Steven Levisty in his prophetic book, How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future, stated thus: “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. Some of these leaders dismantle democracy quickly, as Hitler did in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire in Germany. More often, though, democracies erode slowly, in barely visible steps.”
This is precisely the situation in Nigeria at present following the deployment of presidential power by President Bola Tinubu against democratic structures in Rivers State.
Last week, the president suspended the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and the state assembly over turbulent political happenings for several months which the Presidency deems to serious enough to invoke Section 305 in abridging democratic values, norms, and constitutional order in the oil-rich state.
Since that action, Nigerians have been in near-unanimity in denouncing the executive abuse and the sacrilegious imprimatur of the National Assembly in backing the suspension and appointment of a sole administrator for a period of six months.
Since the unfortunate democratic impairment, Presidency officials and their hirelings have been puffing and huffing to justify the inanity and stain on the almost 25 years of uninterrupted civil rule.
If anything, the president’s deaf tone response to the various voices of caution and reason should worry all true lovers of democracy.
It is befuddling that a government that alleged that governors tampering with local government administration could be guilty of treason to have embarked on such violent conduct against the Nigerian State and constitution should be feared and resisted before it becomes a hydra.
It is in this wise that The Abuja Inquirer agrees with former President Goodluck Jonathan that Nigeria is in dire straits and the state of emergency sends dangerous signals to those intent on investing in the country.
Jonathan could not have summed it any better when he said; “The situation in Rivers State reminds me of an Indian proverb: If somebody is truly asleep, you can wake them up easily. But if they are only pretending to sleep, waking them up becomes impossible. The key actors in Nigeria—the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary—know the right thing to do, but they are refusing to do it. They are pretending to sleep. Waking such people is extremely difficult, but they know the right thing.
“There is a clear abuse of office, power, and privileges across the three arms of government—the executive, the parliament, and the judiciary. And I always plead with our people to understand that whatever we do affects everybody. Sometimes, we make decisions thinking they do not impact us directly.”
There is the urgency for civil society and organised labour to galvanise and mobilise the citizenry to be vigilant and resist the obnoxious attempt to stifle democracy, the rule of law and constitutional order in the country.
Already, the teething signs are apparent that democracy and the rule of law are on trial with the avalanche of Nigerians that have been arrested by the police and political figures using the Cybercrime Prevention and Prohibition Act 2015.
With the capitulation of the judiciary to the whims of politicians, there is the imperative for civil society organisations to embark on aggressive sensitization and advocacy to impress it on citizens as to their rights and privileges under the 1999 Constitution as amended.
More than that, citizens need to become more political aware ahead of the 2027 elections and begin to properly situate and scrutinize those who are in office and hoping to occupy political offices and be well-informed to avoid the pitfall that seems to have become the lot of the country.
Further, there is nothing cast in stone, and to this end, it is fitting for President Tinubu to retract, recall those duly elected by the people of Rivers State and allow the whatever outcomes that is feared once there follow due process.
To do otherwise is to suggest that no elected official, safe the president, is safe in this country, and this should not be the case.
