Why Nigeria’s democracy flounders, by Kukah

Atilade enjoins Buhari to tackle insecurity
Bishop of Diocese of Sokoto, Dr. Mathew Kukah, has said that lack of political culture and military intervention in politics are some of the reasons why democracy has continued to flounder in Nigeria.

Similarly, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has accused federal security agencies of harassing judges and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) all in a bid to subvert the democratic process.

Kukah spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt while delivering a public lecture titled “Democracy in Nigeria: Still many rivers to cross” in commemoration of the third anniversary of the administration of Wike.He noted that the environment in which democracy is currently being practised in Nigeria and most of African countries still remains sufficiently volatile.

Kukah also identified the failure of the politicians to develop political culture as one of the reasons why the democratisation process has floundered.He said since 1960 till date, political actors hardly stayed in one party for too long.

The cleric, who noted that every time a new political platform is created, the country merely expands the frontiers of enmity and frustration because politics in the country still remained ethicised, stressed that the time has come to increase the level of consciousness of what political ideologies of the political parties are and what they really stand for so that their members can cultivate the character of staying the course in and out of power.

Wike alleged the Federal Government had continued to use state apparatus like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police to coerce the judiciary and subvert INEC.He said INEC had already been used to lay foundation to rig the 2019 elections.

However, Chairman of the event, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, expressed dismay that Nigeria’s democracy is being threatened by nepotism, sectionalism and perversion of justice.Nwabueze noted that Nigeria is currently being governed as though the country belongs to a particular section.

In another development, President, Christian Welfare Initiative (CWI) and former Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), South-West, Prof. Magnus Atilade, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be sincere in tackling the issue of security in the nation.He also asked the President to give a clear order to both the army and the police to arrest herdsmen carrying arms and prosecute them. Atilade, who spoke with newsmen yesterday in Lagos, said the only plausible solution to herdsmen’s killing of innocent Nigerians was to create ranches for them.