An Awka-based legal practitioner, Chibunna Okoli-Akirika, has warned that persistent leadership disputes, court battles and internal divisions within opposition political parties could undermine their preparations for the 2027 general elections, urging leading opposition figures to consider forming a united political front.
The lawyer said the growing legal and organisational challenges confronting opposition parties could weaken their structures, disrupt candidate selection processes and limit their ability to provide Nigerians with credible political alternatives in the forthcoming elections.
Okoli-Akirika, a former Anambra State Commissioner for Lands and former Secretary of the Labour Party, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Owerri on Saturday.
He was reacting to the November 5 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which nullified the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President, David Mark, and invalidated decisions taken by the disputed caretaker leadership.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, followed a suit instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former National Deputy Chairman of the ADC, who challenged the process through which Mark and other members of the caretaker committee assumed leadership of the party.
The court held that the emergence of the Mark-led leadership did not comply with the party’s constitution and relevant legal provisions. It consequently invalidated decisions taken under the disputed leadership, including the process that produced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the ADC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.
Describing the judgment as a significant setback for the party, Okoli-Akirika said its implications extended beyond the immediate leadership question, raising concerns about the ability of opposition parties to maintain organisational stability ahead of the elections.
“The court judgment, though of first instance, has in the interim expectedly devastated ADC in structure and decimated it in spirit,” he said.
He cautioned opposition leaders against treating the ADC crisis as an isolated incident, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the party’s leadership dispute offered a broader lesson about the vulnerability of political organisations facing internal disagreements and prolonged litigation.
According to him, similar political and administrative challenges have emerged in Delta, Akwa Ibom and Sokoto states, while controversies surrounding party registers in Kano and Kaduna have added to concerns about the stability of opposition platforms.
He warned that no opposition party should assume that it was insulated from the kind of internal crisis currently confronting the ADC.
“Today, it is ADC, tomorrow it could be any other party or individual,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ADC has moved to challenge the Federal High Court judgment, filing an appeal at the Court of Appeal and seeking a stay of execution pending the determination of the appeal.
The party also formally notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the legal steps and urged the commission to suspend further action on matters arising from the judgment until the appellate court considers its challenge.
The development indicates that the dispute remains subject to further judicial proceedings, with the eventual outcome carrying implications for the party’s leadership structure and preparations for the 2027 elections.
Okoli-Akirika acknowledged the authority of the courts, citing Sections 6 and 287 of the 1999 Constitution, which provide for judicial powers and the binding nature of court decisions.
He maintained that affected parties were required to comply with subsisting judicial decisions while pursuing available legal remedies through the appellate process.
He also raised concerns about the credibility of the electoral process, referring to what he described as INEC’s public admission of the existence of fictitious voters in the voters’ register.
He argued that concerns about the integrity of the electoral register, combined with disputes over party leadership and candidate selection, could create additional difficulties for opposition parties seeking to participate effectively in the elections.
However, the allegation concerning fictitious voters was not independently established in the interview and requires clarification from the electoral commission.
Beyond expressing concerns about the ADC crisis, Okoli-Akirika called for a strategic rethink among opposition leaders, particularly those who occupied the second, third and fourth positions in the 2023 presidential election.
He urged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and other leading opposition figures to consider bringing their political structures together under a single platform rather than pursuing separate political ambitions.
He argued that the fragmentation of opposition votes, political structures and resources could complicate efforts to build a coordinated challenge in 2027.
“What is stopping the fusion of the then second runner-up with the then third and fourth runners-up?” he asked.
The lawyer said a broader political alliance would require genuine compromises, mutual trust and a willingness among the leaders to place national considerations above individual ambitions.
He stressed that opposition parties needed to move beyond public declarations of unity and begin addressing the organisational, ideological and leadership questions that had repeatedly undermined coalition arrangements in the past.
He urged political actors to recognise that the interests of Nigerians should remain central to their negotiations, insisting that the country needed a competitive political environment in which voters could make meaningful choices.
Nigeria’s 2027 general elections are expected to test the capacity of political parties to organise, mobilise supporters, select candidates and present coherent programmes amid growing competition for political influence.
For the opposition, the unfolding developments within the ADC have brought renewed attention to the challenges of party cohesion, coalition-building and the management of internal disagreements through established democratic and legal processes.
Okoli-Akirika maintained that opposition leaders must act with urgency if they intend to preserve their political structures and provide Nigerians with viable alternatives in 2027.
The interviewee’s position, however, represents his assessment of the political implications of the unfolding developments, while the ADC’s appeal and other legal proceedings remain subject to judicial determination.
