There is a disturbing trend taking root in Nigeria’s political landscape, and every citizen who cares about the future of this country should be alarmed by it.
Our public space is increasingly dominated by men whose conduct resembles that of street thugs rather than statesmen. Vulgarity has become a political currency. Abuse has replaced debate. Insults now masquerade as ideology. The language pouring from the mouths of some political actors is so crude that even motor park touts would hesitate to utter it.
This is not merely a decline in political etiquette. It is evidence of a deeper moral decay.
Since Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office as President, that decline has accelerated. Nigeria increasingly resembles the Wild West, where the rule of law appears subject to political convenience and the mood within Aso Rock rather than the supremacy of the Constitution.
Piece by piece, thread by thread, the democratic fabric painstakingly woven through years of struggle has been weakened. Many Nigerians fought, suffered and even paid the ultimate price to secure this democracy. Today, those sacrifices are being squandered by a government that appears determined to subordinate democratic institutions to political ambition.
No administration has done more to undermine credible opposition politics than the present one. Through his political ally, Nyesom Wike, President Tinubu has presided over a sustained assault on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), using every available instrument to weaken, divide and destabilise Nigeria’s foremost opposition party.
Out of that political wreckage have emerged characters whose conduct has further degraded public discourse.
One such figure is Deji Doherty, who now parades himself as a PDP governorship aspirant in Lagos.
The tramp who calls himself a Deji Doherty, isn’t even from Lagos State. He is one of the hooligans who came from Ekiti to Lagos for political terrorism and that’s why it is easy for him to be avowed to the APC while masquerading as a disgraced PDP member. The proof that there’s no honesty or integrity on the streets, is personified in the person called Doherty. We all can recall that Hamzat, the current Deputy Governor of Lagos state, publicly acknowledged that Doherty collected money from him during the last election. What a shameless fellow!
We know the Dohertys of Lagos and not his own from Ekiti.
This same froggy lookalike, a friend to Buruji Kasamu, and now an ally to the unpretentious evil Nyesom Wike in their band constituted by worthless fellows and political brigands.
It is astonishing that someone with neither the political pedigree nor the public record to command serious respect would direct such disgraceful insults at Chief Olabode George – a founding father of the PDP, former Military Governor of Ondo State, former Deputy National Chairman of the party, and one of the architects of democratic politics in Nigeria.
That such conduct is now paraded as representing a section of any political party, instead of condemned illustrates just how low our politics has sunk.
Even more remarkable is that Wike and his political fellow travellers continue to present themselves as leaders of a party from which they have effectively alienated themselves through their actions. They have worked tirelessly to undermine the PDP while simultaneously claiming to speak for it. Their political project has consistently benefited the APC far more than the opposition they profess to belong to.
It is therefore both ironic and absurd to hear Deji Doherty claim that Chief Bode George has been expelled from the PDP.
Such claims are not merely false; they are politically laughable.
No political novice rewrites the history of a party built by men whose sacrifices created the platform from which he now seeks relevance. Those who forget the foundations upon which they stand eventually discover that political opportunism rarely has a long shelf life.
For the avoidance of doubt, the faction associated with Abdulrahman Mohammed, together with Nyesom Wike, Ayo Fayose and their allies, have been expelled by the party and no longer belong to the PDP.
The legal disputes surrounding the party have already settled the legitimacy of competing claims, and Wike’s faction, masqueraded by Abdulraman has been duly sacked and the aftermath of the 2027 elections will stun these clowns.
History has consistently shown that institutions, not insults, settle political disputes.
Deji Doherty would therefore be well advised to abandon the politics of abuse and refrain from directing disrespectful attacks at Chief Bode George. Political relevance is earned through service, sacrifice and integrity – not through invective or manufactured notoriety from a known street scum.
Nigeria deserves a higher standard of politics than the spectacle currently being offered by those who mistake vulgarity for strength and insolence for leadership.
Dare Adeleke
Founding member, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Writes from Ibadan.
