By Eddy Odivwri
The swathe of Nigerians who voted for the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) about a year ago, wanted, largely, a doze of another treatment. So many things appeared to have been wrong with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-controlled government at the federal level. The vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC was thus a nationalacclamation for a new experience. That experience came a year ago.
The content of that experience could be a matter of bi-polar debate and endless argument among Nigerians in terms of its pleasantness or otherwise.
But what probably will not be as controversial is the culture and ethos of democracy which, evidently, is getting firmer and deeper in the Nigerian political space.
The Buhari government could be accused of many failures and drawbacks (economic, socio-metrics etc), but certainly not political.
Some have even accused him of not behaving like a politician. That he has refused to bend the rules or tweak the strategies have earned him some condemnation in political circles.
Perhaps the easiest explanation to this is the fact that Buhari himself had, on three different occasions (2003, 2007 and 2011) been a victim(?) of political manipulation wherein he failed to clinch his presidential quest.
The story is that he had sworn that unlike what was done against him, he will never use his political position/powers to rob contestants of their victories.
That thus explains why in all the re-run elections that have been held thus far whether in Bayelsa or Rivers or Anambra etc, the government in power did not deploy its might to wrest victory from the rightful winners.
In a closer reference to the contest of governorship election in Bayelsa State early this year. The story was told of how plans were made to use the Nigerian army and the Nigerian police to manipulate the election in favour of one of the major candidates in the contest. That was after the initial exercise was declared inconclusive. President Buhari was said to have got wind of the plan, whereupon he immediately summoned the Chief of Army Staff as well as the Inspector General of Police and warned that on no account should the structures of government be used to overrun the political contest with the aim of favouring anybody. And that was it. When the election was eventually concluded, the party which had had a lead, maintained and consolidated its victory to the glee of Bayelsa electorate. In many circles, it was considered a new dawn.
There is no question that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has operated uninterrupted or unimpeded by the ruling government. And that is why under Buhari, the INEC has declared more election results that favoured the PDP than the APC. It didn’t use to be so. Even without an express instruction, public institutions were operated to defer or support what was subjectively interpreted as the body language of the “man at the top”. Not anymore.
We are even witnesses to how the judiciary, in times past, discrete as it is often masterly done, is influenced to give judgements to favour the ruling party. It is no secret that in the past order, many (not all) of the political victories secured from the court rooms are what are loosely described as “arrangee” victories.
Under the APC and President Buhari, there has been no instance, overtly or covertly, where the judiciary is perceived to have been influenced to give judgement in favour of the ruling party.
On the contrary, what the nation has witnessed, to the chagrin of some politicians still programmed on the old order, is that the APC has lost more electoral cases, than the PDP. Three major instances are the Supreme Court rulings in Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Taraba States.
While the lower courts, in the case of Rivers State, had given judgement in favour of the APC given the volume of evidences of electoral infractions, the Supreme Court , upturned the ruling of the lower courts and affirmed victory fort the PDP candidate. Weird as the judgment was, it had remained as ruled till date. In the three states cited, one after the other, the APC, under Buhari’s watch lost all states. In fact, the Supreme court ruled largely in favour of the opposition PDP across board.
In no mean manner, the independence of the judiciary and allowing the superiority of the will of the people to hold sway, has helped to strengthen the fabrics of the nation’s democracy.
Perhaps triggered by the general nuances that preceded the 2015 general election wherein the cry for a change was like a battle cry in the polity, it is convenient to say that there is today, increased political enlightenment among the Nigerian public. Segments of societies who hitherto paid little or no attention to political developments have long become close monitors and commentators in the Nigerian political space.
Until recently for instance, even the market woman who sells tomatoes in the market knew that the 2016 budget had not been signed. The Oke-Arin trader can loosely talk about the forex regime and micro-economic effect of the Buhari administration.
The point being made is that there has been increased awareness among the Nigerian populace, be they urban or rural dwellers.
No doubt, this awareness level has been facilitated by the advent of the social media.
Another indication of the deepening of the democracy roots in Nigeria is the continued freedom of the Nigerian media. Although even previous administrations had not exactly been repressive of free media, the fact remains that the Buhari administration has sustained the ethos and doctrine of free press.
The Nigerian press has remained free and unhindered. In the last four months, for instance, the Nigerian press which had seemingly applauded and defended the Buhari administration has come down hard on the government with very critical articles, barb analysis and perspectives published against the government and its policies, especially on the hardship experienced from endless fuel queues, hike in the cost of petrol, increasing megawatts of darkness beamed by the electricity authorities,etc., without any executive repercussion.
Finally, we cannot gloss over the abiding respect of the Buhari government for due processes. I cite the recent instances of killing of Nigerian soldiers and other security operatives in the Niger Delta. A new group of agitators called Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has been wreaking havoc on oil installations in the Niger Delta region. Many soldiers and policemen have been attacked and killed by the new wave of offensives in the zone.
Bad and reprehensive as the killings are, they have not provoked a massive military onslaught, as was witnessed in Odi (Bayelsa State) or Zaki Biam (Benue State) under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
No doubt, it is safe to conclude that government’s response is being moderated by the growing democratic temper in the polity.
In all instances, it is farewell to arbitrariness as the institutions of democracy, requisite of good governance, are getting stronger and deeper.