Nigeria: PDP and the Failure of Opposition

6 December 2019
opinion

As the largest democracy in Africa is being goaded into a one party civilian dictatorship by the ruling APC, the main opposition PDP is increasingly appearing unable to prevent the dangerous slide of Nigeria into a state of authoritarian fascism.

The rise to power in 2015 of President Muhammadu Buhari, an immensely popular figure in Nigeria's largest democratic demography, the Muslim north, triggered a wave of ethno-geographic and religious populism that swept across the region. This sweeping wave of populism consolidated for President Buhari a secure support base, with a cult like following, which has birthed a far right political culture in Nigeria. Idolised as an infallible patriot and projected as a hero of anti-corruption whose actions or inactions cannot be subjected to checks and balances, President Buhari's cult of personality constitutes a danger to Nigeria's liberal constitutional democracy.

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