Opinion: 13 years of democracy

Posted by admin Headlines Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

By Moses Sunday Ajehson.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

“We have to work hard in order to realize the potential greatness of the country. To realize the potential greatness, we have to have leaders. Leaders, not rulers. Leaders, not looters: we have to have leaders with the fear of God. Leaders who could not lie”

-Maitama Sule.
The above statements are the words that came from the abundant of the heart of one of Nigerian most respected elder state men.
Sometime I feel melancholic and think Devil must be a Nigerian to produce a nation with natural and human resources and yet make it so full of paradoxes, inconsistencies, contradictions, Ironies and to cap it all with demented leadership.
Perhaps, none of these, the Halliburlon’s $180million scandal, the AP (plc) share price manipulation scam worth N240 billion, the universal basic education commission (UBEC) 1.7 billion contract scam, the Ugbane, Elumelu 5.4 billion rural electrification scandal, the squashing of Elamelu recommendation on the 16 billion power probe, the plead bargain melo-drama of Chief Lucky Igbinedion, the disappearance of the returned loots of Gen. Abacha and Tafa Balogun, the miscarriage of justice all the country, the stealing of about N300million fron Nigeria football Federation (NFF) office, the re-branding Nigeria Project Jamboree and the Governors Forum Harvard University, capacity building scandal. The recycling of the ministers, the circus called electoral reforms in the National Assembly, The award of contract of the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport for N65billion to Julius Berger Plc company while P.W quoted 30billion for it, and the siemen bribery scandal.

For me, these speak volume of the ugly ilk we call leaders. Unfortunately, such political gladiators have the blessings of some of our so called “elder statesmen”, “religious” and “traditional” leaders who have graduated to become capitalistic and hegemonic in nature, and gradually they have disguised as saints and fathers so that they creep into the system without us suspecting their true nature.

In a sense, with the unholy alliance existing between these cabals and the political elites these past years Nigerian and Nigeria have moved through democracy in a kind of super-hypnotic state. These Master hypnotists our (rulers and the cabals) have placed us in a democratic spell. This group of people suggest the limitations under which our democracy operate, the tell Nigerian what they will see when they look, what Nigerians can and cannot do for this past 13years they change our limitations and we find them with political and dictatorial powers we did not know they have, and with corruptive vision almost beyond our comprehension.

My sympathies, for these years are always with wretched masses of this country, for how long can this looters of our Nation’s destiny entreat us with a promise of “a better tomorrow” It is disheartened, to look back at this promise. Fifty something years after the union Jack was lowered-all we get is a continuing hardship , lack of good roads, lack of electricity, lack of good health facilities, and political turmoil constantly fueled by mis-governance and misspent tenure, but what tinkers the fancy of our so called political “messiah” is how to steal from our common wealth.

Even, if this hypnotist have low opinion of the about 150 million Nigerians, it is hard to believe that a nation which produced the likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Mallam Tafa Balewa, Chief O bafemi Awolowo Sir Ahmodu Bello, Mallam Aminu Kano, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, Mallam Balarebe Musa, , Gen. Odimegwu Ojukwu, Pro. Chinua Achebe, Claude Ake, Gen.Tunde Idiagbon, Nuhu Ribadu, Gani Fawehimi (SAN), Alh.

Moshood Abiola, Isaac Adaka Boro, Saro Wiwa, Amb. Yahaya Kwande, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Rev. Chris Okotie, Orji Ozor Kalu, Pro. Pat Utomi, Abubarkar Rimi, Pator Enoch Adeboye, Otunba Mike Adunuga and Ben Emegwali and what have you.were stupid enough to be universally fooled by a jubilation of falsehood called democracy for these years. Whatever else we Nigerians are, we are intelligent, hard working, resilient and enterprising group of people, not zombies. With due apology to Fela Anikulapo Kuti (that late Afro-beat exponent and true son of Nigeria). We have had to find ways of meeting a hard, Wicked and very bad system that kept us in perpetual bondage and makes continual harsh demand on our democratic value.

