Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The High Commission of the United Kingdom yesterday met with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Kabiru Turaki, SAN, and held extensive discussions on the state of Nigeria’s democracy.
The High Commission’s delegation was led by Dr. Fortune Aldred, Senior Political Adviser, and Stephen Asek, Political Adviser (Cameroon).
According to a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of Turaki led PDP, the party’s delegation comprised the National Secretary, Dr. Wonyengikuro Daniel; National Treasurer, Isa Abubakar, National Organising Secretary, Hon. Theophilus Dakas Shan; National Legal Adviser, Shafi Bara’u; Principal Private Secretary to the Chairman, Ibrahim Abdullahi, Esq.; and the National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong.
Ini Ememobong said that the he meeting deliberated extensively on the state of Nigeria’s democracy and the opposition’s role and relevance in the democratic process.
He said that the interactive session centred on the current asphyxiation of the opposition, the prolonged state-sponsored leadership crisis in the PDP, the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2027 elections, and the general outlook for the 2026 elections.
In his presentation, Turaki reiterated the party’s position on the “need to ensure the survival of multi-party democracy and the opposition, which remain critical pillars of a thriving democratic system.”
He stressed the current “state capture disposition” of the APC-led federal government has directly contributed to the heightened political tension in the country, a development he described as unhealthy for Nigeria’s democracy.
He said “the political temperature of the country has risen to fever-pitch levels traceable majorly to the actions and inactions of the APC-led Federal Government, who are relentlessly provocative in their desire to forcefully capture every part of our country”.
Responding on behalf of the delegation, the Commission’s Team Leader, Dr. Fortune Aldred, thanked the party’s leadership for receiving and engaging with the team.
He assured the party leaders that the issues discussed would be conveyed through the Commission’s established reporting channels.
He further noted that while Nigeria is a sovereign nation and its politics remain an internal affair, the Commission has a responsibility to understand political developments and communicate its observations through established diplomatic avenues.
The meeting forms part of a broader series of engagements between the Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party and members of the international community in response to President Tinubu’s “all is fair in politics” comment and the concomitant weaponisation of state institutions against opposition parties.