By Our Correspondent
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\n\u200eAs Nigeria celebrates democracy day today, Delta State-based human rights lawyer and activist, Barrister Oghenejabor Ikimi, has expressed disappointment with the state of Nigeria’s democracy, arguing that the sacrifices made by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola and other pro-democracy campaigners have not been justified by the country’s current political realities.
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\n\u200eFieding questions from journalists on June 12 Democracy Day celebration, Ikimi said many of those who fought for democratic governance had become part of a political class that now oppresses the people.
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\n\u200eAccording to him, the situation in the country mirrors what happened after Nigeria gained independence from colonial rule.
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\n\u200e”I do not think that the sacrifices made by M.K.O. Abiola and other eminent Nigerians in the struggle for democracy are justified with the current political realities in the country,” he said.
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\n\u200e”This is because immediately the military handed over power to these eminent Nigerians who fought for democracy, they became our new oppressors just like the military back then.
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\n\u200e”Similarly, the nationalists who fought our colonial masters for independence became our new national masters once power was handed over to them.”
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\n\u200eHe added: “That is the exact scenario currently playing out in our present-day politics. Those that fought for our democracy are now our current masters.”
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\n\u200eIkimi, who’s the National Chairman of the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), also criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), describing it as one of the weakest institutions in the country and expressing doubts about its ability to conduct a credible 2027 general election.
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\nHe argued that the electoral body could not be truly independent as long as its leadership remained subject to presidential appointment.
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\n\u200e”INEC is one of the weakest institutions in our nation and cannot learn any lessons apart from hand notes handed over to them by the Executive as they are surrounded by strong men,” he said.
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\n\u200e”First and foremost, the Chairman of INEC is appointed by Mr President. Until INEC is insulated from the Presidency and politics, INEC cannot be totally independent.”
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\n\u200eOghenejabor contrasted the current situation with the 2015 general elections, which saw a peaceful transfer of power from former President Goodluck Jonathan to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
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\n\u200e”Former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the Jega-led INEC free hands to conduct the 2015 general elections because he was a man of peace who wanted to exit power then,” he stated.
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\n\u200eExpressing concern over preparations for the 2027 elections, the lawyer questioned the electoral commission’s commitment to transparency.
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\n\u200e”I am afraid that I am not confident with the present INEC as we prepare for the 2027 general elections. Can an INEC that has observed rigged party primaries without raising any eyebrow conduct a free and fair election come 2027? I doubt.”
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\n\u200eOn the issue of real-time transmission of election results, Oghenejabor argued that the success of elections depends more on the collective resolve of citizens than on technology alone.
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\n\u200eDrawing lessons from Japan’s post-war development, he said national progress is driven by commitment and patriotism rather than constitutional or institutional arrangements.
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\n\u200e”I think the problem is with us as a people. If Nigerians want free, fair and credible elections, we can achieve same collectively without real-time transmission of results,” he said.
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\n\u200eUsing Japan as an example, he noted that the country had focused on national development rather than blaming its constitutional framework for its challenges.
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\n\u200e”If we want to grow our democracy and get INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections nationwide, then it should be our duty as Nigerians collectively to ensure same and not leave it for INEC to achieve.”
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\n\u200eAddressing the persistent challenge of vote-buying and vote-selling, the rights activist linked the problem directly to widespread poverty and hunger across the country.
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\n\u200eAccording to him, meaningful electoral reforms would be difficult to achieve unless the economic hardship facing millions of Nigerians is addressed.
\n\u200e”We must as a nation address the issue of pandemic poverty and hunger in our nation,” he said.
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\n\u200e”A nation where over 190 million citizens are living below the poverty line, both buying and selling of votes would thrive.”
\n\u200eHe maintained that voter education campaigns alone would not solve the problem, insisting that economic empowerment must come first.
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\n\u200e”Electoral enlightenment can follow when the issues of poverty and hunger are addressed because no amount of electoral enlightenment and voters’ education can sink into the head of a hungry man since a hungry man is an unreasonable being,” he added.
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\n\u200eOghenejabor’s remarks come as Nigeria commemorates the June 12 struggle, widely regarded as a watershed moment in the country’s democratic journey and a symbol of the fight for electoral justice and civilian rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent \u200e \u200eAs Nigeria celebrates democracy day today, Delta State-based human rights lawyer and activist, Barrister Oghenejabor Ikimi, has expressed disappointment with the state of Nigeria’s democracy, arguing that the sacrifices made by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola and other pro-democracy campaigners have not been justified by the country’s current political realities. \u200e […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14544"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14547,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14544\/revisions\/14547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}