By Martins Ori
It is generally said that football (or sports) is the only factor that
brings Nigerians of all walks of life together. However, on Monday, March 24, 2025, the former governor of Imo State, His Excellency, The Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha, while marking his diamond jubilee birthday in Abuja, brought Nigerians of divergent political, social, cultural and religious inclinations under one roof.
The event was exceptionally colourful that the eminent Nigerians who attended the occasion instantly forgot their differences just to celebrate the erstwhile deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
Wearing infectious smiles and glowing in exciting designers’ clothes, these Very Impossible Personalities (VIPs), apparently overjoyed by the simple act of meeting one another at such an auspicious occasion, embraced one another with amazing cheers and warmness.
The chairman of the occasion and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, set the ball rolling during the colloquium at Abuja Continental Hotel, with the topic: “For Democracy to Work in Africa”. Obasanjo emphatically stated that the major reason democracy has been failing in Africa was that “it doesn’t align with our values, culture, and way of life”.
The former head of state made it abundantly clear that for democracy to thrive on the African continent, the government and the led must agree on a form of government which was in agreement with Africa’s way of life and values. He frowned at a situation where Africans only copy systems of government that are Western.
Deliberately but pointedly drawing from Abraham Lincoln’s view of democracy whereupon he stipulated that democracy is a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, the two time Nigeria leader said that “it therefore means that democracy is designed to benefit the people, the masses, all in the society, not just a few”.
Practically throwing more insights into the true meaning of democracy and its essence, Obasanjo regretted that in Africa, “democracy has now become government of a small number of people, by a small number of people, over a large number of people.”
“So why has democracy failed in Africa? It is because it didn’t have any content, and in content, it is not Africa. It does not have any aspect of our culture, our way of life, what we stand for, or what we believe. What sort of democracy do you have, and you grab everything illegally and corruptly, and you say go to court? Even in the court, you cannot get justice”.
Conclusively, Obasanjo submitted this: “We have to look at democracy in the context of Africa. I hope that we will get to that stage so that democracy, which will deliver, will be the democracy that we will have in Africa”.
In his remarks, The keynote speaker, the erudite cleric, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, almost toeing Obasanjo’s path, canvassed a form of democracy which, according to him, should care for the interest of the large majority, and not for few individuals.
”Democracy is working for different people, as you can see in their outlook. There is the belief that citizens are free to rebel. There had been debate about whether the Nigerian constitution is perfect or not. No constitution will be better than the Bible and Koran. Yet, we are still living in sin. The problem is that, in Nigeria, the issue of Christian and Muslim prayer is not the best”, Kukah enthused.
He added, “The weaponisation of religion is a big problem in Nigeria. Democracy is a work in progress. God doesn’t discriminate between Christian and Muslim prayers. There is no discrimination. We are children of one God. If we are not treating each other rightly, one of them must be a bastard. Democracy and its principles are endless contestations. There are certain things God has given us which people can’t control”.
Remarkably employing rhetoric insinuation at the generally perceived controversial judgements, Kukah piqued: “I feel sorry for judges. At the last election, even little me, I had people calling me, complaining, Talk to this, Talk to that. Pressure on judges to deliver justice.
“I agree that there’s an urgent need to clean up the mess.Democracy is about everything; it’s about justice. How do we know if democracy is working in Nigeria? Do we measure democracy based on the things we wish for ourselves? I recommend five books”.
Presenting his paper, the ex – speaker of the House of Representatives and two-term governor of Sokoto State, Sen Aminu Tambuwal, hammered home the need for lead actors to play according to the rules. He submitted as follows: “Democracy will work if the actors play by the rules. Under President Obasanjo, a state of emergency was declared. The National Assembly worked together to ensure that a 2/3 majority passed the emergency. Each member had to vote. In this same National Assembly, we have the same constitution. What happened in the last one? We need to chase out the bad operators in democracy.” He indirectly condemned the recent declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State.
In what could be regarded as the most direct answer to the topic of the day, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, noted that, “Democracy is not working in Nigeria. Everything has been knocked down.
“I didn’t pay a dime to retrieve my mandate. When I was impeached, Obasanjo called to ask about my welfare. Nigeria should imbibe the Indonesian democracy, proportional representation.” As usual, he was well applauded as he made his presentation.
The Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, gave account of how to sustain democracy both in Africa and the world at large.
Said he: “We need a new constitution to address many challenges. True federalism is the answer to the management of national issues. The recent coup in Mali, Niger tends to take us back. The nature of our politics and the conduct of our politicians is another problem of our democracy. They have become instruments of capturing political power. It’s only true, stable democratic governance that can rid our country of the crises which impede development.
“I believe that Nigeria can change this Eurocentric narrative. We are in Africa, and Nigeria has a responsibility to get a stable democracy and change the Eurocentric narrative.”
In his glowing tribute on the celebrator, the erstwhile vice president, His Excellency, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, remarked that Ihedioha had been a long standing loyal servant, dedicated friend and hardworking politician who was focused in all the things he had been doing. He described Ihedioha as a politician whose aim is to bring about human and community development.
Signing his goodwill message through his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu noted that Ihedioha was a politician who still had many years ahead of him in his service of fatherland.
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