2027: Our democracy is in ICU — Wabara

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Wabara

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By Luminous Jannamike

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ABUJA — Former Senate President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adolphus Wabara, has warned that Nigeria’s democracy is ‘currently in the ICU’.

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According to him, urgent action is needed to strengthen democratic institutions and guarantee credible elections ahead of the 2027 general polls.

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Wabara and former Action Congress (AC) vice-presidential candidate Senator Ben Obi are in the United States holding high-level consultations with Nigerians in the diaspora to rally support for what they describe as a coordinated effort to protect Nigeria’s democracy and ensure the 2027 elections reflect the will of the people.

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Speaking by telephone from the United States, Wabara said the consultations had brought together Nigerians across party lines to discuss how best to safeguard the country’s democracy, with Ben Obi joining the effort to forge what he described as a common strategy ahead of the 2027 elections.

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“Our democracy is currently in the ICU (intensive care unit). Unless urgent and sincere efforts are made to strengthen our democratic institutions and guarantee credible elections, the future of our nation could be endangered,” Wabara said.

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According to him, discussions with Nigerians in the diaspora and ‘some officials’ have centred on growing concern over the state of Nigeria’s democracy, the shrinking democratic space, and the need for patriotic forces to unite in defence of constitutional governance.

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Wabara said the consultations were intended to mobilise progressive Nigerians at home and abroad to defend the country’s democratic institutions, preserve political pluralism, and resist any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s multi-party system.

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“The common objective of these consultations is to rescue Nigeria from state capture, free up the democratic space and ensure that the will of the people, not the will of a few powerful individuals, prevails in 2027,” he said.

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Participants, he added, expressed concern over what they see as attempts to weaken opposition parties, declining public confidence in the neutrality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the consequences those developments could have for Nigeria’s democratic foundations.

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Describing the engagements as productive, Wabara said he was confident the consultations would produce a broad national consensus on restoring public confidence in the electoral process and extricating the country from alleged state capture.

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“The consultations have been very fruitful,” he said, expressing optimism that they would lead to a common national approach to protecting Nigeria’s democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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