*Excessive greed, tribalism, political brigandage growing wings, say respondents
*Security agencies have failed, defer to politicians than being professional, they insist
A cross section of Nigerians in x-raying the nation’s political trajectory from June 12, 1993 and then to 2023, passed a verdict that the nation’s political leaders are extremely selfish and wicked.
These Nigerians who cut across every social strata blamed the political leaders for the nation’s woes, saying that failure of security and anti-graft agencies to work according to their constitutiinally prescribed duties, worsened the matters.
They also declared that except those occupying top political and bureaucratic leadership decide that “enough is enough”, efforts to reverse the ugly trend will be at best academic.
Going down memory lane, those interviewed pointed out how the political leaders have jettisoned the fear of God, integrity, honesty, accountability and dignity in labour and embraced excessive greed, nepotism, clanishness, dishonesty, cheating, lack of concern for human rights, saying the leaders accept they are towing a path that lead to perdition, Nigeria will never get it right.
They lamented that efforts to reform the electoral system have been thwarted by politicians who use security agencies to destroy such efforts, insisting that killing such important institution would end up destroying everybody.
Prof. Nwobodo Nwobodo, explained that “with the way our politicians see grabbing politicial offices as a matter of life and death, see where it has put us; we are merely enjoying civilian administration without democratic ideals.
“You can see that all our political leaders do is to tell lies without any remorse; they steal the public treasury mindlessly and without shame. Those were not the ideals of June 12 that almost every Nigeria fought for”.
As for Alhaji Najeem Majekodumi, he emphasised that “our political leaders, especially those at the National and State Assemblies, who ought to be engaging in oversight of the executive and the judiciary, unfortunately, appear to be the most corrupt and the weakest link.
“If the 10th National Assembly members fail to sit up and do the proper thing, instead of engaging in propaganda and telling lies, Nigeria might end up even before their tenure comes to an end”.
A retired military officer, who does not want to be named, lampooned former President Muhammadu Buhari for introducing the worst form of damage ever witnessed in the polity.
He described Buhari’s government as not just the worst that would ever be experienced in Nigeria, but urged President Bola Tinubu and any other person that might take over after him to openly and consentiously begin the process of rebuilding and repairing the damage and injuries inflicted on Nigeria by the immediate-past administration.
A former student leader, John Madugu, stated that Buhari and the entire past administration’s disdain for education are issues that dragged the country 100 years down the line.
He noted that when the struggle for the actualisation of June 12 was on, it was not just based on intellectual foundation, but founded on atiinalistic tendencies.
He wondered how political leaders could unabashedly be sponsoring and supporting strikes in academic institutions lasting almost for a whole year, pointing out that “it remains the worst damage done to this country, Nigeria”.
He also wondered why political brigandage could be taken to the level of supporting Motor park touts and other misfits to attack voters simply because they were considered as coming from a particular ethnic group, stressing that except those who did that are fished out and openly punished, the worst will happen in the coming elections.
Sadatu Mohammed, a civil rights activist, wondered why Nigeria should be celebrating June 12 when its leaders operate like bandits.
She opined that except people like Ibrahim Magu, CP Abba Kyari, Abdulrasheed Maina, Godwin Emefiele, Tunde (formerly of the Presidential Villa), Hadi Sirika, and others who were accused of sleeze are arrested, thoroughly investigated and given adequate punishment, then celebrating or marking June 12 would remain an irony and a big lie being told to ourselves.
“What exactly are we cerebrating; lies, cover-ups, Executive and legislative recklessness, judicial rasckality, abuse of uniform and office by security personnel, shameless distortion of our value system by politicians, systematic and speedly killing of our educational sector or what?
“My dear journalist, Nigeria has become a fraud; a laughing stock even by a banana Republic and shame of the world due to the bad attitude of our leaders,” she said.
Khadiri Dutse, a University undergraduate, heaped abuses on the nation’s leaders, saying they will never enjoy their life if they continue to loot the economy and plunge education to the nadir.
“Can you imagine, sir, that these people are speedily killing our educational system here while taking their children abroad to study?
