THE ARITHMETIC OF DEMOCRACY NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE It is no longer in doubt that our collective integrity have been insulted by those charged with the responsibility of promoting and protecting them. I have been an ardent follower of political events as it unfolds in our polity and have been constrained to air my views unaware of what may become the very moment I drop my pen as the crisis has remain unabated. Nigerian politics and democracy have been a washed internationally following the way and manner in which politics and democracy is been practiced in recent times. We have developed a democracy only known to us and not what is obtainable anywhere else. ‘Democracy of Impunity’ ‘My Oga at the Top Syndrome’. This development calls for reflection for any democratically minded Nigerian to avert the looming danger. Our democracy is resting on a keg of Gun powder. This can be evinced from the recent American president’s visit to Africa when he avoided Nigeria like a plague. I was pessimistic about president Obama visiting Nigeria and my pessimism was never put in doubt when President Obama opined that Nigeria is not a core democratic state. As a lawyer, anyone can assume that I am bereft of any knowledge in arithmetic, such assumptions is not only rash, false, untenable but also a misconception in the faces of the recent political calculations and miscalculations following the outcome of the Nigerian Governors Forum election. One does not need a BS.C in mathematics to know that 16 is less than 19 and 27 is greater than 5. Democracy of impunity was at its peak when some governors told us that 16 are greater than 19. That was the day the basic principle in Mathematics was murdered and our teachers and professors in that field were assaulted for feeding us with academic poison. It is an age long knowledge that democracy means ‘peoples government’, a government of the people by the people and for the people otherwise known as majority government where the minority will have their say and the majority will have their way. Why then is our government deceiving us? Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s ordeal started the day he defiled the sacred order of impunity in PDP by not adhering to the dictates of the commander in chief. The basic essence of election is for representations were the winner must have a simple majority. It is a shame that after the NGF election, some governors shamelessly rejected the result not on the basics of any rigging, impropriety or election malpractices but for parochial inclinations. Where are we heading to in this country? Perhaps, the attention on war of attrition and impunity have shifted from NGF to Rivers state legislative assembly which I will refer to as ‘’Legislative Rascality’’. It is always fun watching our law makers fight. They roll up their trousers; pull off their shirts to exchange blows. At times they use the Mace as weapon of war as was played out on the 9th of this month. 5 of the 32 member assembly are for Wike who were said to be Anti Amaechi. It was this minority that attempted to impeach the speaker Otelemara Amachree and impose Evans Bipi as the new speaker. It failed in its mission because 27 other members who are in the majority, resisted the move with all their might. The rest they say is history. Do we need a soothsayer to inform us that the president and his cohort cannot deny complicity in this imbroglio? Some fingers are pointing towards our first Lady as been the sergeant Rogers in this crisis is. Even the police commissioner ought to have been summarily tried and dismissed from the force for his unprofessional and unpatriotic role in this saga. May I refer him to section 10(2) of the Police Act in other to be properly guided on whose instruction he must act on. He who comes to equity, must come with a clean hands. Neither the president and his cohorts nor Chibuike Amaechi can lay claim to the cleanliness of their hands as both hands have been soiled with impunity and self help . They should not forget that the net effect of the crises rests on the masses and our democracy. The politics of 2015 cannot be removed from what is happening in River State and NGF by extension. Let all lovers of democracy be vigilant against those who will foment trouble where there is none, just to put in abeyance 2015 election. ‘Eternal Vigilance is the price of Liberty’. Gov. Amaechi should realize that it is only a fool that wines and dines in an area where even the angels fear to trade. The president has overwhelming powers to silence you perpetually. Ask Orji Uzo Kalu and DSP Alamieyesyegha of their bitter experiences. President Jonathan should equally bear in mind that if this crises is not nipped in the bud, his perceived 2015 ambition must dash. He should as a matter of urgency call for peace and stop playing a politics of hide and seek. Chime Kingsley Provost instructor Nigerian Navy, Makurdi 08063398171
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 14:26:55 +0000
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