Politicians Who Fought the Military are Now Worse Dicators –Shehu Sani
POLITICS DIGEST – The Senator that represented Kaduna Central in the eight Senate, Shehu Sani has said that provision of basic amenities could not guarantee democracy if people did not keep vigil to defend it.
He pointed out that those who fought military dictatorships in Nigeria have now become the country’s worst dictators.
He maintained that people became complacent at the wake of the nation’s return to democracy 20 years ago, believing that their freedom would be protected with the return of democracy.
He said it was unfortunate that those who fought the military for democracy to return had become worst dictators, maintaining that the people must, as a matter of urgency, return to the trenches.
The activist and former lawmaker was speaking during a programme in Lagos, a conversation on the shrinking media and civil space in Nigeria, tagged ‘Keeping Power in Check’, and the public presentation of a book, ‘Testimony To Courage’, on Thursday, under the chairmanship of Femi Falana (SAN).
The former lawmaker said political parties could not defend democracy, stressing that judiciary had been bent to the desires of those in the executive arm of government.
He noted that all other segments of democracy had fallen in line to the executive arm. He warned that if nothing was done everyone would be consumed.
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Reiterating the importance of defending democracy by the people, he stressed that political parties as they exist today would not defend democracy and since the monster had returned, everyone must return to the trenches, noting that a situation where the government no longer respected the rule of law and lives of citizens no longer protected.
He said in the North-West, where he came from, the Kaduna-Abuja road had become a death trap and that the activities of kidnap groups and bandits had reached an alarming proportion that they would write letters to give notice that they were coming.
The lawmaker said everyone had abandoned the roads for use of train to Abuja from Kaduna and amongst the passengers were police commissioners, Army Generals, lawmakers, top government functionaries, and a host of others.
He insisted that democracy in Nigeria had failed because the players had emasculated the people so much that the people had become weak to even have the power to check the players.
The keynote speaker, Odia Ofeimum, a renowned journalist and poet, said all the anti-people’s policies of President Muhammadu Buhari, such as ‘Operation Personal Identification (OPI)’, control of social media, intimidation of the media, and the failure of government to give quality education to the people was a pointer to the fact that the leaders did not want any form of check or control.
He concluded by saying that the leaders’ refusal to give quality education to poor people’s children was to keep them perpetually poor and unable to get their partisan right so that they would not be able to keep government in check.
