By Ademola Olorunsogo
With Atiku Abubakar blatantly and with impunity, buying his way to become PDP’s presidential candidate with his dubious wealth, after the party sold the spot to the highest spender/bidder, who will save Nigeria?
The ruling party, APC, will offer Nigerians no difference.
The only option now is for the masses that elected the yahoo delegates to protest.
The next line is for the masses to say no to election in 2023.
The best option now is to restructure the country!
With the current crop of old, corruption infested, heartless, analogue and incompetent politicians trading the future of Nigeria with arrogance and impunity right before the eyes of Nigerians, with everyone folding their arms helplessly while all their shenanigans go on, who will save Nigeria?
To say that Nigeria needs a break from these current political leaders/robbers is without question, however, what is the viable solution? Who will save Nigeria?
It will take a minimum of 50 years for our politics to correct itself, so, if we want to get things right in a timely manner, we need a few years of the so-called benevolent military. What we need, in my opinion, are the following:
- Restructuring. The 1999 fraudulent constitution makes it almost impossible to restructure the country. Apart from the national assembly, all state assemblies also have to endorse a change in the constitution. It’s almost impossible, unless the change is something that would benefit politicians themselves personally.
- Checkmate institutionalised corruption. Our current situation is that a rich crook can buy the presidency through this delegate system. We have seen it. Tackling corruption demands that we change our constitutional position in cases of corruption. Right now, the onus of proof is on the prosecutor to prove that the money in your account or the properties you own, are proceeds of a crime. If prosecutors can’t link your money to government treasury, you go Scot free. In other countries, the onus of proof lies with the accused. You must prove that the money in your account was made legitimately, whether it can be traced to government or not. Those who wrote our constitution are thieves themselves. They cleverly manipulated things to favour their class.
These changes will never be achieved by politicians. Even if Peter Obi gets into power, if he tries anything against the current order, he will find himself the first impeached Nigerian president. He may even land in jail!
It is understandable though that many Nigerians are against military dictatorship with very good reasons, as they say, the military are the very reason Nigeria is where she is today. They argue that no one thought Abacha could become draconian, that Babangida with his gap tooth smiles institutionalized corruption, that Nigeria will be taking a big gamble, the end of which no one can predict. They conclude that Nigeria should continue to wobble and fumble, until she gets things right as no democracy is perfect. One day through this system we shall get a leader(s) with conscience, they conclude.
To be clear, when talking about a benevolent dictator, it is not IBB, Abacha or their ilk that proponents are talking about, they pray about a leader like Lee Kuan Yew, who used dictatorial powers to leapfrog many countries on Singapore’s development journey?
There’s no way to know if a military regime will be benevolent or malevolent of course, so it is understandable the reluctance to want to risk it. Yes, it’s too much of a risk, but the advantages can be enormous if Nigeria manages to get it right. The rot in our system is too deep, it will take many decades to organically change it. We definitely need something drastic.
The names of benevolent dictators and their achievements can be looked up to see the kind of people Nigeria at this point needs. Certainly not Abacha or Idi Amin of course.
Here’s a ‘benevolent dictatorship’ definition from Wikipedia:
“A benevolent dictatorship is a government in which an authoritarian leader exercises absolute political power over the state, but is perceived to do so with regard for benefit of the population as a whole, standing in contrast to the decidedly malevolent stereotype of a dictator who focuses on their supporters and their own self-interests. A benevolent dictator may allow for some civil liberties or democratic decision-making to exist, such as through public referendums or elected representatives with limited power, and often makes preparations for a transition to genuine democracy during or after their term. It might be seen as a republican form of enlightened despotism.”
There is something called ‘benevolent dictator’ in the world, and that’s what we’re referring to. Africa is part of the world, isn’t it?
Singapore didn’t know they had a benevolent dictator in their country until Lee Kuan Yew started implementing his plans. There was serious opposition to him until the public started seeing improvements in their country.
The concept of ‘benevolent dictatorship’ is a global one, and it certainly has its place in a modern world.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in the content of the article belong to the author, and not the organization, its affiliates, or employees.
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