‘Political Banditry Has Emerged’ – Sam Amadi

The Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Sam Amadi, has said political banditry has emerged in political parties.

Naija News reports that Amadi made this remark during an interview on Arise Television, stating that the 2026 primary elections held by different political parties in the country are worse than the ones of 2022.

Amade stated that no lessons were learned because there were often no real consequences for violating due process.

According to him, political actors’ disregard for due process encourages further violations and weakens democratic institutions.

He said, “The 2026 primaries are worse than the 2022 primaries. If candidates or parties lost elections for failing to follow fair and transparent procedures, they would be forced to learn from those mistakes.

“Unfortunately, a culture of what many describe as political banditry has emerged, where some believe they can disregard due process without consequences.

“When such behavior is rewarded rather than punished, it only encourages further violations and weakens democratic institutions.”

Meanwhile, Sam Amadi recently said Nigeria is witnessing its worst phase of party organisational politics.

Amadi stated this while reacting to the conduct of primary elections by political parties ahead of the next general elections.

He said the level of confusion, internal disputes and uncertainty surrounding the current primary season was worse than what the country experienced before the 2023 elections.

He said, “This is the worst we have had in party organisational politics in Nigeria. In 2023, we had crises here and there, but it wasn’t at this level.”

According to him, political parties went into the 2023 elections with clearer identities and structures, unlike the current situation, where several parties are battling internal confusion.

He added, “We went into the primaries with clarity. PDP was PDP, APC was APC, we didn’t have the confusion we have now.”

The policy analyst also commented on the increasing adoption of direct primaries by political parties.