The hypocrisy of today’s ‘democrats’
However, eleven years after Abacha’s death, is democracy better off in Nigeria? Does freedom of choice count in the so-called democratic process? Is the imposition of candidates by the so-called political mentors not the order of the day in the post-Abacha era? Wasn’t Abacha better than today’s pretenders that pass off as democrats? Former president […]
However, eleven years after Abacha’s death, is democracy better off in Nigeria? Does freedom of choice count in the so-called democratic process? Is the imposition of candidates by the so-called political mentors not the order of the day in the post-Abacha era? Wasn’t Abacha better than today’s pretenders that pass off as democrats?
Former president Obasanjo and his students of “garrison politics” are the worst enemies of the freedom of choice which democracy entails. The late Gen. Abacha didn’t make any pretence of being a democrat. Majority of those occupying political offices today were not legitimately elected; they subverted the will of the people to attain power. Internal democracy is no longer respected and credible candidates such as Gen. Buhari have been forced to embrace a bleak political future because voters have been denied the right to remove bad, incompetent and non-performing leaders.
Former President Obasanjo is an ardent enemy of Abacha even after the death of the former military ruler. Yet can he claim to be a better democrat than Abacha? Who introduced the do-or-die politics in Nigeria today? Are politicians not ready to kill in order to retrain their positions because of the obvious huge material profits they make from those offices?
The greatest assault ever made on the freedom of choice in our democracy was former President Obasanjo’s third term agenda, which inevitably collapsed under the crushing weight of popular hostility. He attempted a constitutional amendment, mainly intended to extend his term limit in office beyond eight years. Despite the ineptitude of his government, former President Obasanjo had the audacity to seek a continuation in office. Yet he took the platform of the social critics to attack Abacha’s self-succession agenda. With his antecedents as a director even out of uniform and his aborted ambition to continue in office by manipulating the constitution, former President Obasanjo lacks any moral justification to criticize Abacha’s bid for perpetual power. In fact, with the level of bastardization of Nigeria’s democracy, thanks to Obasanjo’s do-or-die politics, Abacha is a saint by comparison.
Wasn’t Abacha’s desire to continue in office better because at least the man was performing? He showed a determination and practical results in terms of changing the pathetic conditions of public infrastructure. All factors of backwardness, such as poor health standard, declining life expectancy, unemployment, pervasive, poverty, hunger and insecurity became worse under the pretentious former Obasanjo administration.
For example, former PDP national chairman, Col. Ahmadu Ali publicly threatened to punish any member of the National Assembly that refused to automatically support Obasanjo’s unpopular third term ambition. His threat came at a time Nigeria claimed to have rejoined the family of democratic nations of the world. The late Gen. Abacha didn’t pretend to be a democrat but he was better than those usurpers or students of Obasanjo’s garrison politics that have systematically destroyed the cornfield of democracy with the herbicide of imposition!
Gwarzo wrote in from Block 37, Katsina Road, Kaduna