Yesterday, I was in Bauchi to honour, for the fifth time, the invitation of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to its dialogue themed: “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy?”
I thank President Goodluck Jonathan for his selfless sacrifice and unwavering commitment to building a better Nigeria and a better Africa. I also commend the Chairman, President Olusegun Obasanjo, for his enduring contributions to peace, unity and justice across Africa. My appreciation also goes to the host, the Governor of Bauchi State, for his good work and for providing the platform for this important conversation.
My modest contribution at the event was to highlight my concern that African democracy, using Nigeria as a case study, has deteriorated to such an extent that we are approaching a point where we may no longer be able to meaningfully say that democracy exists.
I recalled how I approached the courts when I believed my mandate had been stolen in Anambra. At that time, the judiciary demonstrated the independence expected of an arm of government. It upheld the law and restored the will of the people, without any relationship whatsoever between me and the judges who handled the matter. That was democracy at work.
Today, however, those who break the law are often the first to tell you to “go to court.”
Our electoral management body, staffed by highly educated Nigerians, including many professors, is increasingly accused of enabling electoral malpractice and the emergence of people who are not qualified or do not possess the mandate of the people. Our lawmakers have removed forgery as an electoral offence, while some senior advocates appear to defend or normalise actions that should ordinarily attract condemnation. Our religious leaders sometimes pray for blessings upon political actors accused of misappropriating the commonwealth. And, most troubling of all, we now hear allegations of judges chanting, “On your mandate we shall stand.”
When the very institutions established to protect democracy begin to accommodate its destruction, we must stop pretending that everything is normal.
I earnestly call for sober reflection and honest thinking. Socrates said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” A nation, too, must examine itself if it intends to survive.
We must halt this drift towards institutional decay and redirect our attention towards building a country that we and the generations that come after us, can be proud of.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
Nothing about APC is real. Copy and paste comments by paid individuals who help them with digital campaigns. They use only Yoruba names so that innocent Yoruba people would think they are fighting for them.
@OneJoblessBoy No wonder Ojukwu easily led millions of Ibo to there unnecessary kpaing.
Kanu has done same, Simon Ekpa has done same.
That tribe is the dumbest ever.
Imagine what an Old moron that is supposed to be an elder is vomiting.
@OneJoblessBoy You people are shameless, what is happening in Nigeria, outside the economic transformation and the ongoing nationwide Infrastructural Development Projects.
@OneJoblessBoy No wonder Ojukwu easily led millions of Ibo to there unnecessary kpaing.
Kanu has done same, Simon Ekpa has done same.
You people are shameless, what is happening in Nigeria, outside the economic transformation and the ongoing nationwide Infrastructural Development Projects.
As we have Nigerian Pidgin English, we also have Engligbo. 😂
Here are some examples of Engligbo that almost every Igbo person uses.
Just legodi. 😂👇🏽
Egivekwana up
Takeie time gi
Sendiaram airtime
Helputum juo ya
Sitigodi down
Settluom biko
Startia the gen
A dị m broke
Standigodi up
Shiftuoro m
Eclosezula the shop
I na edisturb m biko / Edisturbzilam biko
Checkie m in five minutes
I reachie gi, agwam
Achorom I entergodi bike
Kedu ihe I na espeaki sef?
Akam na ethinki ya
A dị m BUSY kita, a gam acallugi back
After anyi ediscussuo ya
Chere kam parkia motor m
Achorom iga watchia match
Engligbo is slowly displacing the Igbo language.
Let me postugodi this one. After reading, commentia your own.
Addizia yours! 😂👇🏽
Obidients wondering why they attacked PA Adeboye right now 🤣🤣
This is RCCG praise team 🤭
Who's ready for 2027 election?
Make una help me show them that picture wey Harry do of Pa Adeboye 😂😀
2026 salary increased to 180k 1362/1$
2022 salary was 104k and naira was 430/1$
Don’t start smiling my dear officer. You deserve more than you’re experiencing and soon with your help we shall attain what we all deserve in Nigeria
As a Redeem member, it is your responsibility to vote for your candidate in the next election.
But Peter Obi should never be your choice. If his supporters are moving mad, we must deny him the vote.
We will send this to all our WhatsApp groups.
Let me see how Obi will be president of Nigeria in this life or the life to come.
“In 2027, let nobody make a mistake, if anybody is counting Rivers, go now and cancel it. The only person who counts Rivers is Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu”
~ FCT minister, Wike says
Wait, how is Obi chosen to spend all his birthdays at IDP Camps across the Country Wike’s headache?
Must every politician spend theirs drinking 24Yrs Wines & partying with girls in Maitama before he would be “Real”?
Omo! Evil is Really fighting Back!!
When John Cardinal Onaiyekan completed High School at Mount St. Michael's Secondary School in Aliade (now Benue State) in 1962, he graduated as the absolute best graduating student in all of the old Northern Region (19 States & the FCT).
Today, he is set upon by hirelings of a man who is more comfortable in the company of #FakeBishops than with the real ones & who cannot say what primary or secondary school he went to.
#HappySunday.
@pUgochukwu0202@Zamani_WLK You’re one of the valid human. Anyone who doesn’t think this way shouldn’t exist so earth can feel like the heaven we imagine