One of the most haunting lines in Ovonramwen Nogbaisi came when Ola Rotimi wrote:
“Your brothers threw ashes into the wind and the wind, in reply, smothered them with the same ashes from their own hands.”
That line was not merely literary brilliance. It was a warning about power, arrogance and the dangerous illusion that laws fashioned for political convenience would never someday turn against their makers.
Today, that warning appears to have come alive within the ruling All Progressives Congress following the controversial primaries and internal manoeuvres that unfolded over the weekend.
For months, there were growing concerns when the National Assembly hurriedly passed the 2026 Electoral Act with provisions many critics considered deeply restrictive and potentially undemocratic. Yet, despite the concerns raised by lawyers, civil society actors and political observers, the law sailed through with astonishing speed and little resistance from lawmakers.
Why?
Because many members of the National Assembly appeared convinced that the political arrangement of automatic tickets and elite protection had already secured their own futures.
In politics, however, laws do not always remain loyal to those who make them.
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One of the most consequential provisions inserted into the new Electoral Act was Section 77, which compels political parties to maintain a digital register of members and submit it to the Independent National Electoral Commission at least 21 days before party primaries.
On the surface, the provision sounded administrative and harmless.
But beneath that technical language was a powerful political trap.
The implication was straightforward. Only individuals whose names already appeared on that officially submitted register could legally participate in party primaries either as voters or aspirants.
In practical terms, the era of politicians losing primaries in one party and quickly defecting to another platform to secure alternative tickets was effectively shut down.
And that was not all.
The law went even further by criminalising dual party membership. Politicians could no longer strategically maintain silent alignments with multiple parties while waiting for political opportunities to unfold. The Electoral Act imposed penalties, including imprisonment or fines, for knowingly holding concurrent memberships.
At the time, many lawmakers celebrated these provisions.
Some even saw them as clever political engineering designed to strengthen party discipline and stop opportunistic defections.
But politics has a cruel sense of irony.
The same provisions many politicians applauded have now returned to haunt sections of the political class with astonishing force.
This weekend’s controversial APC primaries exposed that reality dramatically.
Suddenly, politicians who once believed themselves untouchable found their options narrowing rapidly. Some who lost influence within internal party calculations discovered that the escape routes they once relied upon no longer existed. The old strategy of abandoning one party after losing a ticket and resurfacing elsewhere became legally dangerous and practically impossible within the compressed electoral timetable.
And that is where the deeper irony lies.
Many of those now trapped by the law were among those who either actively supported it or remained conveniently silent when concerns were raised.
They believed the law would only affect others.
They never imagined the wind would someday return their own ashes.
This is why democracies must always be careful when crafting electoral laws around temporary political interests rather than enduring democratic principles.
Because power is temporary.
Political advantage is temporary.
But laws often outlive the calculations that created them.
That is the enduring lesson from the current turmoil.
Electoral laws should exist primarily to deepen democracy, widen participation and strengthen institutional credibility. Once laws begin to look like instruments designed mainly to protect elite arrangements or suppress political flexibility, they eventually create unintended consequences capable of destabilising even those who once benefited from them.
And perhaps that is what Nigeria is witnessing now.
What was initially celebrated as political cleverness has quietly become a mechanism of political entrapment.
The tragedy is that many lawmakers saw the dangers ahead.
Some understood clearly that rigid membership restrictions and compressed digital registration timelines could weaken political competition and reduce democratic flexibility. Others recognised that excessive centralisation of candidate qualification processes could hand enormous power to party leadership structures.
But very few spoke openly.
Why?
Because political self interest often silences democratic caution.
The promise of protection can make even experienced politicians ignore dangers they would ordinarily condemn.
Until the law turns around.
And laws eventually do.
That is why the APC primaries of this weekend may ultimately represent something larger than internal party controversy. They may become a national lesson about the dangers of legislating for temporary political comfort without considering long term democratic consequences.
Because democracy works best when rules are designed not merely for immediate political advantage, but for fairness, openness and institutional balance.
Today, some politicians who once celebrated the new Electoral Act now find themselves cornered by the same provisions they helped create. Some can neither defect safely nor contest elsewhere. Others suddenly realise that political survival built entirely around elite assurances is often dangerously fragile.
And perhaps that is the ultimate political irony.
The wind has returned the ashes.
Exactly as Ola Rotimi warned.
Because in politics, as in life, laws crafted without fairness eventually lose loyalty to their creators.
And when that happens, those who made the trap and once celebrated it may ultimately become its first victims.
■ Lemmy Ughegbe, Ph.D
lemmyughegbeofficial@gmail.com
WhatsApp ONLY: +2348069716645
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