The Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of harassing and intimidating opposition parties in the country.
Usman said the APC, since assuming power in 2023, has employed various tactics, including intimidation, manipulation, and harassment, to stifle the opposition, thereby undermining democracy in the country.
TIME.I.NG understands the Labour Party caretaker chairman made the submission at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Global Award and Dinner Night in Abuja at the weekend.
Usman further accused the APC of using state resources, including judicial manipulation, in its intimidation of opposition parties in the country.
According to her, the tactics are part of the reasons responsible for the defection of opposition party members to the APC.
“Since the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the ruling party, there has been a deliberate and relentless campaign to undermine the opposition.”
“Tactics range from infiltration and co-optation to the use of state institutions for harassment, intimidation, and even judicial manipulation. The ruling party has become adept not just at consolidating power but at weakening every form of challenge to it. This is not democracy. This is domination masked as governance.
“The APC cannot in good conscience profess commitment to democratic ideals while simultaneously working to destabilise opposition parties like the Labour Party and others,” Mrs Usman, represented by her Senior Special Adviser on Media, Ken Eluma Asogwa, said.
She, however, urged opposition parties not to succumb to the tactics of the APC but to work together in protecting democracy in Nigeria.
“Without a strong and functional opposition, we cannot claim to be practising democracy—only a shadow of it.
“Around the world, we have seen how opposition movements shape democratic resilience. Yet here at home, we are witnessing the slow suffocation of opposition voices—not by accident, but by design,” Usman submitted.
The Labour Party chieftain also accused opposition parties of complicity in the attempts to weaken them. According to her, external sabotage can’t work if the internal organization of the parties are in place.
Usman called on opposition parties to continue playing their role in deepening democracy by calling out the failures of the APC.
She said, “But let me also be brutally honest: while external interference from the APC has played a role, it is not the only culprit. The opposition has too often been complicit in its own weakening.
“We must acknowledge that personal ambition, greed, and internal divisions have made us vulnerable. No amount of external sabotage can succeed if there is no internal decay. That is why I say the most potent antidote is not merely vigilance, but patriotism—genuine, uncompromising patriotism.
“When our leaders put Nigeria first—above ambition, above ego, above the lure of quick power—no ruling party can break us. It is time to stop acting like victims and start behaving like visionaries. Our role is not to whine about the state of the nation but to fight for its redemption.
“It does this country no good to operate a system where one party dominates unchecked. Even the APC, if it is wise, should understand that democracy dies not with a bang but with the silence of dissent. Once the people are left with no real alternative, the legitimacy of the entire system is at risk.
“We must call out the failures of the APC administration—its economic mismanagement, insecurity, shrinking civic space, and worsening inequality. But more importantly, we must come armed with real solutions and speak not just to the frustrations of Nigerians but to their hopes.
“Not just criticism, but conviction. Not just slogans, but substance. Not just ambition, but action.”
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