By Emeka Alex Duru
The title of this piece is partly adapted from the headline of an open letter by former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George to President Bola Tinubu, which he captioned; “From Osun to Lagos and Rivers: Darkness Looms”. In the letter, George, an erstwhile military administrator and retired Navy Commodore, drew the attention of the president to worrisome developments in some states that portend danger for the country. We shall return to the matter, shortly.
Greater part of last week, I was in my home town, Orlu, for the burial of one of the “Mothers” we had while growing up, Mrs. Philomena Duruokpo, who we generally referred to as Daa Philo. She was married to my uncle, Anaezi, who died precisely two years ago. Daa Philo happened to be among the four mothers I met at my formative years. The first two were my paternal grand mom, Alubele and her co-wife, Obidie. Then, was my biological mom, (Vicky Nne m, as I fondly called). Next was Daa Philo. I did not know much of Nne Alubele as she died when I was very young but I knew Nne Obidie. My mother, who passed on four years ago, was a tigress in human form, a premium-grade disciplinarian but quite a pleasant personality, if you were on a right course. Daa Philo was the youngest and most accessible. With her at home, you lacked nothing. Her death was a deep cut on all of us in the family and beyond. It was for me, a personal loss and therefore, a duty to pay her my last respect as she was lowered to mother earth on Friday, February 28.
We were at the funeral ceremonies when occasionally, I peeped into my phone to keep abreast of the uncertain developments in Osun, Lagos and Rivers. In Osun, crisis over elections in councils which led to killings and destruction of properties, has not abetted. Presently, there are two sets of council chairmen and councillors in the state. The first set, comprising All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains are still holding on to their seats, while the second group, consisting of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, are insisting that they are the legitimate representatives of the people, following a recent council poll in the state. The governor, Ademola Adeleke, is behind his PDP faithful, while minister of blue economy and former governor, Gboyega Oyetola, is seen as the arrowhead of the APC onslaughts in the state. Osun is clearly in anarchic state, so to say.
In Lagos, 36 out of 40 members of the House of Assembly, had removed their Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa on allegations of corruption and highhandedness. In his place, they elected Mojisola Meranda. The action, reportedly, did not go down well with Tinubu. Few days later, Obasa was returned to his seat, creating an open field of animosity and suspicion among the legislators. In Rivers, the impasse between Governor Similayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, assumed more frightening dimensions with a recent Supreme Court judgement over the state budget, which each side is giving different interpretations. The state is on edge, right now.
The three instances are not funny and indicate dangers ahead. They are clearly disturbing but not entirely surprising. The late statesman and Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, warned of these troubling developments in his robust interview with TheNiche Online, two years ago. In a rather, prophetic manner, he had warned; “If Nigerians fail to vote right on February 25, 2023, when the result will come, I will be enjoying myself in the grave”. Of course, Nigerians voted right. Tinubu was not their choice. But the highly hypocritical Muhammad Buhari presidency and the utterly corrupt Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Prof Mahmood Yakubu, foisted Tinubu on them. Adebanjo is currently lying in the morgue and his predictions are coming true.
Make no mistake about it: Power mongers are not known for deployment of power for positive results. Power, to them, is not a means to an end but the end itself. What Tinubu’s acolytes are doing in the three states and others, are therefore, not totally strange. In their 2018 publication on comparative politics, titled; “How Democracies Die”, Harvard University political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, explained in details how leaders can subvert the democratic process to increase their power, commencing with silencing their opponents. In their words; “Democracies may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders – presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power”. Nearly every action or pronouncement of the Tinubu administration since coming to office, points to this direction.
For the president and his henchmen, remaining in power and acquiring more territories is what counts. Therefore, 2027 is a battle that must be won by the president and his party at all costs. The ugly eruptions in Osun, Lagos and Rivers, are therefore, mere dress rehearsals of what lies. They are proxy wars of sorts. Nigeria’s democracy, under the current administration, is in chains. The other day, former Vice President and PDP presidential candidate in 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, accused Tinubu and his men of luring members of the opposition with bribes and being instrumental to the crisis in the rival political parties. Both the APC and presidential spokespersons dismissed the charge. But if you take a critical look at the body language of the APC National Chairman, Umar Ganduje and his audacious declaration of “no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2027”, you will understand the extent they have gone in making the election of the year a walkover for Tinubu.
Recall also Tinubu’s boast to his APC supporters before the September 21, 2024 Edo governorship poll that he would hand over the state to their less-fancied candidate, Monday Okpebholo. INEC did exactly so for him. Same thing happened in Ondo governorship election. Recently in Anambra, Ganduje was heard, saying that they would reenact the Edo magic in the November 8 election in the state. In a complex system as we have, such unguarded declarations are uncalled for and must be called out.
There is nothing wrong with Nigeria becoming a one-party system, if the electorate, devoid of manipulation and coercion, choose to do so, with their votes. The beauty of democracy is the people-content and the freedom it accords the voters to make their choices. Democracy is not a guarantee for good governance but it allows the people make their choice, freely. That, unfortunately, is what Tinubu and his goons are denying the people in Osun, Rivers, Lagos and elsewhere. Bode George may not be your model for democracy and good governance. But his alert on the sad developments in some parts of the country, are in order. President Tinubu and his men must pull the brakes before they drive the country to perdition.
DURU is the Editor, TheNiche Online Newspapers (08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com).