Opinion: PDP and the growth of Nigeria’s democracy

by Sunny Okoro

PDP1

Like I said the PDP has actually grown our democracy from stage to stage because even some few years back many of the things we see and hear people say about the president of Nigeria today are unthinkable even in the thoughts of the mighty of the society

As Nigeria marks another democracy day one cannot help but wonder how time flies. To me it’s still very much like yesterday when we all clustered around the television set in excitement on the 29th of May 1999, as we watched the handing over and swearing in ceremony of President Olusegun Obasanjo . It was a sigh of relief for many of us even though a few were not happy with the outcome of the elections as they felt it was rigged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But to majority of Nigerians they weren’t bothered so long we’ve been able to transit successfully from military dictatorship to Democratic Civilian leadership.

Of course one cannot blame these set of people considering the years of oppression and suppression that the entire nation suffered under very many pre 1999 military dictatorships. The negative and psychological impact of the Gen Abacha years was enough for any sane minded Nigerian alive, to accept whatever manner of democracy was available. But as humans that we are our wants are insatiable, it didn’t take long before the reality of democracy and what it portends dawned on us,and complains started flooding the airwaves.

Critics called the government corrupt, punitive in measure,they accused the government of transparency and accountability,they accused the government also of trampling on press freedom.And as these complains kept coming and the government transcends from one president to another some critics have finally come to conclusion that democracy has failed and the PDP has failed, some have even gone further to say the military should return. What?!

Funny as it is in spite of all these insinuations and opinions lies one of the greatest gifts of democracy, which is the freedom to express personal Opinions and thoughts without fear of victimization by the state and its agents. But in all sincerity, has the PDP and democracy failed? As some so strongly want to portray?

Basically without ignoring the enormous challenges that the country currently faces, I will say judging from level of growth and development, our democracy has improved tremendously and the PDP as a party has succeeded in driving this process without many even noticing. Looking back at our democracy from 1999 when former President Obasanjo under the PDP took over the mantle of leadership of this nation it has been a learning process and so much metamorphosis has taken place within the last 15years.

We will agree that like a baby our democracy actually started without focus and direction,there were so many excesses and misconceptions that were permitted at the initial stage due to our many years of military dictatorship; the various instituted organs lack focus, awareness and understanding of their position in the constitution. Hence as a result lots of things were done haphazardly and were actually allowed to pass but, today we can testify that so much has changed and most of the public institutions that make up a democratic Nigeria are now beginning to operate like they should.

The PDP as the driver of our current democracy has had its low moments but with regards to building and making efforts in sustaining our democracy they have done well. We may not have gotten to that Eldorado that we seek but looking at the last 15years they’ve been sincere in pioneering our democracy towards the promise land.

Some of the conscious steps of the PDP cannot be over emphasized. Like over the years from a do or die mentality in politics which was the norm in the first few years of our democracy, the PDP has made a conscious effort in addressing this issue severely. Before now elections where like going to war, thugs were armed, people were killed, in fact elections were a total mess that even President Musa Yar’Adua may his soul rest in peace, had to admit that the elections that brought him to power was flawed and that he would make a conscious effort to remedy this, and that he eventually did by setting up the Justice Uwais Electoral reform committee which eventually birthed the Electoral amendment act of the 1999 constitution as amended by the National assembly. Now, if you think that wasn’t a plus on the part of the PDP in addressing that issue as against bullying opposition to submission that was the norm, trust me we may not have been talking of 15years of democracy today.

Secondly the role of our judiciary in political cases is another plus for the PDP because, before now any political case in court against the ruling party was as good as a waste of one’s time and resources.But today even members of the opposition will commend the ruling PDP in addressing this trend by granting judicial independence which saw most of them having land mark victories on many occasions. Again I know critics will argue that it wasn’t the making of the PDP well, I will agree with them if only they can show me one instance of any governorship aspirant prior to the time President Yardua may his soul rest in peace decided on absolute adherence to the prevalence of the rule of law? That eventually led to major judicial victories for the opposition. And this has brought a lot of confidence into the political space as politicians no longer feel demoralized and defeated when going against an incumbent which is very healthy for our democratic growth and development.

