Featured Article: When Rivers Merge Before the Flood_By William Z. Bozimo

In the slow-turning gears of Nigeria’s democracy, a new rumble is echoing across the landscapes, gathering streams, and merging currents. The opposition leaders, once scattered like restless tributaries, now speak of unity. The ink has barely dried on their pact to challenge the ruling party in 2027, yet, the air smells of political rain, heavy, uncertain, and electric.

From the ashes of disillusionment, the idea of a “grand coalition” has begun to take shape as the convergence of various aspirants, weary of defeat and eager to reclaim power intensifies. While they remain determined in ensuring that they revive the promise of multiparty democracy, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and other opposition voices now sing a common refrain: that Nigeria’s democracy must not drift into a one-party symphony, where only one drumbeat commands the national rhythm.

But our history has seen this dance before. In the 1960s, coalitions rose and crumbled under the weight of ego and ethnicity. In the Fourth Republic, alliances promised salvation but often birthed strange bedfellows who are more interested in political arithmetic than moral chemistry. So the question lingers like smoke after fireworks: Will this new coalition be different, or is it just another chapter in our recurring political theatre?

Nigeria’s democracy has become a restless sea; deep, vast, and at times frighteningly shallow. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), buoyed by defections and federal power, now resembles a mighty ship commanding the waters. Yet, in its entirety, smaller boats risk being capsized. The recent exodus of opposition lawmakers to the APC, along with public accusations of an emerging one-party state, has cast a long shadow over our democratic integrity.

Regardless, unity without purpose is like a river without direction, vast but wasted. If the opposition’s newfound marriage is merely comfort dressed as conviction, it will soon dissolve in the acid of ambition. Our nation does not need another alliance of convenience; what we need is a union of conscience and leaders who see beyond 2027, as well as people who also understand that governance is not about conquest but about stewardship.

So let the rivers merge with meaning, and let the opposition not just be an alternative to power, but a standard of integrity. Let coalitions rise not merely to contest elections, but to challenge the conscience of a nation drifting too far from its democratic shores. In the end, Nigeria does not only need more politicians, she hopes for patriots, men and women who can remind us that democracy is not the noise of many mouths, but the harmony of a just chorus.

Unity is not just the absence of difference, but the discipline of shared purpose. When rivers merge, let them remember the mountain from which they began, and the ocean they hope to reach.

✍🏽 William Z. Bozimo

Veteran Journalist | Columnist | National Memory Keeper