Ex-Speaker Na’Abba: Obasanjo destroyed Nigeria’s democracy

MADUABUCHI NMERIBEH/Kano
Former Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba declared in Kano that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure between 1999 and 2007 was bad omen to Nigeria’s democracy.

Na’Abba told journalists at Kano Press Centre on Independence Day that Obasanjo destroyed the elements of virile democarcy in Nigeria, adding that the former President must be held responsible for lack of internal democracy in Nigeria’s political parties.

He said Obasanjo’s godfatherism legacy in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has infected other political parties as party leaders lack focus and operate without manifestoes.

“In all honesty, since the inception of the Fourth Republic, in all the political parties, there is absolutely no internal democracy. While I was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I did so much to entrench internal democracy—to see to it that the phenomenon does not continue, I did a lot, including even trying to impeach Chief Obasanjo.

“You see, anytime this problem of lack of internal democarcy is being discussed, Obasanjo’s name must be mentioned.He pocketed the PDP and planted his stooges as leaders and political office holders. He also planted his stooges in other political parties and caused confusion in the system.

“During Obasanjo’s tenure, every region in the country, including his own zone, the South-West, complained of marginalization. I was aware that Obasanjo’s project was to destabilize the North; and a number of the northern political leaders are helping him to achieve this agenda,” he stated.

He further regretted that, “our best brains are becoming casualities; and they are the ones that understand the workings of democracy. People now engage themselves in sycophancy so that they can remain relevant in the scheme of things,” Na’Abba lamented, noting that the greater number of those in political positions in the country got there through the back door.

“The situation in the country is so bad that people don’t ask who is elected, but who is given the party’s ticket,” he added.

He did not spare his party, the PDP, as he declared that the party has failed to provide good leadership to Nigeria in the 13 years, because it operates without a clear-cut manifesto.

“I believe that the missing link is leadership. Elections in Nigeria must be free and anybody who wins must be allowed to take their mandate. The issue of the absence of internal democracy portends danger in Nigeria. You see so many incompetencies in the administration of our country from the Local Governments to the Federal level,” said the former Speaker.

Looking at the bad state of the nation, Na’Abba regretted that 52 years after, Nigeria has continued to grapple with political and economic problems, urging Nigerians to rise up and fight against injustice and maladministration.

He noted that successive governments since the Fourth Republic have been extravagant in appropriating public funds, just as he revealed that what Nigeria earned within 1999 to date is threefold more than what was earned between 1960 and 1999, adding that in the last 13 years of democracy, Nigerians are getting poorer despite the huge oil revenue.