Ezuka SharonProfessor Pat Utomi, former presidential aspirant and renowned economist, has warned that citizens are dealing with the bandit elite when it comes to democracy in Nigeria.
Following alleged attempts by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration to frustrate the rally by Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the Labour Party in Delta State, Utomi spoke out and called this “voter intimidation” by a government supposedly holding public property in trust.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelObi and his campaign team are scheduled to host a rally in Asaba, the capital of Delta State, on Monday, January 9, 2022. But Utomi said government agencies have been reluctant to approve any of the public facilities for use by the opposition political party.
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Speaking to journalists on Friday at the CVL office on Victoria Island Lagos, Utomi who leads the Big Tent Coalition, said, the country is dealing with people who come from criminal backgrounds; get into politics and use politics to justify their criminality.
“In the last few weeks, I have been struck by some frightening developments in the country. It is clear that there is a lapse of civility in how we operate.”
“As I speak today, Labour Party is supposed to have its rally on Monday but the state government has done everything to frustrate the use of any government facility for this purpose. Even religious bodies and traditional rulers have said that the government is too vindictive and wouldn’t want to risk the government coming for them for allowing us to use their grounds.”
“There is also intimidation; you cannot open a party office even in some parts of Lagos. The landlords are intimidated, you can’t put up posters as they are torn down and increasingly, the concept of voter intimidation has come to be a part of defining our democracy; people are threatening to fight back and what I perceive is a class war.”
He compared the recent development to his experience in 2007 when he contested for Presidency. “When I ran for the presidency in 2007, no other person covered Nigeria as I did. I visited every state in the country to carry out campaign activities but sadly that is not the case today.”
“What kind of a democracy is this; if any other political party has had the use of such a ground and others are denied that use, can you call this a democracy?”
He stated that since 1999 Nigerian democracy has taken a downturn, social conditions have become so bad and nobody is talking about it. Our politicians are turning a blind eye to it and behaving as if they are not aware of what is happening.
He also noted that the ruling government have failed woefully and by default shouldn’t be thinking of contesting for the 2023 presidential elections. According to him, in other parts of the world when a government fails in its duties to the people, they step down and allow a new government to take charge but that is not the case in Nigeria.
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How can a government that has failed terribly be fighting to continue its leadership? He said.
“In the last six years, our country has experienced two recessions, it has also seen a nationwide decline in security, especially with the Northeast.
“No sense of shame; a person says something today, and goes back and acts like he said nothing and they say that is politics. Character matters, if you cannot get people of character into politics, society is sunk. That is where we are now and it needs the urgency of this moment to begin to hold people in public office accountable for their behaviour.
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The Big Tent Convener has called for Nigerians to begin to hold governors accountable and bring them to trial after their tenure. He said, If we can’t hold them accountable because our institution has become weak, then we would try them at the international court. He stated that it would help curb the level of irresponsibility and incivility in their actions.
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