Nigeria’s Democracy in Decline, Laments Jacob, Ex-PDP Legal Adviser

Former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacob, has raised the alarm over what he described as the declining state of Nigeria’s democracy following the just-concluded by-elections and re-runs held across 13 states on Saturday.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television Morning Brief, Jacob accused security agencies and government officials of undermining the electoral process by targeting opposition candidates and their supporters.
He alleged that in Kaduna State’s Kunankajuru Constituency, a PDP candidate alongside 25 of her key supporters and agents were abducted by government officials and security operatives while holding a strategic meeting ahead of the polls.

According to him, the group was taken captive just as they prepared to deploy to polling units, effectively excluding them from participating in the exercise until much later in the day.
Jacob argued that elections went ahead without the participation of the candidate and her team, an action he said stripped the process of fairness.

He further claimed that similar cases of harassment and arrests of PDP candidates occurred in other constituencies, thereby tilting the contest in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“These actions show clearly that Nigeria is galloping backwards,” Jacob lamented. “The gains we made from 2003 through to 2011 in our electoral process have been eroded. We are back to the era when might is right—if you control government power and the security agencies, you are bound to win elections. That is not something to celebrate; it is shameful.”

The former PDP legal adviser also criticised the ruling APC’s frequent retort of “go to court” whenever allegations of electoral malpractice arise. He described it as a mockery of democracy and a stain on the judiciary, warning that the courts are increasingly being perceived as an extension of the ruling party.

“After every election, the refrain is the same: ‘go to court.’ It is an embarrassment to those of us in the legal profession because it signals that justice may not be served. People enter legislative offices not through the mandate of the people but through imposition, and such persons cannot be expected to work for the people—they work for the system that imposed them,” he said.
Jacob stressed that the independence of the legislature had been compromised, as many lawmakers owe their positions not to the electorate but to executive manipulation. “The legislative houses that are meant to checkmate the executive have become mere appendages of it. This is not democracy in practice,” he added.
He warned that if the trend continues, Nigerians should not expect accountability, transparency, or meaningful governance from their elected representatives.

Instead, he said the political system would remain trapped in a cycle of power consolidation by the ruling elite at the expense of democratic values.

“The country is really moving backwards,” Jacob concluded. “We are not progressing in terms of political discipline and culture. What we are witnessing cannot be called democracy—it is simply the use of power to dominate the people.