OPINION
By SKC Ogbonnia
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Political violence has become the daily norm across our country—stretching from the East to the West and the North. State-sponsored hostility is actively weaponized against Peter Obi, Omoyele Sowore, Atiku Abubakar, and the broader opposition. Nigeria is under siege, forcing the ultimate question first raised by former First Lady Aisha Buhari: “Where are the men of Nigeria?” Yes, where are the Nigerian masses?
The objective fact is that Nigeria is currently witnessing the Tinubu “Lagos Blueprint” of political terror in its most naked form. This terrifying wave of state-sponsored thuggery, targeted ambushes, and cold-blooded political assassinations is sweeping across the country like never before. In a desperate, scorched-earth campaign to maintain its grip on power, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its compromised state actors have unleashed absolute terror on peaceful citizens. Their goal is clear: to violently crush the unstoppable momentum of the entire Nigerian opposition community and dismantle every dissenting voice standing up for democratic change ahead of the 2027 general elections. The ruling elite is running scared—very scared, because they cannot defend a catastrophic legacy of hyperinflation, economic ruin, and mass poverty. Instead of engaging in democratic debate, they choose to trade arguments for bullets.
The horrors unfolding across the country are not isolated incidents. They are part of a coordinated national offensive designed to systematically silence the broader opposition framework. In Delta State, on Saturday, November 7, 2026, a peaceful procession organized by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Obidient Movement in Asaba was targeted in a bloody, premeditated ambush by armed thugs, leaving one patriot dead and five others heavily injured. Earlier in the year, a similarly brazen and violent onslaught was launched directly against Peter Obi’s convoy in Benin City. This targeted campaign carried a fatal price in Enugu, where opposition supporter Christopher Nworie was brutally targeted and shot dead in cold blood, leaving many others injured. Furthermore, political thugs attacked the convoy of Peter Obi in Calabar, Cross River State, in early November 2026 during a scheduled campaign and town hall visit, while a separate major security incident occurred in Benue State on September 8, 2026, when a vicious mob blocked the convoy of the NDC presidential candidate.
This regime of nationwide violence is foundational, not accidental, representing a direct threat to the survival of multiparty democracy. The violence extends across the entire political spectrum. In Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Omoyele Sowore and members of the African Action Congress (AAC) were physically assaulted during a political outing. This underscores how vulnerable alternative platforms have become. Other high-profile opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar and representatives of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), have also seen their campaign convoys ambushed by armed thugs in Kebbi State and physically blocked from entering Sokoto State, while being completely denied access to public venues and state assets. Furthermore, entities like the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) report coordinated harassment, violence, and intimidation across states like Kaduna, Kogi, Katsina, and Sokoto.
The blueprint for this terror has a deep taproot. It was engineered decades ago during Bola Tinubu’s 1999–2007 reign as Governor of Lagos State. This was an era when the state institutionalized a dangerous alliance with transport unions to violently choke out opposition spaces by force. This political machinery has a deep, painful history tracing back to the dark, unresolved political assassinations of that era, such as the tragic loss of Funsho Williams. The exact same warfare strategy was deployed to manipulate the 2023 elections, where armed actors were unleashed to hunt down voters and orchestrate flagrant voter suppression across known opposition strongholds in many parts of Lagos. Having successfully terrorized Lagosians for two decades, these criminal tactics have now been nationalized and exported across Nigeria as a federal model designed to violently subvert the sacred will of the citizens. Again, where are the men of Nigeria?
The response from state authorities has been nothing short of a betrayal of the constitution. Rather than defending citizens, the system relies on systemic victim-blaming and cynical narratives that penalize peaceful marchers for defying police advisories. Exercising a constitutional right to assemble, march, and express political dissent does not give the state or its thugs a license to butcher innocent Nigerians. Shockingly, the Police Command has effectively morphed into an enforcement wing for the ruling political class. While elite state security details are deployed to heavily guard and protect APC rallies, state instruments are selectively weaponized to lock down opposition activities, fracture alternative party structures, and leave ordinary, defenseless citizens entirely unprotected.
All told, security assessments confirm the terrifying scale of this crisis, documenting a massive surge in political intolerance that has claimed dozens of lives across multiple states and the Federal Capital Territory. Yet, the desperation of this dying political cabal exposes their ultimate weakness. As opposition leadership has defiantly declared, political power in a true democracy must be earned through the sacred trust of the popular vote. It is never seized through state terror and the blood of innocent citizens. But we have bad news for the oppressors: The broader coalition of opposition parties and the unstoppable youth of Nigeria will not back down, will not retreat, and will not be broken. The regime may have the bullets, but the people hold the future.
SKC Ogbonnia, a former APC presidential aspirant, writes from Ugbo, Awgu LGA, Enugu State
Source: realnews magazine