Follow Us on Google
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The umbrella body of the Ijaw Youths, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has cautioned the administration of President Bola Tinubu against the incessant militarisation of the present democracy.
According to the IYC, despite the acceptable fact that June 12, 1993, has gone down in history as a day when Nigerians experienced the freest and fairest elections, the over-militarization of the nation’s democracy is worrisome.
The IYC, through its national spokesman, Mr Bedford Berefa, stated that after several years of democratic rule in the county, there are still traces of military rule in governance.
He insisted that there is evidence and repeated use of absolute power by the executive arm of government to intimidate the rising dissenting voices of the people.
“Our democracy has been militarized with no consideration for the people, the power of the people has been undermined, and the people are no longer the center of government. Manipulations and intimidation of the people have become the order of the day.
“There have been constant human rights violations, particularly in the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta region. At the slightest provocation, communities and people are being brutalized. The recent military operations at the Igbomotoru community in Bayelsa state tell it all. Communities are constantly ransacked by the military, and harmless people are being killed without justice in an acclaimed practising democracy with no form of investigation done to protect the rights of the people. This is a deliberate practice to constantly enslave our people and it can be likened to colonial democracy using poverty like an atomic weapon”.
Berefa decried a situation where the military is constantly deployed in a democratic election as if the nation is at war.
He added that the military is allegedly being used as rigging elements to secure fraudulent wins for the highest bidder.
The IYC, therefore, called on the Federal Government and the political class to adopt a strategic policy framework to address the militarization of Nigeria’s democracy,
“There is a need to urgently tackle the issues of injustice meted on the people, particularly in the Ijaw nation and the entire Niger Delta, we can no longer continue to play the second fiddle while we are naturally endowed with resources that largely contributes to the growth and continuous development of the country”.
“We can no longer allow our fate to be decided by the political bigwigs without due consultation and involvement of the people. While we appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led federal government for trusting young people with ministerial portfolios and other strategic offices, we demand that democratic patriotism must start from political office holders, it has to be a top-to-bottom approach”.
