By Stephanie Shaakaa
NIGERIA has reached a dangerous moment. Power now walks alone. Every government decision moves forward unchallenged, unchecked, untested. We watch in silence as politics becomes a game where everyone must obey or disappear.
Opposition is no longer a force in this country. It has been weakened, bribed, absorbed, or silenced. And that is how democracies die. Quietly, slowly, while the people pretend everything is normal.
Every democracy relies on one truth. Power must be resisted. It must be questioned. It must be tested. Opposition is not the enemy of government. It is the only force that keeps power honest. Without it, leaders become lazy. They stop thinking.
They stop caring. They stop governing. A silent government is a dangerous government. Every defection, every handshake, every court decision that kills dissent is another brick in the wall separating Nigeria from real democracy.
Opposition is the litmus test of leadership. It is the heat that keeps government awake. When opposition speaks, governments sit up. When opposition falls silent, the country suffers. Look around. Legislatures vote without debate. Laws pass without resistance. Agencies carry out instructions without question. Governors command obedience. Senators nod as if their hands were never meant to write dissent.
This is not democracy. This is performance art dressed as governance. Democracy is a conversation, not a chorus. When only one voice speaks, wisdom disappears.
A nation does not fail in a single day. It fails in quiet moments when no one is brave enough to question power. Opposition is the mirror.
Opposition is the pressure. Opposition is the only brake between reckless leadership and national disaster. True leadership is never afraid of a second voice.
Only insecure leaders fear accountability. A government becomes dangerous the moment it believes it is the only source of truth. Power behaves better when it knows someone is watching. Human nature has never changed.
We are living in the illusion of choice. Parties exist but have no teeth. Platforms exist but have no courage. Politicians jump from side to side like spectators at a parade. Loyalty is to contracts, not principles.
Elections are exercises in theater. Citizens vote but nobody is listening. Policies fail without consequences. Budgets inflate without scrutiny. Roads remain broken. Hospitals collapse. Electricity disappears. Schools are abandoned. All this happens because nobody dares to oppose the government seriously. Every defection is a vote against the people.
Without opposition, corruption grows unchecked. Mistakes become habits. Incompetence becomes normal. Reckless decisions spread like wildfire.
Citizens suffer silently while leaders celebrate victories that exist only on paper. A government with no opposition is like a student who refuses to be corrected. Failure becomes inevitable. No society grows in silence. Progress comes from friction, from argument, from courage to disagree. Nigeria cannot survive if this continues.
Opposition is not noise. It is accountability. It is the pulse of a free society. It is the voice that reminds government that power is a responsibility, not a coronation. The strength of a democracy is measured not by the power of its government but by the freedom of its critics.
Great nations rise because someone had the courage to say no at the right time. Leaders improve not out of comfort but because they fear losing the trust of the people. When nobody watches, nothing improves. When nobody resists, everything falls apart.
Nigeria needs opposition to speak loudly enough to shake those in power.
We need political parties with ideas, structure, and courage. We need leaders with backbone to speak truth to authority. Every administration needs someone standing opposite it, not to destroy, not to reject blindly, but to hold it accountable. If opposition dies, tyranny rises. Corruption rises. Arrogance rises.
Incompetence rises. And the people suffer. We must understand this clearly: silence kills faster than any army. Silence is a weapon used to destroy a nation from within.
Stand up. Speak out. Demand accountability. Question every decision. Challenge every policy. Share the truth when others are quiet. A government that is not checked misbehaves. A government that is not challenged stagnates.
A government that is not confronted forgets the people. Nigeria cannot survive if power walks alone. Opposition is not optional. It is survival. Without it, we are simply pretending to live in a democracy. Pretending has never built a nation.
Nigeria needs opposition. Not for decoration.
Not for appearances. Not for elections alone. We need opposition for balance, for truth, for progress, for sanity, for the dignity of citizens, for the future of this nation. If we do not protect it, we will deserve silence. If we do not defend it, we will inherit chaos.
Opposition is the only thing keeping power honest. It is the only force keeping leaders awake. And it is the only hope for Nigerians who still believe in a future where government listens, performs, and serves the people.
