President  Bola Tinubu’s government on Tuesday criticised Nigerians accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempts to drive Nigeria into a one-party state, recalling that the Peoples Democratic Party “fraudulently” captured 31 states while in power in 2007.

Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X on Wednesday, shared the Nigerian map indicating how many states each party won in 2007 and queried critics’ silence when the PDP controlled 31 states, leaving five for opposition parties.

“Here is the political map of Nigeria at the end of the 2007 elections, when the PDP captured 31 states, leaving five others to the opposition parties,” Mr Onanuga said. “There was no uproar then that the PDP was imposing one-party on our country.”

Mr Onanuga berated as hypocrites those who saw nothing wrong in the PDP dominating the political sphere while in power, but are raising concerns about the APC’s control of 22 states.

“Today, the APC controls 22 states and is amassing great support countrywide. Suddenly, the same people who did not see anything wrong in the PDP taking over the entire country by political fraud are the same people now accusing our party of trying to impose a one-party state,” Mr Onanuga said.

Mr Onanuga’s statement followed APC chairman Abdullahi Ganduje’s remarks that Nigeria becoming a one-party state under the APC will make governance effective.

“We are not saying we are working for a one-party system, but if this is the wish of Nigerians, we cannot quarrel with that. You know they say too many cooks spoil the broth; too many political parties spoil governance,” Mr Ganduje said.