There's a growing concern about a supposed plot to arrest key opposition figures in Nigeria, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. A civil society group has raised an alarm, claiming the arrests are part of a broader strategy to weaken opposition politics and entrench a de facto one-party system in the country ¹ ² ³.

The group alleges that the strategy includes selective arrests and prolonged detentions without charge, coercion of politically exposed persons to defect to the ruling party, disruption of lawful opposition meetings, and engineered factionalisation within opposition parties. Other prominent figures allegedly targeted include Isa Ali Pantami, Rauf Aregbesola, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, and Nasir el-Rufai ⁴ ⁵ ⁶.

The supposed plot is linked to a covert multi-agency security directive coordinated from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and executed through a task force involving anti-corruption, intelligence, and financial-crime agencies. The group warns that these actions, if carried out, would constitute grave violations of the 1999 Constitution, including breaches of personal liberty, freedom of association and expression, equality before the law, and judicial independence ¹ ³ ⁷.