Democracy Hijacked: Nigeria Under Tinubu and APC’s Reign of Suppression

By George Omagbemi Sylvester

Once hailed as Africa’s beacon of hope, Nigeria’s democracy is now a battered relic under the suffocating grip of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC). What the world is witnessing is not the nurturing of democratic ideals, but the systematic strangulation of freedom, rights and popular will. Nigerians no longer possess true political rights. Elections are now caricatures. The judiciary dances to executive tunes. The legislature is a rubber stamp. And the masses? They are muted by fear, poverty and intimidation.

International bodies, supposedly guardians of global democracy, remain mostly silent or issue toothless statements while the giant of Africa bleeds internally.

A Nation in Chains

Since Tinubu’s contested swearing-in on May 29 2023, following what The Guardian (UK) described as a “deeply flawed and poorly conducted election,” Nigeria has descended further into autocracy. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) promised technological transparency with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) only for these mechanisms to be crippled on election day, allowing widespread manipulation.

Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission, summed it up perfectly:
“You cannot rig a people’s will and claim legitimacy. Tinubu’s government was born in fraud, and fraud cannot father democracy.”

The very essence of democracy, the right to choose one’s leaders freely and fairly; was brazenly hijacked. When protests erupted, they were crushed with brutal force. The media, once vibrant, now operates under threats of shutdowns, fines and arrests. Activists are labeled “terrorists” or “threats to national security.”

Journalist David Hundeyin, an outspoken critic, captured the fear gripping Nigeria:
“We live in a country where telling the truth has become an act of rebellion.”

Poverty, Insecurity, and Silence

While political rights evaporate, Nigerians are suffocated by poverty. Inflation under Tinubu soared to 33.2% by April 2025 (National Bureau of Statistics), the highest in two decades. Food inflation hit 40%, sending millions into deeper hunger. The removal of fuel subsidies without meaningful cushioning plunged transport costs up by 200%, pushing the minimum wage farther below subsistence levels.

Amid these hardships, dissent is criminalized. When labor unions threatened strikes, the regime secured court orders declaring them “illegal.” Protesters are met with police batons and live bullets, just like during the #EndSARS protests in 2020 under Buhari, whose playbook Tinubu is now perfecting.

Even comedians have become unlikely prophets of doom.
Comedian Basketmouth lamented:
“In Nigeria, you now need visa to visit your own human rights. That’s how bad it is.”

International Bodies: Where Are They?

What have international organizations like the United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, or even the Commonwealth done? Very little.

The United Nations issued general statements calling for “inclusive governance” without naming the perpetrators.

ECOWAS, often quick to act elsewhere (e.g., coups in Mali, Burkina Faso), has been conspicuously muted about Nigeria, perhaps because Tinubu played a leading role in ECOWAS’s structure.

The African Union has focused more on Sudan and the Sahel, leaving Nigeria to burn quietly.

The United States, after initial noise about “concerns” during the 2023 elections, quickly congratulated Tinubu and moved on, prioritizing oil deals and counterterrorism interests.

This hypocritical diplomacy sends a dangerous signal:
As long as Nigeria supplies oil and keeps Western interests safe, the trampling of human rights will be tolerated.

Democracy or Democrazy?

Late Chinua Achebe, in The Trouble with Nigeria (1983), warned:
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.”
Tinubu’s reign proves that leadership failure is no longer just a problem; it is now state policy.

Under APC, Nigeria’s democracy is democracy only in name. Elections are rituals devoid of meaning. Courts rubber-stamp electoral thefts, often dismissing glaring irregularities on “technicalities.” Just in 2023, over 75% of election petitions were struck out on “lack of merit,” despite overwhelming evidence of malpractice (according to data compiled by SBM Intelligence).

Social media, once a tool for accountability, is under siege. In February 2025, the National Assembly passed the draconian “Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill,” widely dubbed the “Social Media Gag Law,” criminalizing “insulting public officials” with jail terms up to three years.
As comedian I Go Dye famously quipped:
“In Nigeria, even silence has been accused of hate speech”

The Broader Collapse

Under Tinubu, Nigeria’s global reputation nosedived. According to the 2025 Freedom House report, Nigeria was downgraded from “Partly Free” to “Not Free” for the first time in 20 years.

Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perception Index ranked Nigeria 149th out of 180 countries, worse than war-torn Afghanistan.
The Economist Intelligence Unit predicted that unless political repression ends, Nigeria faces “an inevitable descent into full dictatorship by 2027.”

Already, Nigeria’s youth, once energetic are fleeing en masse. The JAPA syndrome (mass emigration) has become an exodus. According to the UK Home Office, over 100,000 Nigerian professionals emigrated in 2024 alone, the highest African migration recorded.

When the best minds flee, when dissent is crushed, when elections are jokes, what remains of a nation?

What Should Be Done?

International bodies must stop hiding behind diplomatic niceties. Sanctions must target corrupt politicians and human rights abusers, not just coup plotters in smaller African countries.

Targeted Visa Bans: Bar corrupt APC politicians and election riggers from traveling abroad.

Asset Freezes: Block the looted wealth sitting in London, Dubai, and New York.

Global Advocacy: Push for independent media protections and human rights watchdog missions into Nigeria.

If the West and multilateral bodies continue their selective outrage, they will be complicit in Nigeria’s descent into full-blown tyranny.

Inside Nigeria, civil society must regroup. Labor unions, students, market women, comedians, musicians, journalists all must reclaim their role as the conscience of the nation. Democracy is not given by dictators; it is seized by the people.

As the late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti warned:
“My people are scared of the air around them, they always have an excuse not to fight for freedom. We must rise.”

A Clarion Call

Nigeria stands today at the edge of a terrifying abyss. Tinubu and the APC have hijacked democracy, and the world watches as freedom withers. But history teaches us that no tyranny is permanent. From South Africa’s apartheid regime to military juntas across Africa, oppressive regimes eventually fall.

The choice is stark: either Nigerians fight back for their rights now, or resign themselves to decades of sophisticated enslavement.

The international community must act. Nigerians must resist. History must not record that in the hour of greatest need, those who should have fought stayed silent.