By Ehichioya Ezomon
As a people, Nigerians – and especially politicians – have practically lost all sense of shame. Otherwise, members of the opposition parties would’ve buried their heads in ignominy for their woeful defeats across the 13 states that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted by-elections on Saturday, August 16, 2025.
In a decisive routing, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) first claimed 12 of the 17 legislative constituencies: all seats contested in Adamawa, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba, including one seat each in three opposition states of Adamawa, Kano and Taraba.
The opposition constituency in Zamfara – declared inconclusive by INEC at close of poll on August 16 – also went to APC during the re-run on Thursday, August 21, bringing to 13 seats in 10 of 13 states secured by the party.
As the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured the two constituencies in Anambra, and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) took one of two seats in Kano, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – battling internal crisis that’s depleted its once formidable platform – not only claimed the seat in Oyo State, but also placed second in most constituencies, even as it lost seats in Adamawa, Taraba and Zamfara.
Rather than take their defeat as self-inflicted, chiefly on account of their fictionalised and disorganised platforms, the boastful, “hungry and angry” pot-bellied politicians revisited concocted, hackneyed, tired and worn-out allegations of “electoral malpractice” by the APC, INEC and security agencies, to “steal their votes” – votes they merited only on social media where they build castles in the air.
Particularly irksome are members of the “a new-Nigeria-is-possible” Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) – residing in African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 General Election – who boasted, and failed to deliver the by-elections to “send a strong message to Tinubu that he is a one-term President (OTP).”
Whereas prior to and during the polls, reports indicted the major parties for potential or actual committal of electoral malpractice; the opposition covered their tracks, and heaped all blame on Tinubu, APC, INEC and security agencies.
Condemnable as disruption in a few states is, especially the assaults on eligible voters by armed thugs in Kano; the by-elections have exposed the COP/ADC as overhyped and overrated, as members confronted in-house crises in state chapters, where “all politics is local.”
In the lead-up to the poll, the major figures in the COP/ADC fanned out across the country, to introduce the ADC to the states, canvass for and register new members, and rally supports for their candidates.
Such opposition figures include former Vice President and PDP’s presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023, Atiku Abubakar, who leads the COP/ADC; former Anambra Governor and 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi; former Kaduna Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nasir el-Rufai; former Rivers Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; former Osun Governor and ex-Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and former Edo Governor and ex-APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.
• Alhaji Atiku’s strongholds of Adamawa and Taraba were the first to birth the COP/ADC across Nigeria, but reportedly had a poor reception from Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who’s allegedly “not on the same political page anymore with Atiku.”
Rumours have swirled about the PDP governor hobnobbing with the APC, and may defect to the platform. So, does the by-elections in Adamawa and Taraba going to APC – even with the tiniest of margins – and not Atiku’s ADC or Fintiri’s PDP tell any story? Perhaps, in the circumstances!
• Mr Obi – riding the wave of his third-placing in the 2023 poll – has been criss-crossing the country on “humanitarian activities” that’ve irked some state governors as “unlawful campaigning” ahead of the 2027 poll.
Similarly in his home state of Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo – who praises President Tinubu’s harsh economic reforms as the antidotes to stabilize the system – has declared Obi as “untrustworthy,” and holds him out as such to the people.
For the by-elections, Obi campaigned in Anambra and elsewhere for candidates of ADC, on the alibi that INEC didn’t approve candidates of the divided LP, which, on eve of the poll, got the nod, via a court order, to field the candidates. But the court fiat didn’t change the situation.
Like distrust members in other states – who, unable to process the mixed messages from Obi and other ADC and LP chieftains, switched their votes to other parties’ candidates – the Anambra people voted the governing APGA’s candidates, in place of the ADC candidates Obi canvassed for.
• In Kaduna, El-Rufai, who left the APC for “failing a cabinet post in the Tinubu administration,” and defected to Social Democratic Party (SDP) as a bargaining platform in the COP/ADC, used the by-elections to test run for 2027, and gauge his popularity with Governor Uba Sani.
On August 13, campaigning on the roof of a moving SUV, El-Rufai waved the ADC flag to the crowd, as he led a massive rally for candidate Alex Adanu in Kujama, Chikun local government, urging, “I appeal to all voters to come out en masse on Saturday and vote for the ADC candidate, Alex Ben.”
But the ADC lost the poll, as the people, enjoying relative peace and harmony, and even developments under Governor Sani, used the by-elections as “payback” to el-Rufai for his alleged “eight-year maladministration of Kaduna.”
• In Rivers, Amaechi, who lately rode in “a two-million-man procession” through the streets of Port Harcourt, claims that ADC has registered over 800,000 members since he launched the party in the state a few weeks ago.
The ADC needs to confirm that huge membership figure with a strong showing in the August 30 council poll in Rivers, for Amaechi to prove his supremacy over former Governor and Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, a staunch supporter of President Tinubu, who Amaechi vows to defeat if he gets the ADC ticket for the 2027 contest.
“I tell you, I’ve not had an election against Tinubu. I know Tinubu very well. I know his strengths. I know his weaknesses. And I know that if allowed to fly the flag of ADC, I will defeat Tinubu for sure,” Amaechi said on Friday, August 8, on X Space tagged, ‘Weekend Politics’.
Recall that at the APC presidential primary on June 8, 2022, in Abuja, for the 2023 election, Tinubu beat Amaechi, among a pack of 13 aspirants, to second position by 1,271 votes to 316 votes – a margin of lead of 955 votes. Can Amaechi reverse this marker against the sitting President at the general election in 2027?
• In Edo, following Chief Odigie-Oyegun’s launch of ADC in Benin City recently with some aplomb, an ally of his claimed to’ve garnered 40,000 members. Yet, the party lost scandalously to third position at the by-elections. For instance, in the Ovia federal constituency, while APC scored 77,053 votes, and PDP earned 3,838 votes, the ADC recorded 925 votes.
Meanwhile, Governor Monday Okpebholo – executing his “Edo Rising” agenda to reverse alleged “misgovernance by ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki” – has turned the state into a “huge construction site,” building roads and flyovers, and reviving education, health, transport and other social services, and embarking on an agricultural revolution for food security.
And “Edo people have taken notice, and showed their appreciation by massive votes for the APC candidates in the by-elections” to replace the seats vacated by the governor and Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa in the Senate and House of Representatives, accordingly.
• Ogbeni Aregbesola’s reported attack by political thugs in Ogun for his alleged “betrayal of President Tinubu and the APC” is a condemnable act against freedom of choice and association. Yet, with APC claiming the Ogun by-election, the real test for Aregbesola as Interim National Secretary of ADC is the 2026 governorship poll in Osun, which he ruled for eight years (2010-2018).
As the APC savours its massive victories in the August 16 by-elections, President Tinubu’s hailed all stakeholders at the franchise, and enjoins them to “continue to be guided by the spirit of sportsmanship, fair contest and magnanimity, which are enablers of enduring democracy.”
It’s hoped that opposition members will genuinely process Tinubu’s message, channel the lessons learned to restrategise their winning formula going into 2027, and quit blaming others when they falter and come short of their ballot projections!
*Mr Ezomon, journalist and media consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.
