Dr. Obed Eku
Political parties rarely lose power because of the opposition. More often than not, they lose because they first lose the moral authority to govern themselves. The collapse begins not at the polling unit but at the point where rules become negotiable, principles become dispensable, and impunity becomes institutionalized.
That is the troubling perception surrounding the APC senatorial primary for Cross River Central.
If, indeed, a candidate who was publicly listed as disqualified was subsequently permitted to participate in the primary election, declared winner, and has now been affirmed as the party’s candidate, then the issue before the APC transcends personalities. It becomes a profound constitutional and moral question: of what value are party rules if those entrusted with enforcing them reserve the right to suspend them whenever expediency demands?
A political party that refuses to be governed by its own constitution has already begun negotiating its defeat.
Rules are not ornamental decorations designed for public relations. They are the architecture upon which institutional legitimacy rests. Once they become elastic, every subsequent decision becomes vulnerable to suspicion. Every victory becomes contested. Every declaration becomes tainted. Every loyal party member begins to wonder whether commitment has any value beyond political convenience.
This explains the outrage among supporters of the incumbent Senator Eteng Jonah Williams and many other stakeholders who believe that the process was compromised. Whether or not every allegation is ultimately sustained, perception in politics frequently acquires the force of reality. Parties do not merely win elections through arithmetic; they win through legitimacy. Once legitimacy is questioned, arithmetic begins to fail.
The APC should remember that history has never been kind to political organizations that mistake numerical dominance for political invincibility.
The once formidable People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which boasted of ruling Nigeria for sixty years, discovered in 2015 that internal injustice, arbitrary imposition of candidates, elite manipulation, and disregard for party processes were sufficient to dismantle what once appeared politically indestructible. The opposition merely harvested what the ruling party had planted through years of internal contradictions.
Across the Atlantic, the Democratic Party in the United States paid a heavy political price in 2016 after widespread dissatisfaction among sections of its supporters over the conduct of its nomination process. Regardless of differing opinions on the merits of those claims, the perception that the process had been unfair contributed to internal disillusionment, depressed enthusiasm among parts of the electorate, and ultimately helped reshape the electoral landscape.
The British Conservative Party offers another cautionary tale. Years of internal division, leadership instability, and public perceptions of inconsistency eroded voter confidence and culminated in a crushing electoral defeat in 2024. Electorates punish parties that appear incapable of governing themselves before asking to govern a nation.
Even closer to home, numerous African governing parties have discovered that the shortest route to opposition is through internal injustice. Candidates denied fair treatment rarely disappear quietly. Their supporters become politically homeless. And politically homeless voters often become politically dangerous.
Cross River State today is no longer the one-party landscape it once appeared to be.
The PDP is reorganizing. The ADC is expanding. The NDC is gaining attention. Every week brings reports of fresh defections, growing dissatisfaction, and increasing political realignments. This is hardly the season for the APC to manufacture avoidable internal crises.
The greatest strategic error any dominant political party can make is to assume that aggrieved members have nowhere else to go. Politics abhors a vacuum. Every injustice creates an opportunity for an opponent.
The recent intervention by founding APC stalwart, Hon. Cletus Obun on national television should not be dismissed as the lamentation of a dissatisfied party elder. It should be received as a warning bell from someone who understands the foundations upon which the party was built. Political parties ignore their founding voices at their own peril. History repeatedly demonstrates that institutional arrogance often precedes institutional collapse.
This controversy extends beyond Cross River Central. It speaks to a national concern about the credibility of internal democracy within the APC. If members begin to conclude that qualification guidelines exist merely as ceremonial documents while political influence determines outcomes, then confidence in the party’s internal processes will steadily evaporate.
The National Working Committee must appreciate that every unresolved grievance is not merely a local disagreement; it is an investment in future electoral losses.
There is an even greater danger.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s path to re-election in 2027 will depend not only on constitutional requirements but on the collective strength of the APC across the federation. Every state contributes to that national arithmetic. Every avoidable internal crisis weakens the party’s electoral machinery. Every alienated supporter reduces enthusiasm at the grassroots.
A fractured APC in Cross River cannot be expected to deliver maximum votes with minimum enthusiasm.
The constitutional requirement of securing at least twenty-five percent of the votes in two-thirds of the states is not achieved by presidential popularity alone. It is built upon disciplined party structures, motivated supporters, trusted leadership, and confidence that the party practises internally the democratic principles it preaches nationally.
No amount of campaign rhetoric can substitute for internal justice.
No propaganda can permanently silence wounded loyalty.
No political calculation can indefinitely defeat the consequences of institutional inconsistency.
The APC still has an opportunity to demonstrate that its constitution is superior to individual interests. That opportunity should not be squandered.
For political parties do not collapse because their enemies become stronger.
They collapse because they convince their friends that loyalty is no longer worth rewarding.
And when a party begins to violate the very rules upon which it demands public trust, it should not fear the opposition.
It should fear the mirror.