Prominent PDP chieftain and former presidential spokesman, Lere Gbenga-Hashim, has issued a deeply alarming warning — declaring that Nigeria is gradually but unmistakably sliding back toward the dark and repressive political climate that defined the brutal military dictatorship of late General Sani Abacha — one of the most notorious and feared regimes in Nigerian history.
Gbenga-Hashim, known for his sharp political commentary and unwavering commitment to democratic principles, painted a chilling picture of a country where the fundamental pillars of democracy — freedom of expression, press freedom, rule of law, judicial independence, and civil liberties — are being systematically eroded under the current political dispensation.
The PDP stalwart drew a series of disturbing parallels between the present political climate and the Abacha years — citing what he described as the increasing intimidation of opposition voices, the weaponisation of security agencies against political opponents, the suppression of dissenting views, the persecution of activists and journalists, and the growing culture of silence and fear that he says is spreading across Nigeria’s civic space.
Gbenga-Hashim expressed deep concern that democratic institutions — including the National Assembly, the judiciary, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the media — are coming under unprecedented pressure to subordinate their constitutional independence to the interests and directives of the executive — a pattern he described as chillingly reminiscent of how Abacha systematically dismantled Nigeria’s democratic structures in the 1990s.
“What we are witnessing in Nigeria today is not the democracy our people fought, suffered, and died for. When citizens are afraid to speak, when opposition is criminalised, when institutions bow to power — we are back in familiar and dangerous territory,” Gbenga-Hashim declared with visible alarm.
He called on all Nigerians — politicians, civil society, religious leaders, traditional rulers, lawyers, journalists, and ordinary citizens — to rise in defence of Nigeria’s democracy before the country’s hard-won freedoms are fully surrendered to an emerging authoritarian culture that he warned will be far more difficult to reverse once it becomes fully entrenched.
The former presidential spokesman also challenged the National Assembly to reclaim its constitutional independence — urging lawmakers to resist executive pressure, exercise genuine oversight, and demonstrate to Nigerians that the legislature remains a co-equal and independent arm of government rather than a rubber-stamp institution.
Gbenga-Hashim’s remarks have resonated deeply across political, legal, and civil society circles — with many sharing his concerns about the trajectory of Nigeria’s democratic governance while others in the ruling APC dismissed his characterisation as opposition hyperbole and politically motivated scaremongering.
The Presidency and the APC are yet to formally respond to Gbenga-Hashim’s Abacha comparison at the time of filing this report.
Political analysts note that such warnings from experienced political figures with intimate knowledge of Nigeria’s governance history deserve serious national reflection — stressing that democratic backsliding rarely announces itself loudly but instead creeps in through incremental erosions that become irreversible if left unchecked and unchallenged.
CDA News Nigeria will continue to monitor and report on Nigeria’s democratic governance landscape.
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