Celebrating ten years of civilian administration

Celebrating ten years of civilian administration
One of the main thrust of our democratic experience is living with the fact that we have never experience what is called good governance. In the period 1985-1999 which the military ruled, Nigeria lived under intense pressure from the international community to return to civilian rule. General Ibrahim Babangida as a military Head of state supervised a never ending transition programme from military to civilian rule until the events of June 12. The pressure mounted on him by Civil Society Groups and democrats on the way he handled the June 12 elections made him to resign unwillingly on August 26, 1993 handing over the affairs of government to an Interim National Government. The Transition Government under Chief Earnest Shonekan lasted for only three months, when in November 1993, he was forced out of office by the then Minister of Defence, General Sani Abacha, who according to analysts was left purposely by Babangida to take over.
General Abacha ruled for five years and tried to succeed himself in what is popularly known as ‘Tazarce’ after he was endorsed by all the five existing parties then, as their Presidential candidate. However, on June 8, 1998, General Abacha died from what doctors described as heart attack. That plunged the country into yet another political turmoil. General Abdussalam Alhaji Abubakar who came after him hurriedly started a transition to civilian rule, promising to handover power to a democratically elected government on October 1, 1998 as promised by his predecessor. However, that was to happen in May, 1999.
The transition to civilian rule saw the emergence of nine political parties, prominent among them were the People’s Democratic Party, which is the largest party, the All People’s Party, and the Alliance for Democracy. The parties came with no clear manifestos or ideological position, their only promise was to make life easy for Nigerians. In fact, none of the parties up to this day can be said to have a published manifesto, or showed any strong ideological position, except what majority of them have pledged - in mostly vague terms - to improve Nigerian living standards. Ten years after, it is very difficult to say whether our transition to democracy made any impact on our general well-being as citizens. It is very easy for us to throw an accusing finger at the PDP being the ruling party in the centre, but the fact remains that the political class that were entrusted with leadership at levels of governments from 1999-2009 whether in the PDP or the opposition have failed Nigerians.
What characterised our democratic governance for the last ten years was a total collapse of physical infrastructure, corruption in high places, bastardisation of the electoral process - Ekiti state as a case study, outright stealing of public funds, and violation of rule of law. Rule of law which is the foundation upon which democracy is laid has been seriously violated and the country now is witnessing a near collapse of the economy or what Professor Kwanashi described as ‘massive structural disarticulation of the economy.’
The way I see things, we are still nowhere near addressing the numerous problems listed above due to lack of political will and the attitude of our political class. They are consumed in self-deception, lies and highest sense of irresponsibility and are not ready to listen to any criticisms. The ruling party which is the major culprit here became what Reuben Abati described in his popular column as a party characterised by insincerity, inequities and injustice, a party remembered best for the injuries it inflicted on virtually all sectors of our lives. However, it is celebration time and they have to cook up a list of achievements recorded in the last ten years and deliver them as Democracy Day Speech on May 29, not minding how many people will believe them or believe what they are saying. To them democracy is rigging election after every four years to ensure that they perpetually remain in power for the next sixty years. That is why they were very proud telling Nigerians during the ten-year celebration of the PDP last year in Akwa Ibom that they ‘won’ the elections in 1999, 2003 and 2007, which was itself, according to them, an achievement.
It is very hard for anyone to understand the kind of system we are running in this country, as we are left with no alternative, coming out from a long military rule that did practically nothing to change our lives and entering a system which is supposedly considered an answer to bad governance, corruption, nepotism and injustices of the military era. But as soon as the politicians got into power, they continued from where the military stopped or even worst. The politicians that came have little or no concern for common good, they are not development oriented and are people characterised by excessive personal greed. They showed high level of irresponsibility, they lack commitment transparency and accountability, they engage in corruption and serious abuse of office.
The PDP, especially, and its new leaders gave democracy a different meaning altogether. It became a system where party internal democracy is not allowed, rigging and voter intimidation become a norm, elections a do-or-die affair, blackmail and assassinations become an order of the day, poverty, unemployment and general insecurity increased in the country. No doubt we have a reason to celebrate democracy at ten, since for the first time in the nation’s history we are able to break the jinx of having a peaceful transition from one civilian administration to another, but what we should bear in mind is that the government came through a fraudulent election universally discredited, so it is not a true reflection of people’s will.
Therefore, for all intent and purpose, unless if we are to use the practical definition of democracy given to us by PDP in the last ten years, what we are celebrating on May 29 is anything but democracy. As Rev. Father Matthew Kukah noted in a lecture he delivered at the 1st Abraham Adesanya Memorial Lecture, at the National Institute for International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos, that democracy should incorporate ‘adequate provision of social services, adequate access to health, education, some measure of social welfare and security, guarantee rights to private property etc.’ to the citizenry. Which of these benefits are we benefitting from as Nigerians?
I keep on saying and I think I spoke to so many people on that, the future of our country and the future of generation yet to come depends on the decision we take now, either as individuals or collectively to say enough of this madness. We have to ensure, as Nigerians, that the true voice of people determines leadership at all levels of governance. Nigerians need to take a decision that they will make the PDP and the political elites to behave responsibly. We are the ones to change our country not an angel or angels coming down from heaven.
Anyway congratulations Nigeria for witnessing, for the first time, ten years of civilian rule but not democracy.