On a day Nigeria’s opposition party was expected to take on the ruling party on the nation’s new economic reality, the People’s Democratic Party was silent. Only a couple of its Social Media savvy youth wing made some noise about Nigeria’s latest slump into recession. But the young people are largely not influential in the scheme of things in the former ruling party. Overall, the youth wing is a fringe part of the party.

The real decision-makers in the party are not on Social Media. Even those who are do not run their accounts themselves. These party leaders have not commented on the newly released economic indices by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On Wednesday, the NBS officially released a trove of quantitative information that paint a picture of an economy in turmoil. Dr Yemi Kale, the Statistician General of the Federation, said the economy contracted by -2.06% in the second quarter of 2016, a further slump from the GDP data of the first quarter which was -0.36%.

By definition, a country is in recession when its GDP contracts into negative percentages for two straight quarters. The GDP for first quarter 2016 was the first to cross zero into the minus zone, ending the last month of the quarter at -0.36%.

In democracies with proper political parties, these recent statistics will spark off debates about the direction of the country and the (in)actions of political leaders that led to – or can lead the nation out of – such state.

For Nigeria, the biggest opposition party was expected to have led that debate. But that opposition party has been largely silent since yesterday.

This might not be unconnected to the party’s own internal crises occasioned by the claim of two different factions to its leadership. One of the factions is headed by Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of Borno state and the other is headed by Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna state. Sheriff was removed as chairman during the party’s May 21 national convention and the party’s governors believe this was lawful. Sheriff, however refuses to budge, insisting he remains the party’s bona-fide National Chairman until 2018 when his tenure official runs out. The crisis lingers even as the contending factions have been frequenting the courts in search of victory.

Analysts believe the party’s internal crisis is not only detrimental to its own cohesion, but also undermining the country’s democracy. A good case study is its loud silence on the day Nigeria slumped into recession with its attendant implications for the citizenry.