By Adesina Soyooye
Professor Chidi Odinkalu, a Law Professor, Teacher, Human Rights Activist, and a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has dismissed the opposition in Nigeria as a no-show; he said it is non-existent, and dismissed the most known opposition leaders – Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi as weaklings, disorganised and ineffective.
His criticism of them stemmed from their handling of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, elections. “In my view, there is presently no credible opposition in Nigeria.”, he said.
The Professor of Law who spoke Monday night on Politics Today, a Channels programme said the opposition failed to “demonstrate leadership at a critical moment.”
Odinkalu specifically pointed at the public holiday declared by Nyesom Wike, Minister for the FCT, on the eve of the Council Election held on Saturday, February 21, 2026.
Odinkalu is of the opinion that the opposition parties missed an opportunity to mobilise supporters in response to Wike’s order.
Odinkalu said that a decisive opposition would have hit the street, organised a rally on Friday to challenge the move and energise its base. But what did the opposition do? Odinkalu said the leaders remained inactive.
He described the opposition Party as “an utter disgrace,” and stated that the “current political climate reflects a lack of seriousness among parties expected to provide checks on the ruling government.”
His words: “I think the opposition forces, you know, the ADC, whoever else; I don’t even know which PDP there is now, if there is any, because Nyesom Wike is APC faction of PDP, it seems to me.
“But the so-called opposition forces, in my view, are an utter disgrace. And I say that with no apologies to anybody.
“Now take an example: Nyesom Wike wakes up on Thursday night after people have started retiring, to declare a public holiday. If I were a member of a political party, and I were a leader of a political party, I would call a rally on Friday. That was a fantastic opportunity for opposition leadership to prove itself.
“If you had political troops on the ground, call a rally on that Friday to dare him and use that to mobilise. What did they do? They were indoors, sleeping.
“It’s difficult to speak to the ineptitude of political opposition in Nigeria. They are not serious. And I think anybody who looks at the system has got to say that, at the moment, there is absolutely no opposition.
“What I do not understand, however, in the face of that, is why the ruling party still feels the need to manufacture the kinds of things it does, from violence to rewriting results to putting one where it should not be, turning hundreds into thousands.
“I do not understand why they feel the need to do that, because there is actually no opposition group.”
Not surprisingly, the APC thoroughly trounced the other parties. It won five out of the six Local Councils at stake. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won one Council, while the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in which not a few people had confidence in to give Wike and APC a run for its money scored a shameful zero.
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