By Abbanobi -Eku Onyeka
Principal Partner at Chinenye Chambers in Abuja, Amobi Nzelu, has blamed the failure of opposition parties to unite and the culture of candidate imposition within political parties for the crisis in Nigeria’s democracy.
Speaking in an interview, the senior lawyer said political parties were originally designed to sponsor credible candidates, but the practice has changed. He recalled the era of Awolowo and Azikiwe when party leaders fielded people of character.
“Now parties send competing candidates into primary elections. The winner is supposed to carry the flag,” Nzelu said. “But we have instances where the winner is dropped and the highest bidder, who did not contest, becomes the flag bearer. That is the greatest injury for Nigerians.”
He described the practice as a “weapon of mass destruction” that will destroy the country’s politics if allowed to continue. According to him, overriding primary election results is “not healthy development for our democracy.”
Nzelu also linked the desperation in politics to unemployment and poverty. “The best way to get rich is to go and become flag bearer, win election, go into the house, and recoup what you spent. It’s not healthy for Nigerians,” he said.
He warned that the trend is pushing Nigeria toward a one-party system. “All this gambling, tend to zero down Nigeria to one party system. The pressure of Nigerians, even if elasticized, has a breaking point.”
On whether he was referring to a particular party, Nzelu said: “All political parties are in the same leopard’s skin. It is the same thing. Half cup and half full.”
Speaking on the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), he said the party is on a “rescue mission” and must be “like Caesar’s wife, seen to be above board.” He urged founder Senator Dickson and presidential candidate Peter Obi to ensure justice and internal democracy. “Democracy starts from inside before it goes outside,” he stated.
He described Obi as “a good material” and “a good brain” who should “stand for the truth at all times.” On the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nzelu noted its internal court battles, saying “somebody somewhere is creating this war for them” ahead of elections.
On the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nzelu said a party without credible opposition breeds despotism. “If everybody collapses into one party, there will be implosion,” he warned.
He advised the APC, which “has the yam and has the knife,” to ensure governance reaches the people, even as he also criticized the National Assembly’s long recess, asking what it would bring back “for the taste of the masses.”
Barr Amobi Nzelu concluded that President Tinubu cannot be blamed for everything alone. “He can’t be omnipresent.” He said Nigerians must hold governors and other officials accountable, and that leaders must stop seeing government as a means to “steal what they wanted, not what they needed.”
