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From Romanus Ugwu and Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Ahead of the forthcoming 2027 general election, elder statesman, Buba Galadima, has passed a damning verdict on the state of the nation, describing Nigeria as a country at a crossroads.
Speaking while receiving an editorial team from The Sun, Galadima warned of a grave danger ahead of the country with the renewed wave and resurgence of insecurity in every part of Nigeria.
He accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of an undemocratic agenda of a one-party state, while warning that such project would fail as Nigerians would speak loudly against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 presidential election.
Saying that the year 2027 will be a defining moment for the country, Galadima called on editors in the country to wake up and save the country.
He said: “They want to be declared winners unopposed. And I want to tell you it is not possible in Nigeria, and if they try to break the will of Nigerians, they will end up breaking themselves. You can see the disgrace going on today in the PDP. Why do they have to kill all the political parties? There is no need, no need.
“I want to assure you that if there is a free, fair, and transparent election, I want to be shown which of the governors can win their state. So, getting all the governors in one party does not mean that they can win. For me, it is only your hard work that can assist you to win.
“Nigeria cannot move forward unless we define our goal and plan to religiously reach that goal. That is the only way we can become a great country.”
“I want to tell you and your colleagues that Nigeria is at a crossroads. What people say is different from what they have here. That is our problem,” Galadima said, while referring to President Tinubu’s admonition to judges in Abuja on dispensation of Justice.
According to Galadima, he laughed over the President Tinubu’s admonition to judges, asking nobody in particular: “How can Tinubu admonish judges, saying that justice should not be for sale? Who are the buyers of justice?
“The Nigerian democracy has been polluted from 2003 to date, and I hold two people responsible, not Obasanjo, but Atiku (Abubakar) and Tinubu. They were the ones who polluted the Nigerian judiciary and politics with money. We should call a spade a spade.”
Galadima argued that going by the happenings in the country, the nation can never get to its desired destination.
Galadima said: “I want you to ask a question: why are we not developing? I think editors and journalists must be asking our rulers because we are not having leaders, but rather rulers, where the ordinary man has no input in governance. It is just an absolute dictatorship.
“Why are we still where we are? We are where we are because we have not defined the goal. We are just running in circles without any defined goal. Where do we want Nigeria to be? Where? Nobody, I assure you, nobody in this government can give you that answer, even the president.
“So, if you don’t know where you are going, it means you can vamoose into the wilderness because you don’t know where you are going. You need to define your goal and then plan how to achieve it. We are not getting there.”
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Galadima did not spare the legislative arm of government, lambasting lawmakers for lack of thoroughness, diligence, and input in the governance of the country.
He lamented that whatever the executive brings to the legislature, including borrowing, they usually pass without scrutiny, accusing lawmakers of even giving retrospective approval.
Galadima said that the liberation of the country lies in the hands of the media, which has the instrument to fight the malaise.
“Some of us cannot. Some of us cannot because we can shout, and they call us frustrated persons. That is our name. And everything is abandoned now. But the media has all it takes to fight and achieve result.
“There is danger ahead. Clearly, I can see it. We look up to the media to intercede because at the rate we are going towards a one-party system, we need help.”
The former Muhammadu Buhari’s ally argued that people had become selfish and no longer think of others except themselves.
Galadima also wondered why Tinubu, who was said to have won the 2023 presidential election and confirmed by the judiciary, is afraid to the point of ensuring that every governor must be part of the system and must be part of him and his party.
While expressing concerns that the recent developments indicate that the government does not want to conduct elections in 2027, he assured Nigerians that elections will be held.
He said: “Let me assure you that elections will be held. Whether all of us are APC, there will be Nigerians who will stick out their necks to challenge them, and if they continue with the kind of things they do, they will dig their own grave with their own hands and fall inside.”
“There is no democracy without an alternative view. Once there is no alternative view, it is dictatorship or monarchy or fascism – you can call it any name. Even those in the APC should pray and strengthen the opposition because once there is a strong opposition, that is where they can make their living, and they can be relevant.
“If there is no opposition, it means the government doesn’t need you. Just as it happened in Germany when Hitler started picking group by group and everybody said it is not my turn, till it engulfed.”
Galadima urged Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable, stating: “For now, there is no accountability. Governance is placed squarely on emotions and the wishes of the emperors in power. If what President Tinubu has done on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway were to be placed on debate, I am sure many Nigerians would have wished he did just some 5,000 kilometres of railway lines across Nigeria, touching all sides, and you don’t need to worry when you are going home.
“One, two hours, you are in Enugu; three hours, you are in Port Harcourt. It is better. How many lives will that road touch? But we can’t even speak through our representatives at the National Assembly. They are sold out. Nobody has the courage.
“I have not been speaking because I ask myself, what is it that I need to say that I have not said before? Anything that I have to say, I had said it before, but of what value? What did it change? But still, that innermost feeling in me tells me that if every day is for the thief, one day must be for the owner. I should keep on reminding people, even if they disregard it.”
Recounting his experiences in the past for fighting for a better society, he said: “I was tried for treason, before 12 army generals. They chained me. It took the effort of the EU, under the leadership of Germany, to get me released as a political prisoner. They could have just sentenced me.”
