By Casmir Igbokwe
It is inappropriate to gloat over the fall of President Bola Tinubu at Eagle Square, Abuja, last Wednesday. He fell while trying to mount the parade vehicle during the Democracy Day celebration. Some people tried to capitalize on this to imply that Nigeria has fallen. Or that he is not physically fit to be President. These negative comments nearly distracted us from focusing on the main issues plaguing Nigeria.
The President made a broadcast on this Democracy Day, being June 12, 2024. In his speech, he dwelt more on the exploits of pro-democracy activists, including himself, during the struggle against military dictatorship in Nigeria. “In this struggle, the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, the most significant symbol of our democratic struggle, his wife Kudirat, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Pa Alfred Rewane, among others sacrificed their very lives. They bravely surrendered their futures, so that our nation might have a better one,” he said.
Chief Abiola had presumably won the June 12, 1993 presidential election. But the then military President, Ibrahim Babangida, annulled it for no good reason. This prompted variegated protests from different quarters in Nigeria. People like Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Chief Bola Ige, Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Shehu Sani and many others fought to ensure the realization of the June 12 mandate. President Tinubu acknowledged the sacrifices of these patriots, many of whom are late now.
Unfortunately, he failed to recognize the Chairman of the then National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who defied all the odds and threats to his life to conduct what has been termed the freest election in Nigeria’s history. Nwosu had released many of the election results before Babangida’s regime ordered him to stop further announcement. We are yet to get an electoral umpire that is as courageous and impartial as he was.
While the non-recognition of Nwosu might be an oversight, Tinubu’s verdict on Nigeria’s elections was an attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. Hear him: “That we have established a tradition of holding transparent, open, and fair elections gives credence to our democratic bearing. That we have experienced peaceful transitions of government affirms our democratic temperament.”
This is fallacious. In Nigeria, most elections are anything but open, fair and transparent. They are usually characterized by thuggery, vote-buying, ballot-box snatching, killings, and manipulation of election results also known as ‘technical glitches’ in some circles. With the exception of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who chickened out and surrendered power to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, no incumbent President or ruling party in Nigeria has ever surrendered power on a silver platter.
Many Nigerians are still pained by what played out in the presidential election held on February 25, 2023. Tinubu gave us a prelude to what would happen when he told some APC members in a viral video in December 2022 that “political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. It is not served a la carte. It is being determined to do it. At all cost, fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it.” At the election proper, all manner of shenanigans took place just to scuttle the choice of the people. Apparently working on instructions, most security men looked away while the manipulation of election results was going on. Many officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were compromised. Even some judges who handled election petition cases gave jaundiced judgement that made it look obvious that they too were compromised. The rigging was such that the 2023 general election happened to be one of the worst, if not the worst election in our chequered history. Tinubu is a beneficiary of that electoral heist.
Yes, election is not the only ingredient of democracy, but it is the pillar upon which that system of government is built. Bad elections affect many other things. That is why serious countries don’t joke with the electoral process. The United States of America is a typical example. If a leader messes up during his tenure, voters will vote him out in the next election. The American electorate felt that Donald Trump messed up in his first tenure as their President. He ran for a second term on the platform of the Republican Party in 2020 and lost to the incumbent President, Joe Biden of the Democratic Party. It is not yet certain who will win the next presidential election coming up in November this year.
Even some African countries have overtaken Nigeria as far as free and fair election is concerned. Recently, Senegal, Liberia and South Africa held their general elections. George Weah lost in his bid to go for a second term as President of Liberia. Joseph Boakai, who was in the opposition, won in a run-off held in November 2023 and is now the President of that West African country. There was no clear winner in the first poll held on October 10, 2023. From every indication, that election was free, fair and credible.
In Senegal, the same thing happened. The man who won the country’s March 24, 2024 presidential election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was an opposition party candidate. The then President Macky Sall wanted to derail the electoral process. But in that country, the power of the people is greater than the people in power. They agitated for an election and they had their way. Today, the choice of the people is the President. Faye defeated the former ruling party’s candidate, Amadou Ba.
In South Africa, the support for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has seriously waned. This affected the party in the landmark election held in that country on May 29, 2024. It lost the parliamentary majority. If not for a dramatic late coalition deal between the ANC and the second biggest party in the country, the Democratic Alliance, and some smaller parties, ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa would have lost re-election for a second term as President last Friday. This is the beauty of democracy. Any person or party not measuring up to the expectation of the people risks being shown the way out of power.
However, in Nigeria’s brand of democracy, anything goes. Even freedom, which is one of the hallmarks of democracy, is compromised. But Tinubu wants the world to believe that Nigerians enjoy robust freedom under him. He said in the face of labour’s call for a national strike, his government didn’t seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. Instead, he added, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution. Good.
But it is still under his regime that a number of journalists have been abducted and detained for doing their duty. In a commando style, some combat-ready soldiers invaded the Lagos home of the ex-editor of FirstNews online newspaper, Segun Olatunji, and whisked him away to Abuja. He was in the custody of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for two weeks before he was released. He was said to have written a story against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila. Some other recently abducted journalists include the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Globalupfront newspapers, Mr. Madu Onuorah; and Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ). The most laughable one was the police harassment of a Premium Times newspaper reporter, Emmanuel Agbo, for a story that is yet to be published. The police insisted that Mr. Agbo must appear for interrogation in Abuja to answer queries on the source of the story he is investigating which has to do with a land issue.
The worst now is that many Nigerians have lost their economic freedom. Poverty, hunger and starvation have crippled many citizens. The President pledged to always listen to the people and never to turn his back on them as he continues his economic reforms. He claimed his government had negotiated in good faith and open arms with organized labour on a new national minimum wage and that he would soon “send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.” Labour leaders have since debunked this claim, saying they have not reached any agreement with the government. According to them, the least they have demanded is N250,000. Government has proposed N62,000.
Besides, in Tinubu’s broadcast, he promised to commit himself to the vital task ahead without fear or favour “until we have built a Nigeria where no man is oppressed.” Well, elder statesman and leader of the Ijaw nation, Chief Edwin Clark, gave him a fitting response. In a recent letter to the President, Clark recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari “did everything to subjugate the Igbo for reasons best known to him.” He said under Tinubu, the discrimination and injustice against the Igbo had not abated. According to Clark, Tinubu has appointed 10 Yoruba as ministers from the South-West, and only five ministers from the South-East. Is this not oppression?
Democracy, the President stressed, “aims to make leaders sufficiently humble that they conduct themselves as servants of the common good, not as viceroys of the narrow interests of the mighty.” Really! Does moving with convoy of scores of exotic cars as Tinubu usually does serve the interest of the people? Does building a N21 billion residence for Vice-President Kashim Shettima not serve the narrow interests of the mighty? Does wasting billions of naira on exotic vehicles for lawmakers make leaders sufficiently humble?
Nigerians know when a leader is interested in the welfare and common good of all. The current leadership in Nigeria has not shown that attribute. Let’s just stop deceiving ourselves.
•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, June 17, 2024
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