By Samuel Abasiekong-Abasiekong
All what a thief wants are in the market, but how to steal them without being caught by few of the thousand prying eyes, is a warning alerting him not to – Indian proverb.
Nigeria 2027 general election is getting to its flashpoint in the largest demography in Africa.
Everyday and at the thick of the clock, the rank of the opposition willing to wrestle power out from the hands of the ruling party, is swelling by the day and their daily growing population is already constituting an hazard, a red flag and mountain to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC which they (the opposition) has already accused and alleged to be an extension of president Bola Hamed Tinubu All Progressive Congress APC administration.
And as the opposition has publicly and in various protests demanded that the INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan be removed due to some discovered bias seeing to be detrimental for the opposition, his continuous stay as Chairman of the country electoral umpire is an open diagnosis that he should not be trusted with the duty of presiding over such a national assignment.
The task before Tinubu now, is who will conduct the 2027 general election? Is INEC only for APC, when the opposition does not trust it? Everyday the opposition is moving from State to State with towncryers calling for Amupitan removal, because they say they don’t trust the person the president appointed.
And as it going, if Amupitan is allowed to preside over 2027 general election, the outcome maybe rejected in its entirety, and likely ignite chaos.
And the inevitable chaos will be if INEC does not consider the prying eyes of Nigerian who have more political awareness now than in 2023 and still go ahead to announce the loser as winner in the 2027 presidential election
The application of the age long maxim of “a stitch in time saves nine” should be considered now as the swelling rank of the opposition is already featuring indicators that it will explode anytime soon if remedial measures are not taken to please majority of Nigerian who are in the opposition or are supporting their moves.
The writer is a political analyst, a researcher and a public affairs commentator. And considering the posture of actors of “Ibadan Declaration” he is calling on the federal government of Nigeria to act fast for the interest of democracy, less the continuous trigger of alarm of the opposition calling for rescue over their alleged oppression may attract other advanced democracies to come and clean Nigeria mess.
As of February 2026, Nigeria had 21 registered and recognized political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.
These political parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Accord (A), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Boot Party (BP), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and African Action Congress (AAC)
Others are Action Alliance (AA), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), Youth Party (YP) and two newly registered parties: Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
While most of these political parties are just nomenclatures existing in names in INEC files, some of them have no national presence as they also lack a handful of members to deserve the status of a political party to measure up with the country largest demography.
And considering their spread and population, active and existing political parties can be ranked as follow: The African Democratic Congress ADC, which has already captured the whole northern Nigeria which delivered 58% of votes in 2015 to give Muhammadu Buhari victory is the first. The ADC also has in its bags the entire South-East which represents 10% of 42% votes of Southern Nigeria. These two region already give the ADC an edge over APC.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) is the second largest political party as far as population and size is concerned at the moment.
But the APC as it stands today, is a metropolitan party and a grouping of the elites. While the ADC has taken advantage of the neglected masses in villages and hinterlands of the country, the APC otherwise known as the “City Boy party” has skeletal supporters in some cities whose size does not come anywhere near the ADC bandwagon followers who are Nigerian in distress as a result of the APC economic austerity and poor governance.
These are the impediments that Tinubu has to fix first to create a detour route for majority of Nigerians who are under the heat of economic flames to look at its direction.
The third political parties who has faithfuls and followers in Nigeria is the People Democratic Party (PDP). This party has been in power in Nigeria for 16 years, spanning 1999 to 2015. Its long stay in power has given it the advantage to have believers of its ideology all over the country.
The People Democratic Party PDP has very minimal number of members in the National Assembly, but a sizeable number of Nigerians in all geopolitical zones preferred it to APC
Yesterday the ADC, PDP and other political parties met in Ibadan in Oyo State on April 25, 2025 to form a common front against APC to the extend of promising themselves to have a consolidated candidate for 2027 presidential election which is already constituting a tall order that the ruling party may find it difficult to sumount.
The Ibadan Declaration which was the first public outing of the newly consummated polygamous marriage of multiple political parties has among other things agreed to resist the APC plans to foist a one-party State on Nigeria and fight for the survival of multi-party democracy in our country.
They also agreed to stand as a front to stop Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan from conducting the 2027 general elections as Nigerians across board have lost confidence in him and his capacity to guarantee the required neutrality to deliver free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
His continuous stay in office the opposition say is vexatious and capable of triggering wide spread crisis in the country
The Ibadan Declaration also called on the National Assembly to immediately review the Electoral Act, 2026 to remove all sections that threaten the sanctity and integrity of the elections and run counter to constitutional provisions among others
