Hold APC responsible if anything happens to Nigeria’s democracy — Wabara

. Rejects Appeal Court ruling on PDP leadership crisis . Warns against making Tinubu sole presidential candidate By Steve Oko UMUAHIA – Former Senate President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adolphus Wabara, has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to accept responsibility should Nigerias democracy suffer any setback arising from what he described as the systematic weakening of opposition parties.

Wabara, who expressed strong reservations over the recent Court of Appeal judgment in the PDP leadership dispute, accused the ruling party of benefiting from the protracted crises in opposition parties and warned that attempts to weaken political alternatives ahead of the 2027 general elections could undermine Nigeria’s democratic foundations. He described the appellate court’s refusal to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise his faction’s position as a travesty of justice, insisting that the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the Alhaji Abdulrahman Muhammad-led faction raised serious questions about democracy in Nigeria.

The former Senate President warned that accepting the Muhammad-led faction’s position without adequately addressing the issues surrounding its emergence amounted to “standing truth in the head”. The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, had declined to disturb the July 17, 2026 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which dismissed the suit filed by the Wabara-led BoT faction.

The appellate court held that the trial judge, Justice Salim Ibrahim, was right to dismiss the suit seeking to validate actions taken on behalf of the PDP by the Tanimu Turaki, SAN-led faction. Those actions included a national convention organised by the faction, which subsequently announced former President Goodluck Jonathan as its consensus presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

In the lead judgment delivered virtually by Justice R. O. Ayoola, the appellate court held that the Wabara-led group lacked the locus standi to institute the action on behalf of the PDP. It consequently struck out the party’s name as the eighth appellant and held that the appeal had become academic and amounted to an abuse of judicial process. Reacting to the judgment, Wabara expressed bewilderment at what he described as its questionable legal reasoning, wondering how the appellate court arrived at what he called an inverted interpretation of the issues before it.

He cautioned the judiciary against becoming entangled in political disputes in ways that could further erode public confidence in the institution. According to him, the growing legal battles within opposition parties, particularly the PDP, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, have raised troubling questions about the ability of opposition parties to participate effectively in the 2027 elections.

Wabara alleged that the APC was benefiting from the weakening of opposition parties and urged the judiciary to protect its independence and credibility by ensuring that its decisions do not create the impression of favouring any political interest. “The opposition should be allowed to breathe. Nigeria cannot afford a situation where formidable opposition parties are weakened to the point that nobody can effectively challenge the ruling party in 2027.

“Tinubu should not be made a sole presidential candidate in 2027. That would be anti-democratic and a dangerous precedent capable of bringing avoidable embarrassment to our country. “Using the courts to make Tinubu the sole presidential candidate in 2027 will not save the APC,” he declared. The PDP chieftain, who recalled that the APC itself benefited from a competitive political environment before taking power in 2015, challenged the ruling party to demonstrate its confidence in its performance by allowing opposition parties to operate freely.

“Would the APC have been in power today if the PDP had used the courts to cripple opposition parties when it was in government? Democracy thrives on competition, not the elimination of competitors,” Wabara said.. The former Senate President also expressed concern over the recent court ruling in the leadership crisis rocking the ADC, warning that developments in the three major opposition parties could leave Nigeria with a significantly weakened opposition ahead of the next general elections.

“From the look of things, no opposition party is yet free from the ongoing political persecution and grand plot to weaken the opposition ahead of 2027,” he alleged. He said he was increasingly doubtful whether the opposition parties would be allowed to provide credible alternatives to the APC in the forthcoming elections. Wabara also condemned reported incidents of political violence and attacks against opposition members in different parts of the country, challenging the authorities to investigate the incidents and bring p