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Nigeria's Democracy Nearing Extinction? by Hajiya Hafsat M. Zanna
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NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY NEARING EXTINCTION? Since Nigeria’s rebirth otherwise called independence on October 1, 1960
and the attempt of its leaders to democratize its governance during the
first, second and third republics, these attempts have never been at a
threat than it had manifested itself in the hands of its civilian
dictator and former President Obasanjo from the early years of the
fourth republic. This is particularly brought to focus during the
tyrannical and undemocratic preparations and conduct of the April 2007
general elections. It is therefore no longer news to Nigerians to hear
that Obasanjo has done another thing during the preparatory days of the
elections to subvert the onward march of our democratic process. Beginning from the manipulations of the mischievous clearance of Even the re-run elections ordered by the courts after nullifications of some results at all levels, particularly the governorship positions in Kogi and lately in Adamawa were nothing to right home about. They were worse than the April last year’s elections.
From the onset, no one expected the fight to be an easy one. The might, goodwill and doggedness of Atiku cannot just be washed away. The PDP too as the party in power in the state also stands at a good advantage at least even if it is in the control of large sums of money, ie the state treasury which they can use to their maximum advantage in buying their ways from voters, security agents and even importing terrors from the neighbouring Gombe, Taraba and Borno states to do their biddings. In actual fact, the PDP perfected its electoral fraud and even introduced a new dimension into it by paying its agents including security agents to snatch, confiscate and seize ballot boxes from dully authorised electoral workers after the casting of the votes and invalidated the votes of the opposition Action Congress, AC among other things. Even though PDP is in no doubt about the political strength of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the country and in his home state, Adamawa, they were reported to have mobilized all the PDP governors to donate funds to fight him to finish in order for him to loose his grip of the state. The general belief among an average Adamwa indigene and other Nigerians is that the victory of PDP’s Murtala Nyako at the April 26, 2008 re-run governorship elections is another fraud and electoral robbery against the good people of the state. If the results released by INEC are anything to go by, then one has no alternative but to believe that PDP has done what it knows best again. Murtala Nyako of the PDP polled 361, 729 votes to defeat his major opponent Ibrahim Bapetel of AC’ who polled 201,767 from the 21 local government areas of the state. The most surprising aspect of the result of the Adamawa election was that it was a total victory in all the council areas for PDP. Atiku and the AC candidate were defeated by PDP in their wards and local governments. Could this be believed by any sane person? It is very clear from the preparations that INEC headed by Maurice Iwu is a major culprit in the strangulation of the people’s right to vote in leaders of their choice. INEC as it is today has severally subverted the peoples wish by doing things that are largely considered as partial and complimentary in denying Nigerians leaders they voted for. Even the line up of the parties logo in the ballot papers in Adamawa state was done in such a way that AC was put in a serious disadvantaged position which resulted in it loosing its votes to AD and MRDD. INEC has deliberately done so to disenfranchise the AC supporters who are ordinarily more than those of PDP. And one can say that INEC has succeeded in doing so because more than one hundred thousands votes were invalidated against AC. Like the AC candidate, Bapatel said at a press conference shortly after the results were announced, ‘the results were not a true reflection of the votes of the people of the state. This is just a fairy tale’. Over the years, results of any elections so far in the state were never a landslide victory to one party because of the heterogeneous nature of the state. Therefore the INEC result is certainly alien to the peoples of the state. It is the climax of the auctioning of the rights of the people of Adamawa state. No more, no less. One has therefore no alternative but to believe the threat of the national Chairman off the PDP, Vincent Ogbualofor that his party will rule the country for the next 60 years. In other words the party was ready to turn the country into a one party state, thus practising monocracy and not democracy as the practice the world over. Well thank God for conscientitoius and selfless politicians and statesmen like Atiku, who had saved this country from Obasanjo’s third term agenda. I have no doubt in my mind that Atiku will use his party, AC and other platforms to fight for the sustenance of true democracy in the country and as a result save us from the tyrannical rule of the PDP. The struggle to free Nigerians from the hands of evil doers in the PDP is certainly not an easy one but we are confident that Atiku is equal to the task. May he not be discouraged by the illegal and do or die winner takes all style of the PDP. The end will certainly justify the means. Atiku should not relax the fight. He is the only hope of all well meaning Nigerians and true democrats. You must not allow our hard earned democracy to be thrown to the dogs. The efforts of the founding fathers of our independence and democracy from the colonialists must not be in vain. You must keep it alive and one day the fruits of their and your labour will surely come to the homes of all Nigerians.
I was surprised the other day when I read in one of the dailies that Senator Joseph Waku was referring to Atiku as ‘arrogant and one whose ego has has overridden his simple approaches to politics.’ It is my view and that of several Nigerians that Atiku is the second most level Northern politician ever coming closely after the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister. What Waku said about Atiku is nothing but the ‘pull him down syndrome’ approach in self centred Nigerians to our successful brothers and sisters. The so called defeat of AC and Atiku in the Adamawa re-run governorship
election was never a defeat to Atiku. Rather this will further confirm
to Nigerians the desperation of the PDP to continue cowing the
opposition and thus milking the country dry. I therefore disagree that
Atiku is finished politically because of the Adamawa rip-off. All
Nigerians know what is at stake. Atiku will remain a key factor in
Nigeria’s politics for a long time to come. He is one politician who has
remained tactful, calculating and transparent despite the smear and
several attempts to bury him by the leader of the do or die politics,
Obasanjo and his likes.
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