•Olisa Agbakoba, SAN
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, says Nigeria’s 26 years of uninterrupted civilian rule is commendable but lamented that the country still has a long way to go to achieve a multi-party democracy.
According to the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, the current practice where almost everyone wants to belong to the party in power needs to give way for a multi-party democracy where the opposition’s role is well defined.
“The fact that we have done 26 years uninterrupted, I would like to look at it as half-full glass. I like to be optimistic and say that it is a long journey and that we have come a long way from the days of the military,” Agbakoba said on Channels Television last night.
“It is not perfect. There is a lot that still needs to be done. Democracy still needs to be consolidated. Even in the president’s broadcast at the joint session at the National Assembly, he alluded to the fact that we have a long way to go; we don’t have a strong multi-party system of democracy.
“We still have a situation of just one party where everyone wants to join the national elite party. Whether it’s the PDP, APGA or APC, the manifestoes are not different. So, we still got a long way to go to achieve multi-party democracy where you have a clearly defined opposition and a clearly defined ruling party.”
‘Democracy Heroes’ List Incomplete’
During his Democracy Day speech at the joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday, President Bola Tinubu honoured some heroes of the June 12 democracy struggle with national awards.
The awardees were activists, journalists, scholars who spoke vociferously against the military government at the time.
Agbakoba, who was one of the activists that led the struggle, commended the president for the gesture but said that the list of those to be honoured is not yet complete.
“I will start by applauding the president for what he did, but I would also use this opportunity to say that the list wasn’t complete. Baba Omojola was my prison mate. Femi Ojodu was my prison mate. They ought to be there.
“Clement Nwankwo was the co-founder of the CLO (Civil Liberties Organisation) with me. He ought to be there. I think what can happen is that when the federal government realises that what they did was good, they can fill it up, it’s not a problem,” he said.
Agbakoba also urged Tinubu to grant local government councils the political autonomy to govern their areas, saying that he has only gone the half way in granting them financial autonomy with the Supreme Court judgment of July 2024.
