Twenty six years after the military handed over power to civilians in Nigeria, prominent pro-democracy activists and veterans of the struggle for the actualisation of the June 12 1993 election, yesterday lamented the state of democracy in the nation, postulating that the type of democracy they envisioned and fought for is not what obtains today in the country.
They regretted their decision not to join politics and seek elective offices as the military exited the stage in 1999, stressing that their withdrawal from the political transition programme supervised by the General Abdul salam Abubakar’s military regime was an unpardonable tactical error.
The painful introspection came at the launch of a book titled: “Demonstration of Craze,” written by Abdul Oroh, a lawyer, journalist and a veteran activist.
The public presentation of the book took place at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre in Abuja. Human rights activist, maritime lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, who was one of the prominent participants during the struggle, said the divergence of opinion among the activists on the way forward at the twilight of military rule, put the prodemocracy activists in a dilemma.
According to Agbakoba, democracy is not working in Nigeria because those who understand the tenets of democracy and made a lot of sacrifices to enthrone it, abandoned the political space to those who were not part of the struggle and did not know its essence.
He said while those who fought for democracy stood by, some military apologists and anti-democratic elements seized the opportunity to take over the political system.
Agbakoba recalled how a former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, met with the pro-democracy activists in Nigeria and persuaded them to take the struggle a step further by participating in the political transition programme and ensuring they were elected into positions where they could actualise their noble vision for the country, The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, said the pro-democracy activists made a mistake, by staying away and allowing certain people with questionable characters to acquire power for themselves.
He said: “There was a mistake; we must admit that we made a mistake when democracy came in 1999. “In all fairness, we shouldn’t have allowed charlatans to hijack the democratic process; but we did and we are guilty of where we are today.”