“They are doing all these things so that their children will be the only ones that will qualify for employment. See how rhey converted the scholarship boards to serve only their children. It is no longer competitive, but selective, so that only their children can have access, same people stealing all the money.
“See how they increased the price of fuel mindlessly, saying it is subsidy removal. Now the cost of every item has gone up by more than 400 per cent. Who then is losing? The wealthy people they told us are benefiting from fuel subsidy or the poor masses who can no longer afford any meal at all?
“This shows you that these politicians have since dumped June 12 and so, there is no need deceiving all of us pretending they are marking June 12 as Democracy Day. This is the biggest lie of the century,” he said.
Recall that the even after President Ibrahim Babangida annuled the results of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, chairman of the National Electoal Commission (NEC), who superintended over the election told the whole wold that it was won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola.
Even though the anniversary comes up today (Monday), and one of the arrowheads of the defunct pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which spearheaded the struggle, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is.now the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he needs to do so much for the June 12 spirit to be revived truly.
As with Abiola/Babagana Kingibe Muslim-Muslim ticket of the defunct Social Democratic Coalition (SDP), Tinubu/Kashim Shettima of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) re-enacted the Muslim-Muslim ticket of June 12 1993.
Preaident Tinubu must remember that while Abiola got arrested by the late General Sani Abacha for declaring himself President at Epetado, he (Tinubu) took off and went into exile in 1994 along with several other NADECO members, including the late Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu.
Though the commemoration of the sad event had become an annual ritual since 2000 in the six states of the Southwest, former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 officially recognized the significance of June 12 and designated it as Democracy Day.
It remains doubtful whether or not Nigeria’s democracy is on the right track, especially given the controversy trailing the February 25, 2023 presidential election now being challenged by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party respectively.
According to Sun Newspapers, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, a renowned constitutional lawyer, and pro-democracy fighter, simply dismissed the negative commentaries coming from the opposition, arguing that “democracy is not perfect and it has never been perfect anywhere in the world. But it keeps evolving and it will continue to evolve.”
He maintained the view that Tinubu’s presidency would make a huge difference from the past leaders who did not contribute anything to the struggle for the enthronement of the current democratic governance, but emerged on the political scene by accident of circumstance.
“I believe that our democratic journey is on course. Considering all that went into the last election, in my view, this nation is moving forward. In spite of the imperfection of our electoral system, the evolvement of our leaders is still a result of the votes of the people.”
Also, former leader of the NUPENG, Chief Frank Kokori, who has already been conscripted into the preparatory arrangements for the celebration as a frontline pro-democracy leader, described the new administration of President Tinubu as the dawn of a new era.
Adding his voice to the raging debate, he said: “This is going to be a perfect celebration. It is going to be a landmark celebration because it is now 30 years since June 12 was annulled.
“Tinubu was an active participant in the struggle for the enthronement of the current democratic governance. He was in the trenches with us in different ways.
“So, we are happy that we are celebrating the struggle. Already, I have been given an important role to play in the celebration.”
While lamenting the disappointing experience of democratic governance under successive leaders since 1999, Kokori expressed confidence that Tinubu would perform better than his previous predecessors, adding that he had started well with his policy on subsidy removal.
“With all sense of modesty, I was the arrowhead of the struggle for democracy in Nigeria. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was not a pro-democracy activist, Yar’Adua wasn’t a pro-democracy activist, Goodluck Jonathan wasn’t a pro-democracy activist, Muhammadu Buhari wasn’t a pro-democracy activist.
“So, this is the first time we are having a pro-democracy activist who participated in the struggle for the restoration of democracy.
“Tinubu suffered deprivation just like some of us. Like I said without being immodest, I with my NUPENG was the arrowhead of the struggle.
“We were deprived, we were jailed and we suffered. I spent four solid years in solitary confinement. Being alive today and seeing that Tinubu is the president is a thing of joy for some of us in that struggle. And I am confident that he will make a lot of difference”.
Similarly, Senator Gbenga Obadara, lending his voice on a positive note, said: “I believe the time has come to lead Nigeria out of its present quagmire.”
