The Anambra State-born human rights lawyer and lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take special interest in the threats against opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general election.
According to the Nigerian human rights lawyer, the Presidency should be interested in the preservation of peace in every state, not because of the political party occupying the Government House, but because every Nigerian life is worth protecting.
He specifically referenced Edo State, where the governor has consistently threatened opposition parties, and where the local government area chairman has now directed that transporters must wear All Progressives Congress (APC) caps in the state.
According to him, Edo is not alone in requiring vigilance.
He noted that in Ebonyi State, Governor Francis Nwifuru was reported on September 1, 2026, to have told opposition politicians that they would “see real threat at the right time,” while also directing newly inaugurated local government chairmen to work towards maintaining APC control at the grassroots ahead of the 2027 elections, otherwise, they would lose their seats.
Sir Ejiofor, who holds the title of Dunu-Ezeugosinachi, gave the advice in his Midweek Musings, titled:
“EDO ON THE EDGE: OKPEBHOLO’S BLOODY RHETORIC AND THE POLITICAL TIME BOMB BUILDING UNDER TINUBU’S WATCH.”
He said there are moments in the life of a nation when responsible citizens must speak, not because the fire has already consumed the house, but because smoke is unmistakably coming from the roof.
According to him, Edo State may be approaching such a moment.
Ejiofor said that since assuming office on November 12, 2024, Governor Senator Monday Okpebholo has repeatedly engaged in unusually combative rhetoric against political opponents, particularly in the context of the emerging 2027 political contest.
According to him, some of these utterances have generated public controversy and have been interpreted by opposition figures and civil-society actors as threatening, even though the governor and his administration have, on occasions, rejected that interpretation.
He said the July 2025 controversy surrounding NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi is instructive, as Governor Okpebholo publicly warned Obi not to come to Edo without security clearance.
According to him, the governor later maintained that his remarks were about security protocols, not a threat, saying that the choice of language by those who wield state power matters.
He also said that in April 2026, a senior aide to the governor, Emmanuel Eghogho, was reported to have appeared in a viral video threatening that opposition figures, including Peter Obi, would be arrested and handed over to the police for onward transfer to Abuja.
In another viral video, the Edo State Local Government Chairman reportedly ordered transporters to wear APC caps or face severe sanctions.
He said that in a democracy, words spoken by people close to power can become signals, especially when those words concern the arrest, exclusion, intimidation, or suppression of political opponents.
The human rights lawyer further noted that this is precisely why the security agencies must not wait until blood is spilled before they begin asking questions.
According to him, security agencies exist not merely to investigate crimes after they have been committed, but also, within the limits of the law, to identify credible threats and prevent violence before it occurs.
He said that what should worry every democrat is not necessarily one particular statement in isolation, but the gradual normalisation of a political atmosphere in which opposition is treated as an enemy rather than as an indispensable component of democracy.
According to him, an opposition politician is not an enemy combatant, an opposition voter is not a criminal, and a critic is not a traitor.
He pointed out that a governor is not the owner of the state, noting that government is temporary; the people are permanent.
According to him, this is why the present political atmosphere in Edo deserves sober attention.
The statement reads in part:
“I am particularly concerned that conduct which ought ordinarily to attract institutional scrutiny is increasingly becoming fodder for partisan entertainment.
Everybody laughs, applauds and moves on, until the laughter suddenly stops.
That is how political crises often begin.
If there are credible indications that political rhetoric, public threats, or activities of political actors and their associates could precipitate violence, the appropriate response is not partisan silence.
It is lawful intelligence-gathering, risk assessment, investigation, and preventive policing. And this is where the Federal Government, particularly the Presidency, cannot afford complacency.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not wait for political violence to become another national emergency before the Federal Government takes notice.
The Presidency should be interested in the preservation of peace in every state, not because of the political party occupying Government House, but because every Nigerian life is worth protecting.
Edo is not alone in requiring vigilance.
In Ebonyi State, Governor Francis Nwifuru was reported on September 1, 2026, to have told opposition politicians that they would ‘see real threat at the right time,’ while also directing newly inaugurated local government chairmen to work towards maintaining APC control at the grassroots ahead of the 2027 elections, otherwise, they will lose their seats.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot afford a political environment in which threats against opponents become ordinary campaign language.
A democracy survives not merely because elections are conducted, but because citizens remain free to participate without fear.
My greatest concern is not about who wins the next election.
My concern is whether Nigerians will be alive, free, and sufficiently secure to participate in it.
The lesson of history is painfully simple: violence rarely announces itself with a gunshot. Sometimes it first arrives as language, repeated, normalised, and eventually acted upon.
That is why I respectfully call on the relevant security and constitutional institutions to pay closer attention to the political atmosphere in Edo and other emerging flashpoints, investigate credible threats where necessary, and ensure that no political actor, whether in government or opposition, is permitted to convert political competition into intimidation or violence.
Let every governor remember that the office he occupies today belongs ultimately to the people.
And let the security agencies remember that prevention is infinitely better than investigating corpses.
The time to douse a political fire is before it becomes an inferno.
For when the keg of gunpowder is already in the marketplace, wisdom dictates that we do not wait for the match to be struck before asking who brought the keg.
The time for vigilance is now.”
