Governor Hope Uzodinma has warned that Nigeria’s democracy could face serious danger if opposition parties fail to build formidable structures capable of challenging the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general election.

Uzodinma spoke on Saturday during the APC presidential primary, where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the party’s consensus candidate for a second term ticket with little opposition.

The Imo governor said democracy thrives on healthy competition, stressing that the absence of a credible opposition could weaken the nation’s democratic culture.

“It is no longer a democracy if there is no opposition. I encourage opposition parties to work hard, do what the ruling party has done, and when, by the grace of God, it becomes their turn, they will elect their own president,” Uzodimma said.

The governor also boasted that the APC’s growing grassroots strength had already positioned the party strongly ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

According to him, the ruling party’s electronic membership registration and validation exercise had significantly expanded its support base across the country.

“If you look at what is happening at the grassroots, how the grassroots has been stimulated, starting from the membership registration, which was done electronically, to the validation of members, you can see 35,000 human beings in just one ward in all its local governments,” he said.

“It means that if all our party members vote for President Bola Tinubu, he has already won the election”, he added.

Uzodimma attributed the large turnout recorded during the APC primary to what he described as deliberate grassroots inclusiveness introduced through the party’s digital membership registration process.

“The membership registration as conducted by the All Progressives Congress took care of grassroots inclusiveness, and today it is manifesting in the realities of our democratic situation in Nigeria,” he noted.

The governor further praised Tinubu’s leadership style, insisting that the president had done enough to deserve another term in office.

“President Bola Tinubu has done enough to deserve going back for a second time. I want to congratulate him for taking the time to do politics the way it should be done,” Uzodimma said.