2015: Democracy and respect for the rule of law

Democracy ensures peaceful
transfer of power because it
recognizes the people as the
ultimate repository of power.
And as such, power is
derived solely from the will
of the people. Democracy
does not guarantee the
election of good leaders.
However, it empowers the
people to peaceful remove
bad and/or discredited
leaders.
The election that brought
Goodluck Jonathan to power
was fair and free. Nigerians
overwhelmingly voted for
him. However, he has proven
to be the worst president
that this country has ever
had. Nigerians are
exasperated by his failure to
fulfill any of his campaign
promises. And they are
frustrated by his insensitive
and inhumane economic
policies. Therefore, it is most
likely that in 2015 they will
endeavor to remove him,
peacefully, through the ballot
box, from the presidency.
But what of if the
constitutional right of the
people to democratically
change an underperforming
president is subverted by
entrenched interests and
forces of greed and
insensitivity in 2015? It might
lead to violence in this our
volatile and already violence-
rife country. After all, “those
who make peaceful change
impossible make violent
change inevitable.”
The Goodluck Jonathan
administration exhibits
disquieting dictatorial
tendencies. It has virtually no
respect for the right of the
people to peaceful protest. In
its self-righteousness, it
feigns immaculate
blamelessness. Consequently,
it takes no responsibility for
its repeated political
blunders. Instead, it blames
everybody and everything for
its continued bungling of
national governance. It is
paranoid and defensive, thus,
it is rattled by every criticism.
It overreacts to every critical
comment, be it pedestrian or
lofty, pertinent or irrelevant,
wrong or right.
These dictatorial tendencies
and self-righteousness were
irrefutably evident in the
administration’s handling of
the Nigerians’ disapproval of
the removal of the fuel
subsidy. The Minister of
Labor, Emeka Wogu, refused
to understand that to
increase the price of petrol in
a swoop by more than 100%
was a tactless and heartless
move that was to deeply
infuriate the Nigerians
masses. He chose not to
realize that with such
unspeakable provocation, no
matter how passive and
docile Nigerians are, they
must raise a voice in protest.
With his half closed eyes and
his look of a street brawler or
a night club bouncer, he had
the temerity to blame the
protest on some opposition
figures that were inciting the
people against the
government.
The presidential spokesman,
Ruben Abati, speaking for a
petulant and arrogant
presidency, and of course,
with a streak of his own false
feeling of importance,
dismissed a resolution of the
House of Representatives as
just an opinion. Does not the
resolution of the House have
constitutional and legal
validity? Was it not
supercilious and overbearing
to dismiss the resolution of
the legislature as just their
“opinion”? Finally, in a move
that repudiated every tenet
of democracy and was
disconcertingly reminiscent of
military highhandedness, the
president rolled out tanks
and deployed soldiers in the
streets of Nigerian cities to
intimidate Nigerians into not
expressing their democratic
right to peaceful
demonstration against
detestable government
policies.
In his campaign, Goodluck
Jonathan promised to curb
corruption, improve health
care delivery, boost electricity
supply, etc. Thus far, he has
not made good on any of
these promises. His
purported war on corruption
is a charade; and Nigeria
remains one of the most
corrupt countries in the
world. His government’s
recent refused to prosecute
an egregious case of
corruption – the 1.7 trillion
naira oil subsidy scam –
further reinforced an
unvarnished fact: his
administration lacks both the
moral authority and political
will to rein-in corruption in
Nigeria. The health care
delivery system remains in a
disgraceful state. It must be
the worst in the world
because it accounts for the
highest rate of maternal and
infant mortality in the world.
The supply of electricity is
now worse than it has been
in a very long time. The
economic consequences of
inadequate provision of
electricity are staggering. It is
forcing many industries to
fold up and tens of
thousands to loose their jobs
because privately generated
power is very expensive and
renders many business
ventures unprofitable. It
increases the cost of
production across the board
by 30 to 40 percent, and
these increased costs are
invariably passed on to the
consumer. His anti-people
economic policies foster
deepening poverty and
economic misery amongst the
generality of Nigerians. In
addition, his government has
demonstrated increasing
inability to protect Nigerians
from criminal predators and
terrorists. Many Nigerians
believe that the country is
dangerously hurtling towards
a precipice.
If Nigerians are to grade his
presidency, it will score
something scraping to a zero.
Therefore, it is almost certain
that Nigerians will elect a
new president in 2015. With
their votes, they will protest
against Goodluck Jonathan’s
continued stay as the
president. In such a case,
decorum dictates that the
president drinks of the
politician’s hemlock –
rejection by the electorate –
and calmly, accepts the
people’s electoral verdict.
But if his government’s
responses to an earlier
protest are indicative of its
attitude towards protests in
general, then, Nigerians have
reasons to be apprehensive
of the presidential election of
2015 when it is obvious that
the people will again protest
against his government (this
time with their votes). Will his
political party, People
Democratic Party (PDP), in
desperation to remain in
power in defiance of the will
of the people, rig the
election?
What of if his administration,
as in the past, jettisons every
precept of democracy and
resort to extra-constitutional
methods? Extra-constitutional
methods like: dismissing the
electoral verdict of the
people as the shenanigan of
an excitable rabble incited by
seditious rabble-rousers;
disregarding the
constitutional validity of an
election result because it
considers it merely an
opinion that can be ignored
or over ruled by the elite few
with an exclusive claim to
wisdom, knowledge and
legitimacy; and rolling out
tanks and deploying soldiers
around the country either to
intimidate the people from
voting their conscience or to
impose its will on them?
It is reasonable to expect that
if these happen, there will be
trouble – violence –
inescapably attended by
bloodshed. Was that not all
Mohammadu Buharia said in
his own words? And what is
wrong with such a direct,
unequivocal and honest
statement? Absolutely,
nothing!
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes
from Lagos, Nigeria.
maciln18@yahoo.com
0803 529 2908

#CONSENSUS 2015