Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mutalib Adebayo took this word out of my mouth today during his interview at Arise TV 

In a healthy democracy, the opposition acts like a mirror. It shows the ruling government where they are failing and offers better ways to solve problems. It also gives the people a real, reliable alternative when they are unhappy with those in power. 

During a recent appearance on Arise TV, political analyst and commentator Adebayo laid bare a frustrating truth that many Nigerians have felt but struggled to articulate: our opposition parties are fundamentally lazy, idle, and structurally unserious. For a nation desperate for viable alternatives to the ruling class, the realization that our self-proclaimed "rescuers" cannot even rescue themselves from basic administrative blunders is a bitter pill to swallow.

The core of the issue is not just a lack of political power; it is a profound lack of an existential and humanistic philosophy. When you look closely at the leaders of these alternative platforms, their past portfolios reveal a striking pattern of inaction. They did nothing of note when they held power, yet they present themselves as visionaries today. But their current offense is even worse than their past mediocrity it is their sheer intellectual laziness.

To understand how deep this rot goes, we only need to look at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a case study.

Ever since high-profile defectors like Atiku Abubakar’s loyalists and former Senate President David Mark threw their weight behind the party, it has been plagued by one self-inflicted crisis or the other. When you ask these politicians why they defected to a party constantly embroiled in leadership tussles, they offer a superficial, victim-blaming response: “It is President Tinubu and the APC trying to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.”

But a logical thinker must dig deeper. How does the ruling party force an opposition party to ignore its own constitution? Consider this: the ADC has been led by a chairman who reportedly spent roughly 20 years in office, despite the party’s own constitution explicitly stating that a chairman can only serve a maximum of two terms (eight years). By allowing this, the party effectively defeated its own legal standing. It was this same embattled leadership that handed the party structure over to the David Mark faction.

Did these veteran politicians bother to conduct basic due diligence before jumping ship? They are professional politicians; this is their career. If they cannot research the legal health of the political vehicle they want to ride to power, how can we trust them to run a country of over 200 million people? Today, the party is fractured into multiple warring camps from the Nafiu Bala faction to the Kingsley Temitope / Odion Kennedy factions, to the David Mark / Rauf Aregbesola Faction dragging each other from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal, and finally to the Supreme Court.

They strolled from one legal trap into another. If they claim Tinubu is behind their woes, one must wonder if the "gods of Tinubu" have simply cast a spell of confusion over them to keep them from thinking straight. You cannot skip your homework, jump into a structural mess, and then cry foul when the roof collapse.

The story is no different when we look at the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Before the grand political realignment that brought Peter Obi into the fold, the founders of the political movement wanted to register a brand. When the INEC pointed out that the logo they presented was already registered and owned by another entity, what did they do? Instead of doing the hard work of rebranding, they went to court to force INEC to accept it.

They won a temporary reprieve, registered the party, and went to sleep. Months later, the rightful owners of the intellectual property took them to court, demanding their trademark back and asking INEC to deregister the party. Suddenly, a massive crisis erupted, and the narrative immediately shifted: “It is because Peter Obi joined us! They are trying to destroy the opposition!”

Let’s be intellectually honest for once. What does the APC or the presidency have to do with an opposition party stealing someone else’s intellectual property? They relied on a court order to commit a political blunder, forgot that those who live by the sword of court orders can also die by it, and are now shocked that the law is being used against them.

Today, they have no stable structure. No matter how much they jump, run, or protest, you cannot build a sustainable political house on stolen property and legal loopholes.

The constant refrain from Nigeria’s opposition is that the ruling party "won't let them breathe" or is squeezing the life out of the political space. But who asked them to commit these glaring, amateurish blunders? Politics is not a game of sympathy; it is a highly competitive, serious business driven by strategy, technicalities, and rigorous organization. As the APC leadership once rightly pointed out, political parties are meant for serious people. They are not playgrounds for politicians who think like children crying "foul" at every self-inflicted scratch.

We see presidential candidates complaining that people are no longer serving them food or associating with them because they are in the opposition. These are infantile, surface-level complaints that even a toddler should be embarrassed to utter.

If you are a grown man, you make your own decisions. Nobody chose your wife for you. If you married her, and it turns out she had a past, you don't cry that her ex-boyfriend is the reason your marriage is failing. You manage your home. Likewise, if you cannot manage your own political party, keep your books clean, and obey your own constitution, you have no business asking Nigerians for their votes.

The current group of opposition leaders have proven themselves to be structurally idle and intellectually lazy. They should take the wealth they have amassed over the years, retire quietly, and enjoy their money. They need to leave the stage.

Nigeria’s democracy desperately needs a real, serious opposition. We need fresh, analytical, and disciplined minds who understand that politics is won through superior strategy, legal soundness, and organizational discipline not by weeping on national television and blaming the ruling party for their own lack of preparation.

Bamidele Atoyebi is the Convener of BAT Ideological Group, National Coordinator of Accountability and Policy Monitoring and a publisher at Unfiltered and Mining Reporting and political social worker