Why democracy remains the best option for Nigeria —Dunmoye, ABU Professor

Professor Ayo Dunmoye of the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, speaks to BIOLA AZEEZ on Nigeria›s democratic journey since 1999 and how the country has fared.

 

It will be 22 years of democracy and six years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government. Do you think Nigerians have got the good governance they expected from democracy? 

It all depends on the way you look at it. It also depends on who is doing the assessment. If there is any form of government better than democracy, people can suggest it, but democracy is better than autocracy. The fact that our leaders have not been able to give us the so-called dividends of democracy to our satisfaction doesn’t mean that democracy as a system is bad. It means that there is deficiency of good governance, deficiency of good leaders. If democracy works the way it should work in terms of representing the people’s interests, taking care of people’s welfare, ensuring economic development, national integration, then it should be good. But for the past 22years, it has not been rosy for us, because of the lack of vision of our leaders, their selfishness, and poverty of ideas.

As regards the APC and PDP things, well we have tried both parties and discovered that they are both sides of a coin. The APC promised change and what the people have been seeing and talking about is negative change. The APC might say they are unlucky because things got worse, but what were they looking at before things got worse. These things were there during the PDP government, but not as bad as they are now, because they didn’t pay attention to them. And that is why we are where we are now.

 

Do you think the APC government has built on the little progress made by the party it took over from?

There is no need comparing the two parties, because they are two sides of the same coin. Both parties have their own manifestos and ideas. It is not as if PDP also did well. In the first four years of APC, they blamed PDP, but during the second tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, they couldn’t blame the PDP anymore. They have to blame themselves. Things are going from bad to worse and the way the government is reacting is sad.

 

What are the solutions to the current sociopolitical and economic and security challenges?

The leaders have to sit tight. Mark Webber said that the only institution in the political system that has legitimate use of force is the government. Once any other institution or anybody challenges that government, that government is finished. That is what is happening now when policemen are being killed and INEC offices burnt. It is not a failed state really, but a weak state. This pronounces Nigeria as a weak state and not a failed state, because we are still here. But it is quite unfortunate. For instance, I think since these crises started, the president could have spoken to the nation openly to inform the public about what he is doing. But for the past few months, the president has not given us one-to-one interview. The only time we hear from him is when he plays host to visitors in Aso Rock or when someone dies or when there is kidnapping. The president is supposed to come out and assure Nigerians about his moves.

The issue of restructuring is causing a lot of problems. I think there is the need to talk among stakeholders. These stakeholders, maybe the states, southern governors, Afenifere, northern governors etc, have to sit down and talk because the issue has to do with the way we are integrating, the federal system, the way the federal system works. The restructuring, is it financially, politically, geographically? These are the issues we have to look at. Are we going back to regions, geopolitical zones, ethnic restructuring, physical federalism restructuring etc? Maybe we should look at the 2014 national conference report. There are solutions in the report.

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