Tinubu is transiting to dictatorship through democracy

When Nigeria commenced the present journey to civilian democracy in 1999, we never bargained that decades down the line the structures that under guard our democracy will be mangled out of shape as they are now.

We would never have imagined that National Assembly that hallowed institution of the people’s will which the constitution duly recognized as an independent arm of government will be so thoroughly subsumed by the executive arm of government to the extent that it would not be able to function in that role as it should.

We would never have envisaged that the Judiciary that once produced such eminent jurists of no mean repute like Justices Adetokunbo Ademola, Teslim Elias, Daddy Onyeama, Darnley Alexander, Udo Udoma, Muhammad Bello etc would now be reduced to an institution that renders judgements rather than justice on especially cases of political import which favours the executive branch of government. Take a sample of Nigerians and you are likely to find that the overwhelming view is that the Judiciary has abandoned its role as the third independent arm of government and now functions as judicial department of the executive.

Were these assaults on our democracy happening under a former military man now civilian president, we would somewhat be justified in saying it is a case of old habits die hard and that a Leopard cannot be expected to change its spots no matter the circumstances.

But ironically all these are happening under a man who is touted as an icon of the struggle that birthed the democracy we commenced in 1999. President Bola Ahmed who likes to regard himself as the nemesis of Nigeria’s military dictators like Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha is now the one acting to install himself as Nigeria’s absolute ruler. Whereas those ones can be excused (not justified) as people who shot themselves to power and not expected to respect the will of the people in the tradition of military dictators, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the other hand is surreptitiously using the auspices of the democracy we all fought valiantly for to destroy the same democracy in his bid to become a civilian dictator.

This is borne out by observable actions and conduct of President Tinubu.

First off minutes after taking oath of office, President Tinubu decided to force through economic policies that should have had the benefit of consultation with a wide spectrum of Nigerians. In a normal democracy such policies are usually debated from the cabinet through the National Assembly and the various sectors of national life.

President Tinubu however in keeping with his proclivity and sense of know-it-all decided to ambush Nigerians with those economic policies that have ended up impoverishing the very Nigerian voters who elected him to power. To discerning Nigerians who saw through President Tinubu’s explanations and the covetous, grabbing nature of the move, this was the clearest and alarming indication yet of a man who was determined to establish a personalized cult of administration.

In contrast no military dictator in the history of Nigeria even with instruments of coercion at their disposal had ever thought of implementing such policies in the manner that President Tinubu supposedly a democrat elected by the people had done.

President Tinubu took advantage and opportunity of the democratic space to implement these policies which had brought untold suffering to Nigerians. If a military dictator who is not beholden to the people and who is not bound by democratic protocols could think twice about implementing such anti-people policies what should we make of a civilian president elected by the people, turn round to subject them to such harsh policies without consultation as expected of him especially if such policies are being implemented without empathy?

Another clear and disturbing indication of President Tinubu’s bent towards establishing personalized rule can be seen in his barely covered intention to decimate the opposition parties. In a democracy as everyone knows and in accordance with the provisions of the constitution opposition parties are not just necessary, they are reflection of the principle of freedom of choice and association. President Tinubu however has set as a political priority the target of destroying the opposition political parties through sleight-of-hand actions. He has planted agents in all the opposition parties to snuff out any potential political figures that stand a chance of challenging him in future elections. But more alarming, the president’s agent-provocateurs in opposition parties have primed to even destroy the targeted parties if necessary so as not to constitute any challenge to his intention of totally capturing the Nigerian political space.

It must be stated without equivocation that there can be no democracy without opposition parties. That is why in authentic democratic climes, the existence of opposition parties is constitutionally recognized and legalized. In Britain the opposition parties are called ‘’His Majesty’s Opposition’’ and to further cement their place in the political system, they are allowed to form a shadow cabinet. In the United States of America, there was an attempt by the Republican administration of President Richard Nixon to muzzle the opposition Democratic party as President Tinubu is embarking on now in Nigeria, which was eventually exposed and which resulted in the resignation of President Nixon as he was on the verge of being impeached by the American Congress for this act of attempting to subvert the American political system.

Another clear attempt at subverting the democratic political order in Nigeria has to do with the unconstitutional declaration of the state of emergency in Rivers state by President Tinubu. By all legal and political parameters in the learned opinion of jurists and senior lawyers the declaration erred in procedure and implementation. In the first place the political crises was as a result of the misunderstanding between the substantive Governor Sim Fubara and his immediate predecessor Chief Ezenwo Wike. The latter wanted the governor to submit to his whims in the matter of administering state. In the Nigerian political system it has become a normal occurrence, but the point of convergence between the incumbent governor and his predecessor was that the latter who belongs to the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) is in cahoots with president Tinubu to use the state and its vast resources as a launch pad for future elections. And because Governor Fubara has balked at such plans, President Tinubu working with Wike conjured up the plan to declare a state of emergency in Rivers state. Against constitutional provisions and guidelines, the president made the declaration without seeking the approval of the National Assembly. He also in flagrant disregard with constitutional provision went ahead and suspended all the elected representatives of the state from the governor down to the state assembly. In one fell swoop President Tinubu unconstitutionally and in flagrant disregard of the law, suspended elected representatives of the people of Rivers state. Now a state in the country has had its democratic structures removed by fiat in pursuit of the personal political project of President Tinubu.

If Nigerians gave President Tinubu the benefit of the doubt in terms of his claims as an icon of democracy now we proof perfect that he does not measure up to that claim.

You cannot claim to be a democrat when you are intolerant of opposition parties and lawful dissent. It is not enough to say and attempt to justify that its legitimate and normal in politics. Removing the opposition from the political space in the manner that President Tinubu is doing can only mean that he is bent on destroying the democracy that provided him the platform to actualize his democratic ambitions.

The most alarming development however is President Tinubu’s clear trajectory of subsuming the independent branches of government whose mandate to provide the necessary checks and balances are recognized by the constitution. In doing so President Tinubu has reached beyond the bounds allowed him by the constitution which he swore to abide by.

Nigerians cannot afford to indulge President Tinubu anymore as he seems bent on bringing down the democratic edifice that has sustained the country for more that two decades now. The essence and benefits of our struggle for democracy was for us all and for generations to come. President Tinubu seems to have erroneously convinced himself that the democracy we all helped to install was meant for him alone and that we must allow him the latitude to define and construct it in his own image exclusively. He casts himself as both the god and brahmin of our democracy with exclusive built-in rights and privileges that accords him a blank cheque to rewrite the terms and modus of political engagements and structure in the polity.

President Tinubu need to know that he may have been one of the icons of the democratic struggle in Nigeria. But that does not give him the right to desecrate the constitutional and legal order of our democracy. This is unacceptable to Nigerians as he is using the very democratic system established by the collective struggle of the people of Nigeria to install a one-party dictatorship. Just as similar attempts failed in the past, this too will not fly.

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