Examining the last four years of President Jonathan as leader of the PDP closely we can also notice that much more has even been achieved. For instance talking about the level of awareness of Nigerians today to how government is been ran and managed as against the total oblivious nature of the past, is due largely to the signing into law of the forbidden freedom of information bill (FOI), which has given rise to the people seeking information on how things are been done.This again is another plus for the PDP in creating openness and transparency on how government is handling the work of governance. Amazingly as we speak, there are opposition states that have refused to accept this act in the running of their state affairs.
Unlike before it is not in doubt that the level of press freedom and tolerance has never been this wonderful in the history of this country. Like I said the PDP has actually grown our democracy from stage to stage because even some few years back many of the things we see and hear people say about the president of Nigeria today are unthinkable even in the thoughts of the mighty of the society.But today even the common man is allowed to air his or her opinion without any form or manner of restrain from the authorities or harassment of any sort,and this is as a result of this administrations adherence to the democratic freedom of expression of citizens which wasn’t there some 8years or 10years ago of our democracy.

Again in the national assembly unlike before where the executives appoints even the members and leaders,the PDP members in this seventh assembly have decided to move in the right direction by correcting that anomaly which has given us an independent national assembly devoid of boot lickers. They decided to appoint their own leaders as against the normal tenets which has always been a very wrong precedence in democracy because,for democracy to thrive there must be checks and balance from all the other organs that makes up the government.

Talking about developments in party politics no other political party has shown true democratic process like the PDP. Again they have set the tone for true democracy, they may have their short comings in trying to actualize this process but the idea of even promoting such in our political land scape which has reduced the level of ownership of the party by any single man at any time is highly commendable. It is only in the PDP today that you can see founding fathers been suspended or either going to other parties because no one is an over lord or an untouchable like we see in some other parties.

In the area of development even though many critics will argue that the PDP has failed I will want them to go back to the years that we were under military rule, they should try and cross check the giant stride that have been achieved since the advent of democracy and especially the current transformation that this government is embarking on and compare which is better. Without mincing words I will just list some few improvements made since democracy started under the PDP.

1. The country has experienced tremendous growth which has led to us becoming the biggest economy in Africa ahead of South Africa.
2. We have seen our lost industrial base been restored especially by this current administration which has seen us having companies like Nissan Auto and Peugeot coming back to production line with even indigenous car manufacturing companies opening shops.
3. Our lost rail lines are coming back in full gear as the trains are back.
4. Our GDP is growing at an amazing rate especially in the last 3years
5. Nigeria is regarded today as one of the encouraging destinations for investment in the world.
6. Our life expectancy rate has improved
7. Women and child mortality rate has improved
8. Our lost agricultural sector is regaining relevance especially with this current administration transformation agenda.

Basically one cannot start enlisting all the achievements and development that we have experienced in the last 15years of our democracy as they are very numerous. But like I said earlier, human wants are insatiable and because of the huge gap of infrastructural decay and underdevelopment that was created in the many years of military dictatorship, which actually set the stage for massive unemployment and hunger, many of these achievements cannot be appreciated as they are yet to really trickle down properly to the common people of the society. Though this current PDP government under the leadership of President Jonathan is doing so much to address this trend like what is been done in the agricultural sector where peasant farmers are now relieved of the bureaucracy that greeted fertilizer distribution in the past, it is very obvious that this is not going to be a simple task that will be accomplished easily.

In all I will say despite the security challenges, the hunger that pervades the land due to lack of job and basic workable amenities which are the major pointers to the failure of the PDP, one cannot but agree that the PDP with all its short comings has actually made a conscious positive effort in steering the Nigerian democratic ship in a positive direction in the last 15years. Even when they have stumbled as a political party in power,the fact that they have made a conscious and progressive steps in promoting and actualizing certain desirable democratic tenets of good governance in the spirit of fair play even at the detriment of their party both in the area of party politics and the country at large, is highly commendable in a complex societal structure like the Nigerian state.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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