By Baba Lawan
August 16, 2025
On Saturday, August 16, 2025, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted bye-elections across twelve (12) states of the federation, including Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, among others. As expected, reports of pockets of violence emerged from some constituencies, though the heavy deployment of security personnel ensured that the process went ahead in most polling units. Yet, despite the resources expended, the outcome was largely predictable: the ruling parties in most states consolidated their grip and “won” their respective seats.
This development should not surprise anyone who has followed Nigeria’s political trajectory since 1999. In fact, it only reinforces the entrenched tradition in our democracy where incumbents almost always retain power, not necessarily because of their performance, but because of the weaponisation of state resources, coercion, and partisan manipulation.
The bigger question, however, is this: for how long will Nigerians continue to reduce politics to fights, grudges, and blind partisanship? When will citizens rise above the politics of bitterness and understand that democracy is not war, but a contest of ideas?
The Curse of Grudge Politics
Politics in Nigeria has been reduced to a dangerous game of “us versus them.” Elections, instead of being opportunities to renew the social contract, have become battlefields where young people are mobilised as political thugs while elites watch from their air-conditioned offices. In the Nigerian imagination, the ballot box is no longer seen as a channel of hope but as a trigger of violence.
We are living with the consequences of grudge politics—a culture where parties and individuals care more about humiliating opponents than about governance or service delivery. The language of campaigns is not development, it is abuse. The energy of citizens is not channelled into demanding accountability, but into defending “our party” or “our man” at all costs.
This has reduced democracy to a tragic ritual: elections come, lives are lost, money is wasted, and the same old elites return to power, emboldened by our collective silence.
Democracy or Theatre of Violence?
The reality is stark: Nigerian democracy has been hijacked by partisan theatrics. Instead of policy debates, we see insults. Instead of manifestos, we see handouts. Instead of civic responsibility, we see hired violence.
The violence that marred sections of the bye-elections last Saturday is not an accident. It is a symptom of a deeper malaise—the belief that political victory must come “by all means necessary.” But can democracy survive in such a climate?
Democracy is built on tolerance, debate, persuasion, and compromise. Yet in Nigeria, it is often mistaken for warfare. As one Hausa proverb wisely says, “Gaba ta hana ruwa gudu”—grudge blocks the flow of water. In our case, the flow of democratic dividends has been blocked by our obsession with fighting rather than building
The Tragedy of the Nigerian Youth
Let us speak bluntly: the real victims of Nigeria’s politics of grudge are the youth. Time and again, they are used as weapons of electoral violence. Politicians exploit their poverty and unemployment, offering them stipends to intimidate voters, snatch ballot boxes, or attack opponents.
But here lies the cruel irony: when bullets fly, it is not the children of the political elite who die—it is ordinary young Nigerians. The sons of governors and ministers are schooling in London, New York, or Dubai. Yet, the sons of the poor are left to spill their blood in dusty polling stations in Kaduna, Kano, or Port Harcourt.
Is this not madness? Should this generational tragedy continue unchecked?
Young Nigerians must realise that they are not pawns in the chessboard of the elite, but the very lifeblood of the nation’s future. If they continue to allow themselves to be used, they will inherit nothing but a broken country. But if they rise to reject partisan manipulation, Nigeria may yet find redemption.
Time to Rethink Democracy
Nigeria cannot continue on this path. We cannot keep organising elections where violence overshadows votes, where incumbents always prevail, and where citizens are treated as spectators in a game meant to define their future.
True democracy requires that:
Political parties be anchored on ideas and programmes, not personalities and grudges.
Elections be a contest of visions for development, not a festival of violence.
Citizens understand that their vote is a weapon of change, not a ticket to war.
Youths especially see themselves as custodians of democracy, not mercenaries for desperate politicians.
Until these lessons are embraced, democracy will remain hollow, and elections like the bye-elections of August 16 will continue to be mere rituals that change nothing.
The Call to Wake Up
The question that must haunt every Nigerian today is simple: How long shall we remain asleep? How long will we allow the politics of grudge to define our destiny? How long will we tolerate elections where lives are lost but nothing changes?
It is time for Nigerians—especially the youth—to wake up. To say NO to partisan manipulation. To say NO to electoral violence. To say YES to true democracy that delivers peace, justice, and development.
As another proverb reminds us: “If the hyena prevents you from entering the farm, you must not allow it to stop you from planting.” Our farm is democracy. If the elites seek to hijack it with violence, we the people must not allow them to stop us from planting the seeds of a better future.
Final Word:
Nigeria stands at a crossroads. We can either remain trapped in the cycles of grudge politics, or we can break free and reclaim democracy for ourselves. The choice is ours. But history will not forgive us if we continue to sleep.
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Opinion