Last Friday June 12, Nigeria marked Democracy Day. That’s a really worthwhile celebration but I imagine that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t have allowed for much fanfare. Be that as it may, the benefits from democracy enjoyed by Nigerians should be our focus. We don’t need a big party to take stock after all. In any case, with the state of our economy, we shouldn’t be throwing any parties if we are serious with keeping all costs down.
So, how has Nigeria fared under democracy especially in the life of this administration-since 2015? Perhaps a better question is: How has democracy fared in Nigeria? How have Nigerians fared?-How does the government think Nigerians have fared? What do you think? In the absence of parties in the age of coronavirus, I turned to TV hoping to get some answers. Listening to some representatives from the government (on Channels TV’s Democracy Day programme hosted by Ladi Akeredolu-Ale, Ijeoma Onyeator and others), it was a rosy picture that was painted. Their verdict appeared to be that not only are things great but they have never been better. Transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi gave an update on the ongoing rail construction, the effects of COVID-19 and President Buhari’s directive that work must begin soon. The picture being painted was a president who was putting his men on their toes. There were also other discussants, quite a few of the usual suspects. Bismarck Rewane was on hand to talk about the economy although I wasn’t able to watch his segment.
Adams Oshiomhole, embattled chairman of the ruling party APC, also came on one of the segments. Listening to him speak, there was no doubt that he’s intelligent and a good speaker. Only if that could be used for the greater good. However, like many people with the gift of the gab, he tried to be clever by half. One of the discussants Prof. Akin Oyebode, while examining Nigeria’s political structure had given a very reasoned submission. It was straight to the point and easy to understand. In concluding, he said more needed to be done in terms of ameliorating the dysfunction of the current political system. This part of the discussion also touched on restructuring. When it was Oshiomhole, the former governor of Edo State’s turn, he danced and weaved his around. The way he reacted to the term, you’d be forgiven for thinking that restructuring was the equivalent of secession or worse. He said he didn’t like to use the word because many people use it for different reasons. So? He wanted specifics, he said.
By far the biggest issue was security. I wasn’t surprised that Femi Adesina (who was introduced as friend of the house) said that security is now much better than 2015 when according to him there were more “concerted’ security breaches. Meanwhile, a couple of days earlier, the technically defeated Boko haram had attacked Gubio in Borno State killing at least 70 people. This is not to be confused with last Saturday’s reported attacks in Monguno and Ngazai (Borno state) which left 20 soldiers and 40 civilians dead. In fact, possibly while that programme was running, there were attacks going on in Niger State. The news headlines all of last week were about protests by aggrieved Katsina State residents against insecurity. Not that long ago, there were reports of some Katsina residents going to sleep in the neighbouring Niger Republic at night to return by morning. If they’re now protesting, it would appear even that ‘solution’ is no longer effective. I could go on…
I have no quarrel with government representatives talking about their achievements. I may take offence when I feel my intelligence is being insulted but at the end of the day, they’re doing their jobs. This means that journalists must do a better job at asking questions. Ona Ekhomu, the security expert was asked what some of his clients were saying to him about feeling secure (or insecure) or words to that effect. He proceeded on a rigmarole that left me scratching my head. Perhaps, if he’d been asked something like: ‘According to XYZ Polls, X% of Nigerians say they’re more secure/insecure: What do you think?’ No one would accuse the journalist of editorialising. Although, I don’t understand how they can pretend like they live on Mars. Isn’t democracy supposed to give us freedom of speech which (according to reports) we now enjoy more than ever before?
From the very beginning, many lies have been told about June 12, from way back when some people swore they were ‘standing on June 12’ but bailed at the very first sign of trouble. Still, what has bothered me the most: Why hasn’t Chief MKO Abiola been declared winner of that widely acclaimed free and fair election? How can we celebrate Democracy Day when the winner of that election is not duly recognised? And while we are at it, we might as well adopt the Option A4 voting system.
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