With just over eight months until Nigerians head to the polls in 2027, alarm bells are ringing across the political establishment. Observers and stakeholders warn that a deeply broken primary process threatens to taint the entire election.
Party after party has been consumed by bitter disputes since their nomination contests ended. Vote manipulation, money politics, factional wars, and mass defections are now the norm, not the exception.
Political analysts fear the nation may experience its most explosive election cycle since democracy returned in 1999. The damage is being done long before voting day arrives.
So far, the All Progressives Congress, African Democratic Congress, Peoples Redemption Party, Social Democratic Party, and African Action Congress have all crowned their presidential champions. Nigeria's Democratic Congress formally ratified Peter Obi, the former Labour Party candidate, as its sole flag bearer.
Rather than strengthen democratic institutions, the primaries have ripped parties wide open. Parallel conventions, fake delegate lists, and rival leadership claims now define Nigeria's political landscape.
Nowhere is the mess clearer than in the African Democratic Congress. One faction held a convention in Abuja and produced Dumebi Kachikwu as its consensus candidate.
That same faction also disbanded the David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola leadership structure. They swore in an entirely new National Working Committee.
But then came the bombshell. Mark's faction, backed by the Independent National Electoral Commission following a Supreme Court ruling, ran its own nationwide primary.
Their choice: former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Now two men claim to be the ADC's presidential nominee. The chaos has engulfed the opposition and triggered fresh fury.
Rotimi Amaechi, the former Rivers State governor, rejected the outcome outright. Economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen joined him in condemning what he called irregularities.
Both men questioned whether the primary was legitimate at all. Internal fragmentation and raw personal ambition, they argued, had poisoned the well.
The Peoples Redemption Party has its own headache. Nnaoke Ufere's campaign team rejected the party's primary result entirely.
Donald Duke, the former Cross River State governor, won the nomination. But Ufere's organization alleged massive vote-rigging at the Abuja exercise.
According to Ishaq Alhassan, Ufere's executive director, vote totals in some states exceeded actual party membership figures. The numbers simply didn't add up.
Alhassan's team demanded the primary be scrapped and redone from scratch. They warned that the party's credibility lay in tatters.
Inside the Peoples Democratic Party, another storm is brewing. Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde has signaled his intention to run for president.
He's already secured backing from the Allied Peoples' Movement. Uncertainty grips the ruling party as presidential ambitions collide.
The pattern is unmistakable now. Personal hunger for power has utterly eclipsed what should matter most — party unity and electoral integrity.
