•Tinubu and House of Representatives
Hon. Dennis Adikwuru and Dr. Rexkennedy Saltlove, both political activists, have expressed dismay over the bungling of democracy in Nigeria.
They noted that the Executive arm of government has swallowed the legislative and judicial, reports Sunday Independent.
In separate interviews with our correspondent at the weekend, both personalities maintained that for Nigerians to agree or disagree with recent lamentations on the state of democracy in Nigeria by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, it was necessary to do a background analysis of the situation.
Hon. Dennis Adikwuru, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Imo State, stated that the assertion by former President Obasanjo and other prominent Nigerians that democracy had failed under the current administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is partly true but not completely the fact on the ground.
Adikwuru, a member of Imo State Presidential Campaign Council under Media and Publicity Sub-committee in the 2023 elections and erstwhile State Publicity Secretary, Imo State Professionals for Atiku, stressed that the failure of democracy started with President Obasanjo.
“And when we criticise the state of emergency declared by Tinubu in Rivers State, we easily forget that we have had states of emergency and coerced impeachments under former President Obasanjo.”
Adikwuru, also the State Coordinator, Imo PDP Grassroots Movement, continued: “We had the then President Obasanjo exploring his third term project, which gulped billions of dollars of Nigeria’s treasure, though it failed.
“We also had the famous legislative coup at the House of Representatives, which demeaned our democracy. And more. Do we talk about the Buhari era with military posture of near one-party state?
“But, the true position now is that Nigerian democracy has collapsed under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Democracy thrives under the active outplay of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. But, today, the three arms of government are subsumed by the Executive, which rubber stamps on the Legislature and Judiciary.
“There is a total aberration in our democracy, even talking about an individual who holds sway in the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary despite being an appointee of the federal government.
“I will sum it up by saying that all those crying out over the failure of our democracy, cannot be exonerated from this crash we are witnessing today.
“Are you talking about wasted trillions in the name of constituency projects, or budget padding by the National Assembly under Obasanjo, which spilled over to the present?”
Dr. Saltlove, a political activist and public affairs analyst, on his part, maintained that when people speak, Nigerians should look at the profile of such persons and use them as premise for weighing the merit, import and impact of their speeches.
Dr Saltlove, the President/Executive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative), explained: “Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was an Army General who enjoyed the benefits of the democracy we are in now.
“This implies that he is well positioned having won two caps, as a military Head of State and civilian president. So, he knows the weight of what he said.
“Obi, on the other hand, has been a civilian all his life, and politician. As a governor, he fought a good fight to become president in the 2023 elections, coming third, not distant third but won key strategic states like Lagos, Rivers and the FCT.
“These personalities are people whose words should not be trivalised. As a citizen of this country, I strongly believe they are not far from the truth.
“But, not far from the truth, I mean, we have not become like these West African countries like Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Mali and Niger, where democracies have failed completely and are now under military rule.
“But, the actions of our President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Rivers State, that gave premise to these submissions, are the vestige of military government.
“And other things happening in the country, both in the Legislative and Judicial arms of government, make the citizens wonder, if these are gains of ‘democracy’, in the ways the military governments are different.
Despite, our president being a founding member of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to oust military government by reason of June 12,1993 election annulment, I personally have been observing him losing traits of that democratic propensity by his utterances as quoted by the media.
“Political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. They do not serve it a la carte. At all costs, fight for it, grab it and run with it.” “Those utterances betrayed the spirit of a democrat, combined with the ‘Emi-lo-kan’, a Yoruba word, and (interpreted to mean, ‘It Is My Turn’).
“When you juxtapose both the ‘Emi-lo-kan’ and ‘political power’, it will not be served in a restaurant. ‘They don’t serve it a la carte. At all costs, fight for it, grab it and run with it’. You will see my reason for being skeptical of him, being a democrat in spirit.
“Now, the Rivers State matter became a political quagmire for the president and exposed his dictatorial cum military tendency, a rub of probably by what he suffered under military rule, by usurping of powers in Rivers State using his presidential powers.
“The president unilaterally declared a state of emergency under frivolous conditions, when worse things are happening in other states, suspend elected representatives and imposed a retired military person sworn into office by which constitution.
“He disobeyed the Supreme Court judgment on not releasing funds until clearly spelt out conditions are met.
“Our NASS members, who mostly are rubber stamp members with no liver to stand for democratic tenets, used questionable voice votes to endorse illegality but failed in their oversight function.”
