Last Thursday, former Bayelsa State governor Seriake Dickson, now a senator, released a statement thanking Bayelsans and Niger Deltans in general for standing by him and his party, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). He seems to suffer from persecution complex, believing that despite the harassments he has received, he and the newly formed NDC to which Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso defected in March, were still standing strong and even managing to become the ‘biggest opposition party’ in Nigeria. It is not certain why he thinks the NDC is dominating opposition politics, or what yardsticks he has used to define his party’s influence. But in the statement, he appears convinced in his mind, at least, that the NDC had become a force to reckon with. After all, he is the national leader of the party, a position or status he has repeatedly emphasized and would not allow anyone in the party, no matter how big, to forget or downplay.

A day before Senator Dickson released his ‘thank you’ note to Bayelsans and the public, Senate President Godsqill Akpabio inaugurated four new members, thus bringing the tally and distribution in a 109-member legislature to APC 88, African Democratic Congress (ADC) 9, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 5, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) 4, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 1, Accord Party 1 and Labour Party (LP) 1. Despite the avalanche of defections in March, the ADC still retains the highest number of opposition lawmakers, with the PDP coming a close second. The NDC is still ranked third. Sen. Dickson, however, cautiously declined to offer any statistics regarding the composition of the senate or the House of Representatives, or even states legislatures. It was enough that in his mind the NDC had assumed bigness, regardless of the comparative figures. More importantly, for him, that bigness is contextualised by the imaginary suffering he claims to experience. As he put it: “Yet all the propaganda, incitement, persecution, falsehood, and wickedness directed against me, my family, my community, and my steadfast supporters and friends for almost seven years, without reason or justification, have not swayed you…In spite of it all, you have persevered. You have remained resolute, and you have not buckled.”

Sen. Dickson clearly basks in the self-adorned title of NDC national leader. Undoubtedly gifted, he has managed to coalesce attention into himself and away from Mr Obi and Dr Kwankwaso, and also resist the attempt by the former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate to personify the NDC. Dr Kwankwaso, much smarter and more intellectually grounded than the Teflon Obi, had deliberately assumed less prominence in the NDC knowing full well that he had become a political refugee from his former party, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) which he had brusquely personified. Having cut both Messrs Obi and Kwankwaso to size, Sen. Dickson began to revel in his newfound status as leader of the party, a glory he has seemed to take oath not to share with anyone, notwithstanding their antecedents. His description of the NDC as the biggest opposition party is, therefore, probably a natural progression from the persecution complex he alluded to in his statement, and a reflection of the delusion of grandeur he suffers from, flowing from the titular role he has started to play with relish as national leader.

Even if his politics is deprecated, Sen. Dickson still possesses the chutzpah to make a big impression in Nigerian politics. He may often embark on flights of fancy, but he at least showed political flair by refusing to defect to a party in which he would become anonymous. He, therefore, sensibly attracted the footloose and disenchanted Mr Obi whom he knew had become emasculated in the ADC dominated by former vice president Atiku Abubakar. And he also helped inspire the cobbling of a presidential ticket on which the equally flummoxed Dr Kwankwaso could find solace and relevance. Hopefully he does not yet suffer from the megalomania of exaggerating his party’s possible showing in the next polls, either at the state or federal level. And as for playing opposition politics, it is unclear why he thinks his cause is best served by assuming leadership of the opposition in Nigeria.

In early 2024, Nigerians will recall with amusement how both the PDP and LP struggled futilely to determine which party was the preeminent opposition. Once he caught his breath after the shellacking his party received at the presidential poll, Alhaji Atiku growled that the PDP occupied the unassailable opposition leadership position. Soon after, Mr Obi himself, though third in the poll and having little to show in the other elections, ignored the drubbing his party had experienced and began to lionise the LP as primus inter pares. In the end, both parties unraveled after a few years because rather than appreciate the substance of opposition politics, they were immersed in basking in its flimsy glow. That glow flickered out very quickly, and it should serve as a lesson for future politicians like the preening Sen. Dickson now besotted to showy politics.