A former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has attributed growing concerns about an emerging one-party state in Nigeria to the internal crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Speaking with journalists in Enugu over the weekend, Okechukwu dismissed claims that the ruling APC is pursuing a deliberate strategy to entrench itself as the country’s sole dominant political force.
He argued instead that the opposition’s waning influence is largely the result of its own internal disintegration. According to him, the perception of a looming one-party state is rooted in the PDP’s fragmentation following what he described as its breach of the long-standing zoning and rotation convention during the 2022 presidential primary.
Okechukwu maintained that the zoning and rotation principle has served as a stabilising mechanism in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, helping to ensure balance and national cohesion through the orderly transfer of presidential power between the North and the South.
“The rotation arrangement has, over the years, acted as a political stabiliser,” he said. “Once that understanding was disrupted, it weakened internal trust and cohesion within the party.” He contended that the PDP’s decision during its 2022 primary process undermined the confidence of key stakeholders and triggered divisions that have continued to affect its structure and electoral strength. Okechukwu insisted that the APC’s electoral successes should not be misconstrued as evidence of an orchestrated plan to eliminate opposition politics, but rather seen as the outcome of political realignments and the PDP’s internal struggles.
He added that a vibrant democracy depends on strong political parties capable of managing internal differences, urging opposition actors to resolve their disputes in order to provide credible alternatives to the electorate. The APC chieftain further expressed confidence that Nigeria’s multiparty system remains intact, noting that the resilience of democratic institutions under the Fourth Republic would prevent the country from sliding into a one-party arrangement.
