Peluola Adewale
Recently, a group led by Professor Pat Utomi, a former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), launched what they called “The Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government.” They described it as a “national emergency response” designed to systematically monitor government actions, identify failures, and propose alternative solutions across critical sectors such as the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, law and order, and constitutional reform (Punch, May 15).
As expected, the Bola Tinubu government, which is not prepared to brook any opposition—strong or feeble, real or imaginary—to its rule, has, through the Department of State Services (DSS), taken the promoters of the “Shadow Government” to court, challenging its constitutionality in order to shoot it down.
The fact is that Utomi and his group played into the hands of the government by calling their initiative a “shadow government.” They can play the role of a bourgeois opposition—something which is their declared objective—without having to adopt such a diversionary superfluousness as “shadow government.” They apparently chose style over substance in order to enjoy media razzmatazz, as they do not really appear to have what it takes to provide a formidable opposition to the government. In other words, their “shadow government” is just like a talk shop without any organisational connection to ordinary people or any plan for concrete actions.
Therefore, Laolu Akande, a special adviser to the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was apt when he “advised” the DSS “not to bother themselves too much. There are more important things for the DSS to deal with. Just leave Utomi alone, he’s just having fun” (Guardian, May 16). Also, a columnist with the Leadership newspaper described “the Utomi platform” as “only a political mirage that is part of the political razzle-dazzle prevalent in Nigeria’s politics” (Leadership, May 17).
Nonetheless, despite its weakness, Utomi’s group’s message actually resonates with ordinary people. For instance, they said: “Nothing is more urgent than tackling the rising poverty across the country. Multinationals are shutting down, and millions are unemployed. Just two recent company exits illustrate how poorly thought-out policies have tanked the economy.”
The problem is that Utomi, contrary to his claim, as a capitalist politician, does not possess genuine alternative solutions to the economic policies which accounted for the woes he has highlighted. It should be recalled that in the 2023 presidential election, he supported and campaigned for Peter Obi, who advocated basically the same policies as currently being implemented by President Tinubu. Besides, Utomi, a political economist, is not on record to have been opposed to the anti-poor policies such as removal of fuel subsidy, devaluation of the naira, electricity privatisation, poor funding of public education and healthcare, etc. So, if he has any solution at all, on the basis of the same pro-capitalist economic philosophy as Tinubu, it would be tantamount to asking a man to die by hanging as against dying by bullet.
Truly, even on the basis of bourgeois politics, the opposition to the Tinubu government is weak. Yes, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, former presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) respectively, are regularly critical of missteps and inactions of the government. But their criticisms or positions are not openly supported or echoed by their parties or their elected members sitting at different levels of the government. These include members of the LP in the National Assembly, who rode to the office on the crest of an anti-establishment mood generated by the presidential bid of Peter Obi.
Indeed, it is not only that they generally see no evil in the policies of the Tinubu government, but also among them are parliamentarians who have dropped any pretext of being in opposition by defecting to the APC. From the official opposition parties in the House of Representatives, for instance, 30 members, at least 6 from the LP, have defected to the APC. Also, at least two LP Reps have crossed to the PDP. On May 21, the three senators representing Osun State, all PDP members, declared their support for Tinubu’s leadership and re-election, citing his purported track record in governance, economic reforms, and infrastructure development (The Cable, May 21).
Besides, it is not likely for any governor from the opposition parties to be critical of Tinubu’s policies, as governors are among the major beneficiaries. With the devaluation of the naira and petrol subsidy removal, Tinubu actually robbed the poor to pay the rich, as the policies significantly increased the public funds at the disposal of the state governors—something that has potentially increased their quantum of share of loot.
Therefore, it is not surprising that one PDP governor has defected to the APC and another one openly declared he would campaign for Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. Indeed, the entire PDP governors, through their forum, openly opposed the move by Atiku to initiate the building of a coalition against Tinubu and the APC ahead of the 2027 elections.
The fact is that even within the spectrum of bourgeois politics, there is no ideological difference among the main parties in Nigeria. They are mere electoral platforms for the actualisation of self-serving ambitions of pro-capitalist politicians.
It is the vacuum created by the failure of the official opposition parties that Utomi’s group wants to fill. The democratic rights of the group to hold dissenting views or hold the Tinubu government to account should be supported by the working people. But there should be no illusion in them or any other section of the capitalist elite and their petty-bourgeois supporters. On the basis of their support for a capitalist programme, as exemplified by Utomi, there would not be a fundamental alternative to what obtains at present under Tinubu. It should not be forgotten that, since Nigeria’s crisis began, the slightly different policy mixes of past presidents and military rulers have also fundamentally failed as they attempted to make the capitalist system work.
It is only working people and youth who can build a mass movement which is genuinely opposed to all anti-poor capitalist policies and is formidable enough to wrest political power from the thriving capitalist elite. However, such a movement has to be based on a democratic socialist programme as an alternative to the iniquitous capitalism, especially in a third world economy like Nigeria with a primitive and backward ruling elite, regardless of their level of education.
We call on working people, youth, trade unions, and pro-masses organisations to start to build such a movement in order to ensure that Nigeria’s resources—both human and material—are used for the benefits of the vast majority, not for the greed of a few.
Peluola Adewale is a member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM).
