Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma has warned that Nigeria’s democracy is imperilled if opposition parties fail to build structures capable of mounting a credible challenge to the ruling All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2027 general election.

Uzodinma issued the warning in the state on Saturday at the APC presidential primary, where President Bola Tinubu was presented for a second-term ticket virtually unopposed.

“It is no longer a democracy if there is no opposition. I encourage opposition parties to work hard, do what the ruling party has done, and when, by the grace of God, it becomes their turn, they will elect their own president,” the governor said.

Minutes earlier, Uzodinma had declared that the APC’s grassroots dominance had effectively settled the 2027 presidential contest before a single vote was cast.

“If you look at what is happening at the grassroots, how the grassroots has been stimulated, starting from the membership registration, which was done electronically, to the validation of members — you can see 35,000 human beings in just one ward in all its local governments.

“It means that if all our party members vote for President Bola Tinubu, he has already won the election,” he said.

The governor attributed the turnout to the APC’s electronic membership registration drive, which he said had achieved broad grassroots inclusiveness now visible in the scale of participation at the primary.

“The membership registration as conducted by the All Progressives Congress took care of grassroots inclusiveness, and today it is manifesting in the realities of our democratic situation in Nigeria,” Uzodinma said.

He also praised Tinubu directly, saying the president had earned a second term and had demonstrated how politics should be conducted.

“President Bola Tinubu has done enough to deserve going back for a second time. I want to congratulate him for taking the time to do politics the way it should be done,” he said.

"They are positioned ahead of the 2027 election cycle."

The PUNCH)

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