Key Points

• Pat Utomi alleges that INEC and the Tinubu government are running a coordinated campaign to weaken the Labour Party, PDP and ADC before the 2027 general elections.
• He warned that Nigeria is on a trajectory toward one-man rule and said current executive manipulation of institutions exceeds what occurred under Sani Abacha.
• The Tinubu presidency denied the allegations, with a senior aide dismissing Utomi’s claims as “pedestrian and petty.”

Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy and deputy chairman of the African Democratic Congress Manifesto and Policy Committee, says hidden forces with the backing of the ruling establishment are deliberately breaking apart Nigeria’s major opposition parties, and that the country’s electoral body has become an instrument of that effort.

Utomi made the allegation Tuesday during an interview on ARISE NEWS, describing what he called a coordinated assault on the Labour Party, the Peoples Democratic Party and the ADC, timed to weaken the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“In all political parties, there will be the good, bad, and ugly, and they are willing tools that can be used by outside forces,” he said. “And if there is a determined effort from outside, then it is easy to find those willing tools and use them to cause irritations within the systems.”

INEC as APC instrument

Utomi did not confine his allegations to unnamed actors. He accused President Bola Tinubu’s government and the All Progressives Congress of plotting to use the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission to frustrate opposition politicians from contesting the forthcoming poll.

He faulted what he described as INEC’s rush in validating the controversial convention and new national executive of the Nyesom Wike-backed faction of the PDP, saying it was “clear evidence that INEC is a parastatal of the APC.”

His remarks were made one day before INEC withdrew recognition of the David Mark-led ADC national executive, citing a Court of Appeal order directing parties to maintain the status quo pending the resolution of an internal leadership dispute.

Worse than Abacha

Utomi argued that the executive branch has carried out more manipulation of other arms of government under Tinubu than under the military regime of former Head of State Sani Abacha.

“We have reached a moment where conditions presently, in terms of manipulations of the executive branch, are worse than they were under Abacha,” he said.

Speaking later at a press conference in Victoria Island, Lagos, convened by the Movement for Credible Elections, Utomi sharpened his tone. He described INEC’s decision to withdraw recognition of the ADC leadership as “a malicious attempt to decapitate the party and the opposition in general, to ensure that none of the leading presidential aspirants gets on the ballot.”

He said: “INEC, as presently constituted, has shown that it is anything but independent. It is a gang of electoral bandits whose sole mandate is to make Bola Ahmed Tinubu the sole presidential contestant in 2027.”

One-man rule warning

Utomi warned that the current trajectory could ultimately concentrate power in the hands of a single individual. “Everybody will be surprised that this is a progression towards one-man rule, not even APC rule,” he said.

The Movement for Credible Elections announced plans for nationwide mobilization, including rallies and town hall meetings across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory, framing the effort as coordinated resistance to “growing despotism and electoral conspiracy.” The coalition also called for the resignation of the INEC chairman and demanded comprehensive electoral reforms ahead of 2027.

The federal government denied the allegations. Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity Temitope Ajayi said Tinubu has no plans to use the judiciary or INEC to scuttle opposition participation in 2027 and called Utomi’s remarks “pedestrian and petty,” noting that Utomi was a founding member of the APC and a onetime political ally of the president.