Facebook

Monday 20 August 2018

I alone will fix Nigeria. Are we ready to sing this new national song?

"..., democracy in a country this big with such a diverse population must recognise that this thing called democracy needs everyone and its something that all of us have the capacity to do. That's not the job of the president. That's not the job of a bunch of professional policy makers. It's the job of citizens"- Ex President Barrack Obama. Photo: Uche Okeke

Politics can be a good theatre. What history has shown again and again is that the story of authoritarianism has ever remained the same. President Muhammadu Buhari has just returned to Nigeria from a medical trip to the United Kingdom and threatens to jail perceieved political enemies  just six-months to the next election in 2019, so that only him will stand the next presidential election in 2019. Meanwhile he has failed to recognise that using the country's resources for personal gains, funding medical and education tourism is also corruption. Several eminent groups and the opposition PDP party have cautioned that the president ought to start the jailing of corrupt officials from his own government  ministers, party members and political associates.

The truth is the president has not bothered to consider the implications of this policy on local peace, international legitmacy and investments. This is laughable, barbaric and silly invitation to anarchy. How can the president fight corruption or fix the country without opposition? What message does it send when corrupt politicians defect to the ruling party to claim immunity?

 Find out more as we look at this policy- 'obbession with loyalty' and the crushing of political enemies who dare to challenge Oga at the top; full blown totalitarian barbarism  and the dangers it presents to Nigeria's democracy.

History also tells us that in a democracy the strongman looses as the people no longer want to live in fear. Autocracy is backward looking, intolerence, intimidation, bullying, etc. Is this the future we want in a 21st century? We must be very careful before it becomes too late for freedom. We have consistently argued that  the biggest corruption in Nigeria is the political structure that is overdue for restruction as it gives the hijackers the licence to do as it pleases them, 'expensive, wasteful, dictatorial' .

Meanwhile everyone is involved in the stealing of the little funds compared to the wastes of the political structure. This government has wasted a lot of funds in fruitless oil search, unaudited security votes, unauthorised ransome payments, funding of holidays, political bribery, to effect leadership change at the senate, unilateral decisions to build railway to Niger etc, yet its not considered corruption, so i wonder what is corruption. The president is also the petroleum minister because there is no trusted person in the country to hold that position. There are several reports of mass corruption in the oil sector, so who will investigate the presidency?

Restructuring the country is the only solution to minimise the risk of corruption not political jail of the opposition which has the potentials to escalate violence. If we want to solve corruption in Nigeria we must start from the scratch get to the root of the problem not the surface. The government is using propaganda to misinform and manipulate the population for political gains. This may result to crisis. Democracy does not exist where only one politcal party conducts election for itself while the opposition are in jail. Exclusion comes with a price, we can see it coming, the world is watching.

 Abuse of power to crush political opponents is no longer accepted in the 21st century. Yesterday's by-election in Rivers State clearly presents the picture of elections in 2019, this period the violence will occur simulataneously in all the states in Nigeria. The implications is obvious. The time has come to put to end to the idea of using federal powers to intimidate and purnish those seen as political enemies. This is the main reason why restructuring Nigeria is a development intervention whose time has come.
Click on this link to read our arguements about restructuring Nigeria:  http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/08/restructuring-nigeria-big-political.html

Everyone benefits if democracy succeeds. Everyone has a role to play in a democracy. That's the whole point. Sadly this government is strictly doing the opposite soon everyone looses, we can see it coming especially from the Northern Nigeria. Opposition is very important in a democracy. The time has come to put an end to junk politics by erratic grumpy politicians, no individual has a monopoly of wisdom to fix the society. Concerns about escalation of violence is becoming real on a daily basis.

Uche Okeke is a  Statistician, Social Entrepreneur, the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation. He's the Author of Nigeria's Democracy And Its Crisis Deliberate, Avoidable-'Bribe & Bullet'. What Can Be Done About It.

 Find out more as we continue to look at the policy of 'obession with loyalty' in Nigeria: We Must Stand Firm To Reclaim Democracy In Nigeria Before It Becomes Too Late: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/08/we-must-stand-firm-to-reclaim-democracy.html

No comments:

Post a Comment

The LEAD Project Foundation