The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has told Nigerians to stop deceiving themselves about running a democratic government as Nigeria is no longer a democratic country.
The former Anambra State governor who made the assertion in an interview on Arise News Prime Time programme on Tuesday night, said he drew his conclusions on the premise that the standards for measuring democracy do not exist in Nigeria.
“I have said it, and I maintain that there is no democracy in Nigeria today. Nigeria today is not a democratic country. Let’s stop telling ourselves lies. If you look at all the tenets and yardsticks measuring democracy, it doesn’t exist here,” Obi said.
“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Today, the government we have is not of the people.
“It is not by the people because the people didn’t vote. It wasn’t their votes. I’m not just talking about the presidency; it’s across the line. Look at what happened in Edo. Can you call that democracy?
“It is not the vote of the people. And it is not for the people. I have just told you that I went to an IDP camp where we have thousands of people. No primary health care.
“They were begging me to have one nurse, which I said I must make sure they have. They don’t even have a primary school, which again I have told them I will make sure it happens,” Obi said.
According to the LP chieftain, Nigeria’s democracy which has been progressing since 1999, is now collapsing and being knocked down by President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
He however, stated that Tinubu is doing well in fulfilling the promises he made to Nigerians during his campaign of which one of them was following the footsteps of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration, whose government has been widely described as clueless and lacking direction.
“Tinubu is doing well because what he promised people is exactly what he is doing; that he would start and continue from where the previous government stopped,” Obi stated sarcastically.
“What is happening can be turned around with a competent leader who has the capacity and compassion to serve. I would make sure to address Nigerians at least once every month,” he said.
© Ripples Nigeria