A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and policy analyst, Dr M. O. Ubani, has warned that Nigeria’s political environment is sliding from competition into intolerance ahead of the 2027 general elections, and has called on the political class to lower the temperature before campaigning proper begins.
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In a statement titled “There Are Minimum Requirements: Nigeria Must Not Descend,” Ubani said threats, intimidation, bullying and open hostility were becoming disturbingly familiar features of political discourse.
“There is something increasingly unsettling about Nigeria’s political environment as we approach the 2027 general elections,” he wrote. “Political competition appears to be giving way, gradually but unmistakably, to political intolerance. This should worry every Nigerian.”
Ubani pointed first to Ebonyi State, where the Governor, addressing newly sworn-in local government chairmen, was reported to have warned them not to permit defeat in their respective constituencies.
He said the message appeared to have been taken seriously by some beneficiaries of the new order, citing the reported declaration by one of the chairmen, Eze Paul Ituma of Ohaukwu Local Government Area, that he would not allow anyone to take garri from his mouth, and his promise to do whatever was necessary to secure victory for his principal and party.
“Whether such statements were intended as political rhetoric or something more sinister, they should neither be encouraged nor normalised in a democracy,” Ubani wrote.
He turned next to what he described as the latest development generating national concern, the reported denial of entry into a State to one of the presidential contenders, and the absence so far of a sufficiently convincing public explanation from the authorities responsible for governance in that State.
“Whatever the eventual facts may be, the incident provides another opportunity to ask an important question: are we becoming so intolerant of political opposition that we are prepared to deny our opponents even the basic freedom to visit a State in the Federation?” he asked. “That question deserves a clear answer.”
Ubani placed the incidents against Nigeria’s electoral history.
“Our political history is littered with painful examples of what happens when political competition degenerates into hatred and violence,” he wrote, citing Operation Wetie in the South-West as a reminder of political intolerance in the First Republic, and noting that the 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 elections were each marred in varying degrees by violence, threats, intimidation and loss of lives.
He argued that fierce disagreement is legitimate but bounded. Opponents may disagree on policies, principles and ideology, expose one another’s failures, challenge one another’s records and campaign vigorously, he said, but there must be limits.
“Nigeria is bigger than any political party or any election. One thing remains clear, political office is temporary. The consequences of political violence, however, can last for generations,” he wrote.
“An election is not a war, and a political opponent is not an enemy of the State.”
Ubani said the 2027 campaigns should turn on records and proposals rather than on threats.
“It should be about what those who are currently in office have achieved in the last three or four years and what those seeking to replace them intend to do differently,” he wrote. “Let those with the best argument and agenda win and let the better programme prevail. It is the people that should have the final say.”
What must not happen, he said, is the intimidation of the electorate, the silencing of opponents, the restriction of legitimate political activity, or the creation of an atmosphere in which violence becomes the price of political participation.
He was explicit that the warning was not partisan. “This warning is not directed at one political party or one section of the country. It applies to everybody. Those who are in government today may be in opposition tomorrow, and those enjoying political power today may one day need the very democratic freedoms they are tempted to deny others.”
The Senior Advocate extended the caution beyond candidates to their followers.
“Loyalty to a politician does not require hostility towards his opponent. Defending a candidate does not mean threatening those who disagree with him. Your political mobilisation is to persuade, and not to terrorise,” he wrote.
“The tragedy is that those who create political fires often imagine that they can control them. History teaches otherwise. Once the fire starts, it does not ask which political party you belong to before consuming you.”
Ubani said the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies, political parties, civil society, religious and traditional leaders and every Nigerian have a role in securing a peaceful election, but that the heavier duty lies with those seeking power.
“They must be told that if they cannot tolerate their opponent, then they are not ready to govern in a democracy,” he wrote. “If they cannot allow their opponent to speak, then they have no moral basis to demand that Nigerians should listen to them.”
He closed with an appeal. “Campaign hard; disagree passionately; expose failures and defend achievements. In challenging one another, present facts and ideas. Please let us not destroy the country in our desperate quest to govern it.”
Noting that Nigeria has managed its democracy with all its imperfections since 1999, he said the country must not now fall below the minimum standards of behaviour that have kept the Republic together.
“Such intolerant behaviour of intimidation, threats and bullying should be put to a stop,” he wrote. “This is a timely plea and a warning.”
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