Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has taken a swipe at Nigeria’s opposition parties, urging them to take responsibility for their internal crises instead of pointing fingers at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Sani described the persistent allegations that President Tinubu is behind the turmoil in parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as both illogical and irresponsible.
“How logical is it when you have a problem in your house, then you start blaming your neighbour or adversary for it when you should address it?” Sani queried. “If there is a problem in the PDP, it is for the PDP to solve; if there is a problem in the Labour Party or SDP, it is for the Labour Party and SDP to solve. If there is a problem in the NNPP, it is for the NNPP to solve.”
He criticized the opposition for expecting the president to intervene in matters that should be handled internally, jokingly suggesting, “I don’t know whether they are also trying to ask the president to come to their party and solve their problems.”
In recent months, major opposition parties have been rocked by internal disputes, leading to the defection of several prominent members—including governors and lawmakers—to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Many of these defectors blamed unresolved internal conflicts for their exits.
Despite claims from opposition figures that Tinubu and the APC are behind these instabilities, Sani dismissed such accusations as diversionary tactics.
“If you are in the PDP and you have people working against your party, and you refuse to suspend or expel them, then turn around to blame the president, you’re simply being irresponsible,” he said. “If you are in the SDP and fail to resolve your crisis, then blame the president, you’re just unserious.”
Sani emphasized that it is neither the duty nor in the interest of a ruling party president to resolve opposition infighting. “It is part of a political strategy to ensure your adversary is dealing with so many internal issues that he becomes ineffective,” he noted. “A president cannot be expected to fix a weapon that will eventually be used against him.”
The former lawmaker’s comments come at a time when Nigeria’s political landscape is shifting, with the opposition facing growing pressure to regroup ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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