Chief Stephen Wole Oke is an elder statesman and a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State. Chief Oke, who is an Awoist, is also the Jagunmolu of Shao, as well as Second Republic Leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly. He spoke with Biola Azeez on 25 years of democracy and some other national issues. Excerpts:
It should be troubling that democracy as a political system in Nigeria has continued to suffer serious setbacks over the years. Why is this so?
Nigeria became an independent country in 1960, sixty-four years ago. Our own democracy has, unfortunately, assumed a political cultural trait in which “Godfatherism” has become a major factor; first, in determining a party’s candidates in a primary election, and as well as in determining which party a voter will vote for in the general election. Godfatherism, a bane to our democracy!
We are yet to evolve a political party system with political parties built and rooted in any identifiable ideological doctrine. The high level of illiteracy, compounded by the level of our rustic life and age-long ruralism across the length and breadth of the majority of the states in the country have, no doubt, accounted for the dominance of the unfortunate influence of godfathers in our national politics.
The majority of Nigerian voters are rural dwellers, who are illiterate. They know nothing about what democracy means and its values. They are more often generally ‘bought’ to vote for an individual whether at party’s primary or at general elections. On what ideological basis they are voting, they don’t know.
When election results are out with a winner emerging, can the government thereafter. Established, be “the Government of the people, by the people, and for the People”? Is that a democratic Government in the real import of the system?
Sir, in your view, do you think the incursion of the military into our politics has to do with it?
Military interventions in the administration of our country have also constituted a major drawback to the growth and development of democracy as an institutional system of governance.
For the about sixty-four (64) years of independence now, the military has interrupted civilian administration several times during which they have ruled the nation for a total of about thirty (30) years out of the 64 years of our Independence while democratic governance, has thus far lasted 34 years. This has, therefore, made the country to pass through three Republics, with the current Fourth Republic offering the longest democratic governance in the country.
A lot of damage has been done to democracy and its growth in Nigeria by these periodic military interventions. How soon will it take the damage to be healed remains the question? How can it be healed? Is it healable? Are the soldiers going to relent in their interventionist military adventurism and allow democracy to thrive?
This was the goal and passion of founders of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), during the military administration, to check and put an end to military take-overs, which were found to be destructive of democracy and to ensure the restoration of democratic rule in the country.
It was a great sacrifice; a risk to the life of the individual members and to their personal comfort. The NADECO members had to flee the country to find security for themselves in overseas countries.
What’s your words of advice to politicians of today’s Nigeria?
As long as they continue to believe in money politics, which continues to thrive as a result of the poor economic condition of the Nigerian voters of today, and which makes the money men in politics turn themselves into godfathers, real constitutional democracy can never grow in this country.
As we are celebrating democracy, we can only continue to pray that Nigeria will, in no distant future, begin to enjoy true democratic dispensation and practice that will yield the greatest benefits to the greatest number of Nigerians, which will continually make governance the government of the people by the people for the people and no longer a government of the minority godfathers or of the conservative, oppressive elite group.
Nigeria is still in search of true democracy. It is no easy task, particularly as far as the above enumerated degenerative factors are still at play and still existing within our political governance system. Ours is still work-in-progress. Not yet, Uhuru.
One must admit, however, that this is not a short-term, time-defined affair. The USA democracy has spanned over two centuries, yet it remains nowhere near perfection. By the time Nigeria gets to the level of the US democratic practice/operation of today, we shall be known and addressed as the “Democratic Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
In spite of all that has thus far negatively characterised the development, growth, and procedure in the practice of democracy in our country so far, we have reason and the grace for celebrating democracy in Nigeria.
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