… Task Tinubu, political class on building pro-people legacies

… Renew call for restoration of democratic governance in Rivers

BY NGOZI ONYEAKUSI

 

Nigerians have continued to raise concerns over the shortcomings of democratic practice in Nigeria, citing persistent cases of lack of accountability by leaders, human rights abuses, repression, and the shutting down of dissenting voices.

The alarm was raised by participants during a radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Acting Director General of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, Amara Nwankpa, decried what he described as the “obvious decline of democracy in Nigeria over the years.” He added that the failure of leadership to provide the basic needs of the masses has widened the level of distrust and created a disconnect between politicians and citizens.

Nwankpa admonished the current crop of leaders to strive to make people-centred legacies, warning that they’ll be remembered by their works as power is transient.

He tasked the judiciary with living up to their constitutional responsibilities, urging the National Judicial Institute (NJI) to take a very close look at the judiciary for reforms that will increase public trust in the third tier of government.

“Afrobarometer has been measuring the satisfaction of democracy in Nigeria, and we have seen a decline in Nigeria from 86 percent in 2000, and now the latest survey shows that only 21 percent of Nigerians are satisfied with the performance of democracy in Nigeria.

“When citizens look at what affects them the most, for instance, we are currently dealing with the high cost of living, very serious economic conditions, rising poverty, economic hardship, and citizens will expect that politicians should prioritize the things that most affect them. These are the kinds of soft sentimental issues that affect the confidence that citizens have in the democratic process.

“Let me remind people in power that while they might be in charge of today, the citizens are in charge of the future. They should think about legacy. What they have is a legacy, and how Nigerians remember their time. So give us a good memory, give us something good to remember about you,” he asserted.

On his part, the Executive Director of Alliance for Inclusive Development, AidAfrica, James Ugochukwu, stressed that Nigeria’s democracy remains immature against the expectations upon transition to civil rule.

Ugochukwu faulted the manner in which democracy is practiced today, which he decried as flawed by electoral corruption involving vote trading, violence, rigging, and results manipulation. He lamented that in most cases, candidates emerge by undemocratic means other than following due process.

“I can’t say our democracy has matured the way it’s supposed to be, given the kind of hope we were given when transitioning to democracy in 1999.

“What we are having over time is ‘electocracy and selectocracy’ where the citizens are not made to recruit their leaders the way it’s meant to be.

“From the primaries, the political parties select who they like through a flawed process and they push them to the citizens to choose, so we can’t actually say this is true democracy because in the primaries we have cases of vote buying in dollars, and at the end of the day somebody is picked, and it always ends in litigation.”

Ugochukwu called on President Bola Tinubu to harken to the voices of Nigerians urging for the restoration of democratic governance in Rivers State, describing the declaration of a state of emergency in the oil-rich state in the first place as an aberration and a political decision rather than addressing the issues.

He urged citizens not to grow weary in speaking out and demanding accountability while tasking the government to do its best to ensure democracy is further entrenched in the country.

“To make democracy work it involves both the citizens and the government. The citizens should keep speaking up and holding the government accountable because if they don’t things will get worse than this,” Ugochukwu warned.

Programme Coordinator, Social Development Integrated Centre, Isaac Botti while describing the democratic practice as “far from satisfactory”, blamed past and present leaders for not upholding the rule of law, low accountability, and intolerance of public criticisms.

Botti maintained that citizens are facing hunger, poverty, human rights abuses, and repressions are creating grounds for disbelief in democracy.

He asked the government of the day to be fair and respect the will of the populace while joining calls for the reinstatement of the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and other elected officials immediately.

“The government should respect the people and take another look at the Rivers decision. They should lead by the same instrument that got them into power. They should recognize that they did not get there on their own accord even though we all know that sometimes things are manipulated but then people still play a significant role. People should be respected and their will should not be subverted.

“There are principles, and tenets that guide the practice of democracy in any clime and if you put some of these benchmark them against the reality of democracy in Nigeria, then it may justify the low rate of satisfaction we are having.

“Oxfam report shows that between 2023 and now we have fewer rich people and more poorer people. There are over 133 million Nigerians in multi-dimensional poverty at the moment and this goes to tell you that democracy is not benefitting the people,” Botti said.

Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program, PRIMORG, that draws the government’s and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

The program runs in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation.