By Crystal Ugoeze
Nigeria’s democracy is “under severe attack” and drifting toward dangerous authoritarianism, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned, following the defection of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to the ruling party.
In a strongly worded statement titled “A Case of Self-Inflicted Injury,” the PDP said the governor’s exit reflects a deeper crisis threatening the nation’s democratic foundations. According to the party, the events surrounding Fubara’s defection expose how powerful individuals continue to override democratic institutions, using federal structures to “obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said Fubara’s decision to dump the party was voluntary, stressing that he “willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination.” But beyond the governor’s political choices, Ememobong warned that the wider implications for Nigeria were far more alarming.
He said the Rivers crisis demonstrates a “dysfunctional” democratic environment where institutions are too weak to protect themselves from manipulation. The party accused the ruling APC of intensifying efforts to establish a one-party state, shrinking political space, and undermining the principles of participatory governance.
“The disposition of the ruling party towards the attainment of a one-party state is constricting Nigeria’s political space,” the PDP stated. “Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people must unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.”
While wishing Governor Fubara well, the opposition party warned that Nigeria is on an “ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism” unless citizens, civil society, and the international community act swiftly to defend the nation’s democratic values.
The PDP called on Nigerians to rise in defence of democracy, insisting that the survival of the country’s political system depends on collective resistance to undemocratic practices.