North Korea, Uganda, Chile, Eritrea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Cameroon as a few examples where opposition parties don’t matter. They only exist at the convenience of the ruling party,” he said.
Despite this, Shehu argued that leaders who promote one-party dominance would eventually realise its futility.
“Leaders and politicians who cherish and nurture a one-party state will realise the futility of their democratic selfishness when it is too little too late,” he warned.
He added that such leaders often leave power under unpleasant circumstances.
“Because willy-nilly, they will depart power or power will elude them, often with disgrace deserving no one’s sympathy or pity,” he said.
Shehu also pointed out that one-party systems make it easier for citizens to assign responsibility for both successes and failures in governance.
“They have also made it easy for their citizens to know when and who to praise, condemn or hold responsible for good or evil in the country,” he noted.
According to him, such systems also simplify the work of historians and political analysts.
“Indeed, they make it easier for historians and political scientists to document their regimes with ease as they alone dominated the political stage to everybody’s exclusion,” he said.
He further warned that leaders who undermine electoral processes are only setting themselves up for eventual failure.
“All political leaders who shiver at the approach of elections, muscle opposition, coerce electoral institutions, chase away many, deploy material inducement and blackmail are simply making their crash and failure inevitable,” he stated.
“That has been the verdict of history and there is no exception to that stubborn rule.” Mahdi said.
Currently, the APC has 32 out of the 36 state governors.
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