Tinubu Uses Federal Power to Pressure Opposition Governors into APC, Deepening State Capture Ahead of 2027
West Africa WeeklyJuly 13, 20253 Mins read159 
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political strategy ahead of the 2027 elections is becoming disturbingly clear and dangerously undemocratic. What we are witnessing is not organic political alignment, but a deliberate, coercive campaign to intimidate, weaken, and absorb Nigeria’s opposition governors through a mixture of fiscal starvation, political manipulation, and fear.
Far from building bridges across party lines, Tinubu is bulldozing the opposition and in doing so, undermining the foundation of Nigeria’s democratic order.
Using the Presidency as a Political Hammer
Since assuming office, President Tinubu has shown little interest in uniting the country under a multi-party democracy. Instead, he appears intent on turning Nigeria into a de facto one-party state, led by the All Progressives Congress (APC), through a wave of high-pressure defections.
From Governor Oborevwori of Delta, Adeleke in Osun, and Fubara in Rivers, state leaders are being pushed, enticed, or cornered into joining the APC. Tinubu is not simply welcoming defectors, he is creating the conditions that leave them with no real choice.
In Delta, Oborevwori’s defection was celebrated by APC officials, but sources familiar with the transition described weeks of quiet pressure and behind-the-scenes negotiations involving access to federal appointments and resources. In Osun, after Governor Adeleke reportedly refused to toe the APC line, his local government allocations were frozen, a tactic Tinubu himself once condemned when he was Lagos governor facing a hostile federal administration.
So why is he now embracing the very same playbook he previously labelled unconstitutional?
Federal Might as a Weapon
This pattern is not coincidental. It is strategic coercion, and it is coming directly from the top.
In Bauchi, Governor Bala Mohammed publicly accused the Tinubu-led federal government of withholding funds from opposition-led states, describing it as a blatant attempt to destabilise their governance and force alignment.
In Rivers, after falling out with his political godfather, Governor Sim Fubara was suspended, and a state of emergency was declared by Tinubu, amid what is believed to be federal interference aimed at persuading him to defect to the APC.
In Akwa Ibom, Governor Umo Eno reportedly quit the PDP following intense pressure and dwindling federal cooperation.
These are not isolated political decisions;
They are the result of a calculated effort by the Tinubu administration to isolate and pressure governors into defecting.
A Familiar Tinubu Tactic
President Tinubu built his political legacy as a ‘master strategist’. However, his current tactics reveal something far more cynical:
A willingness to utilise state institutions and federal power to undermine opposition rather than engage in competition with it.
In 2003 and 2007, Tinubu decried PDP-led efforts to isolate Lagos State through fiscal denial and political intimidation. Today, he repeats that same tactic on a national scale, starving non-APC states, manipulating internal crises, and offering “amnesty” through defection.
At the APC’s 2025 convention, Tinubu declared: “That is the game”, an open admission that these defections are a political tactic, not a policy-driven realignment. And National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje’s remarks, suggesting a one-party Nigeria was “not necessarily bad,” show just how openly the APC views opposition parties:
Not as rivals, but obstacles to be removed.
Democracy at Risk
Nigeria’s democracy is built on choice, competition, and plurality. A functioning opposition isn’t optional; it is essential. But with the PDP splintering, the NNPP weakened, the Labour Party struggling internally, and governors crossing over under duress, 2027 risks becoming a coronation, not a contest.
President Tinubu should be held to account, not applauded, for bullying elected governors into submission. Using public funds as political blackmail, freezing allocations, and exploiting institutional weaknesses is not clever politics.
It is state-sponsored coercion, and it violates the very spirit of the democracy Nigerians fought to build.
Rather than act as a national leader, Tinubu is increasingly behaving like a partisan enforcer, using the powers of the presidency not to govern, but to dominate.
Nigeria does not need a strongman president; it needs a democratic one. If Tinubu continues down this path, his legacy will not be about reform or progress, but about presiding over the destruction of Nigeria’s political freedom.
The choice before him, and before the Nigerian people, is whether to allow this creeping political monopolisation to continue, or to stand up for the democracy many still hope to protect.
Read: Nigerian Government Under Fire as NNPC Admits Refineries Still Down Despite Billions Spent
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It is unconstitutional to defect during service innit?..it’s crazy how they are all defecting and nothing is done about it….
They will keep defecting if no penalty is suffered for defecting while on seat,…
I just hope the coalition doesn’t do primaries and just go ahead and present Obi so we can commit our support collectively against this unconstitutional and undemocratic government