How strange, that a nation which was supposed to be a beacon of hope for Africa cannot keep itself off the temptation of being the most corrupt nation in the world, cannot conduct a free and fair election and its leadership is constantly attempting to tamper with the conscience, mandate and commonwealth of its citizenry. It is impossible for me to believe that they-our “captors” continued to do over and over again for years something that never worked.

I do not believe democracy for this year’s ever worked, what worked enough for this crops of criminals and elites to be in business for these year and for a lot of them to be doing it still is corruption. And I am sure if we don’t stop this, now that Nigeria is past 50 years, this band of criminals (politicians) and their cohorts will think very highly of this celebration of corruption and national bazaar of our wealth that now passes for democracy as their traditional birth right.

A very strong doubt had arisen in the mind of many Nigerians and events have borne out the accuracy of their judgment and proved them wrong on the hope they reposed on the political leaders and their elitist tendencies. Nigeria is worst for the democracy she had in the last 13 years,
Whatever our political leaders and their bootleggers may believe, this country may go into perditions for the democracy she will have for the next few years.

Our democracy is getting raped everyday by corruption and our leaders are coming into larger and grander concepts of corruption, not as they preach, democracy is raped. Because those against the project called Nigeria are desperate for its soul. Years after independence, we are still not yet there. Perhaps, our political leaders will be wiser than the leaders in the country like Botswana & Ghana not to systematized election so rigidly, though Nigerian politicians seems to be by their nature and native element systematizer.

For the past 13years this “Lords and Principalities” had hold of powers, and they did amazing havoc with the power they had. If not how best can we describe the 4745 days that have spanned around with corruption, embezzlement and bad governance punctuating every political and economic activities. And fall of Hon. Salisu Buhari on the ground of certificate forgery and the soft landing arranged for him, the late Evan Enwerem’s impeachment, the July, 2000 impeachment of Chief Chuba Okadigbo for corruption and misappropriate of funds and the 2000 unloading of money that was given to 8 members of house of representative as inducement by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to remove the then speaker of the house Rt. Hon. Umar Ghali Naaba.

This last 13 years have spelt out what politicians are, and more dangerously, these political leaders spelt out what democracy is not. They only insist on acting as if there is democracy instead of civil rule.
Truth is very hard to mummify. It has a way of rising even out of tombs and museums, there will always be Prof. Fabian Osuji and Senator Adulphus Wabara’s 51 million bribery scandal, the free MTN air-time that our distinguished Senators and our honourables enjoy to the detriment of the masses and how our visage was visited with the comedy that sent our first female speaker Mrs. Patricia Etteh to an early exit, she was caught in a corruption mesh of N 628 million contract scandal and we saw how it all played out.

Nigeria and Nigerians is about out of wealth as we have been some forty years ago. This last 13 years Nigerians watched their national properties sold by their leaders to themselves, families, cronies and party faithful in a panic rush. We saw how Senator Mantu and Chief Obasanjo’s foot soldiers try to tinker with the constitution to foist an unpopular leadership on us.

We watched in Awe, as time prove our so called statesmen, Senators, Honorables, Ministers and saints wrong and corruption shook the foundation of our nationhood. As embezzlement, self aggrandizement, political jamboree and Bazaar replaced service to the people. We lost 300billion to roads that was never built, 16billion to power project that never took off, we lost millions of Naira to purchase of vehicle scan in the national assemble, there was another corruption contradiction that a minister of health Prof. Olanike Grange, a minister for state for health Dr. Gabriel and a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria Senator Iyabo Obasanjo for 300million un-refounded fund.ibori get jail term for crime committed against Nigerian in foreign land and we see the fraud call fuel subsidy removal.

It is a sad thing to see these tell-tale of corruption in the chess board of democracy for these years, and having our psychology tortured with these numerous exhibition of corruption by this spin doctors and political party arrowheads. This is a good time to ask this legion of looters this question; Does Democracy matter without its dividends and benefits and if so why? As I vaguely understand democracy both as a political science student and my study of it, it is to bring about an all inclusive and anti-corruptive drives that draw deep on the depths of governance for the betterment of the society.

Ajehson writes from Abuja.

-Sunwp_posts

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Posted by admin on May 16 2012. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry