The People’s Democratic Party elected political officers and the Labour Party elected political officers, including the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) elected political officers have become an international embarrassment. One can comfortably say that they are accomplices to the perfidy that has become the All Progressives Congress elected political officers. Democracy cannot fail because wherever people are allowed to rule, through free, fair, credible and verifiable elections, the leaders will rule in accordance with the welfare of the people and the government will succeed. What fails is democratisation, which is the process of achieving a democratic rule. In other words, if the process of electing the leaders in a democracy, which is free, fair, credible and verifiable elections is faulty, the resultant effect will be a nation of criminal leaders. If you compromised to get elected, you will compromise to stay in office. Do you know that no member of the opposition parties has called for a thorough investigation of what happened with the N400b granted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise free, fair, credible and verifiable elections in 2023 and why INEC went to court to say that the technological advancement which the law makers introduced to sanitise our elections which was the basis of their demanding N400b from the law makers was not mandatory on them leading to their sham off-cycle elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa?
The first pronouncement by the incumbent APC President on the 29th of May, 2023 was that fuel subsidy was gone in total negation of an existing law which compels the government to ensure that fuel subsidy remained until the last day of June. It is inconceivable that this President is seeking for a place in the Guinness Book of Records to be the first President who does not know how to respect the laws of his country which he took an oath to execute. This unlawful declaration turned the country upside down and dislocated Nigerians and the economy in a manner not yet seen before. Inflation is now at about 27%. Bread is now N1,500.00 per loaf. Naira is more than N1,000.00 per dollar. All our refined crude is still hundred percent imported six months after the commencement of this administration. This administration, despite removing subsidy from day one, has borrowed $800m, $1.5b, and another about $10b. The government presented a supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion naira and it was passed in minutes in both Houses without a wimper of opposition from the opposition law makers.
Since the borrowed money is not used to finance the fuel subsidy as all the money used to pay for the fuel is extorted from the people, one would have thought that the money borrowed will be used to improve domestic refining of oil so we can stop importing fuel. But rather the borrowed money is used to purchase N165m naira imported SUV’s for all elected officers in National Assembly of all the political parties without exception; billions of naira to buy food for the president differently from the unelected wife, whose food is bought by the people differently; billions of naira to buy yacht for the President and different SUV’s for the unelected wife. Nigeria is the only country that makes provisions in their budget for offices not recognised by law and there are no objections whatsoever from any member of the National Assembly, irrespective of political affliction.
The present President and his incompetent officers are even appearing more honest than the opposition elected political office holders. The APC leader who assumed office on May 29, 2023 described APC’s financial system as rotten, his National Security Adviser confessed that APC has bankrupted our economy, the Inspector-General of Police confessed that APC bequeathed a battered police force to him. Nigerian people are bruised, battered and bankrupted by this aimless political party, yet the opposition elected political office holders have not brought any serious issues on the floor of the house to tackle any of the issues.
The Central Bank Governor just released another unbelievable statement that only a man that doesn’t introspect in his speeches can make. He said that the two currencies presently in circulation will continue circulating like that indefinitely. Maybe he forgot that these are two different currencies and there’s no where in the world that one country can use two currencies indefinitely. Even the United Kingdom, has stated the date the old currency with the late Queen’s image will expire and they have commenced arrangements for its replacement. How can a tourist be educated that a country has two different currencies and two of them are authentic. Was the Central Bank Governor not aware that there’s already a judgement of the Supreme Court that December should be the last date for the usage of the two currencies? He overruled the decision of the Court even before making application to the court to vary its order. Does he want to follow the footsteps of his boss to nullify an existing law before the law is amended? Do you know that Nigeria spent billions, if not trillions of naira, under the vision less APC to print the new inferior currency without the physical currency to show for it, yet nobody among the voted‐in members of the opposition legislature has questioned the veracity of this wastful expenditure.
The presidential yacht which was rejected by the legislature in the budget was said to have been bought already and is already in Nigeria, yet no opposition leader has raised it as a point of discussion in their deliberations in the House. This is a clear manifestation that the executive is no longer recognising the legislature as another branch of government which was set up to provide checks and balance to it. They can appropriate money to themselves and start spending it without approval and can even go to the legislature any time after spending the money for approval, and not fear what the consequences may be. The last administration of APC went ahead to spend about N22 trillion unappropriated money on ways and means and went back to the National Assembly, under the leadership of Senator Lawan, to get a retrospective approval of the illegal squandering of our national wealth. Senator Lawan publicly acknowledged this illegality, yet urged the National Assembly to approve it. Central Bank Governor that embarked on such criminal misadventure is being hurled from one prison to the other, but not one of the elected political office holders that gave the orders to Emefiele is being harassed too and the opposition parties elected officers are not asking questions.
My disappointment grew tremendously when within six months, I have seen the opposition elected members from Labour Party in the Senate react furiously against the leadership of the Senate only once. The reason was because they were denied a leadership position in the Senate. The minority Chief Whip position, which was held originally by a Labour Party member was given to the PDP when the senatorial seat of the former minority leader was taken away from him by the electoral gangsters. Senator Nwoye rose up fiercely against the denial of the position to the Labour Party Senators. Nothing that concerned the welfare of the people. Something that bordered most on the welfare of the Labour Party Senators. Why are they fighting now? Where was their voice all these while that this government has been fleecing Nigerian people with nothing to give them in return?
The indiscipline displayed by these members of the National Assembly from Labour Party is very concerning. The Labour Party stated it clearly that they do not support the purchase of the exorbitant imported SUV’s for the elected members, yet none of the elected members rejected the Greek gift to them in solidarity with their own party, thereby creating the impression that they have become so used to the environment of corruption created by APC that they are part of the corruption not a solution to it. Majority of them chose to vote for the handpicked leadership of the National Assembly by the APC leader in Aso Rock. If Senator Lawan led 9th session of the Senate was a rubber stamp to the executive led by President Buhari, the Senator Akpabio led 10th session of the Senate is a photocopy of the executive arm of government led by President Tinubu. Supporting such a leadership even from inception is supporting APC and its profligate leadership, not supporting Nigerian people to build a new Nigeria.
If money is allocated to the first lady and the second lady, soon it will reach the third and fourth ladies and the National Assembly will sell out again if they will add all their wives in the scramble, as part of constituency project, to continue the stealing of our collective patrimony by a few corrupt ruling class.
The PDP is an apology right now. Dating back to 2015 when the party broke into pieces because of the indiscipline that pervaded their rank and file. Atiku led seven governors to walk out of the convention ground, where their incumbent President Jonathan was sitting down. They could have allowed the meeting to end and still did not support the bid of Jonathan to run for a second term rather than disgracing their party and their President in that manner. Their reason wasn’t that their President was corrupt or incompetent, but that it was the turn of the North to produce the President. Fair enough. They joined APC to defeat and disorganise their own party. One wonders why the same party allowed the same people that left it when the party needed them most in 2015 to come back again in 2019 to purchase the presidential ticket of their party in Portharcourt. PDP still allowed the same people who preached zoning in 2015 to preach unzoning in 2023 just because they had enough money to buy their way through. It was not strange to the character of PDP that five Governors walked out on Atiku and contributed to the awful performance of Atiku in the last election. Do you know that till today, the PDP never disciplined Atiku and the seven Governors for disgracing their party in 2015 just as they failed to discipline the 5 governors that worked against them in 2023. Do you then expect them to oppose APC’s corruption in the legislature, when APC simply upgraded the perfidy they learnt from the PDP to unacceptable level.
No doubt we need a disruptive change. Democratisation has already failed. The Nigerian people have lost faith in the democratisation process and in the leadership class. There’s a need, no doubt, of a coalition, which should be made up of citizens that have not soiled their hands one way or the other. That someone has not been convicted for a crime that borders on fraud or dishonesty should not be the only criterion to be qualified to assume office in the new coalition, you must not be perceived to be corrupt. Nigeria is the only country where experience in holding political office should work against the holder because the only experience most political office holders have in Nigeria is the experience of being corrupt irrespective of political party. We need a new revolutionary political party and a new political realignment that will begin the process of building a new Nigeria where the old wasted generation of crooks will not be allowed to hold any office.