The former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, is one man who has seen it all in our democratic experiment. A one-time military governor of the old Ondo State, he has traversed the length and breadth of the country as a leader of the PDP, witnessing several elections in the last 25 years of the current democratic dispensation. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on 25 years of democracy and why the democratic dispensation has not translated into good governance.
What has been the high and low of our democracy in the last 25 years?
Our nation is going through a terrible metamorphosis, and we are drowning and sinking very fast. I grew up in this country. Let’s take certain indices. The number one responsibility of the government is to protect lives and properties. Things have emerged that are quite frightening. You hear about kidnapping and arson; all this scares me. Was that the Nigeria that I grew up with? We had a lot of hopes. We had a lot of conviction, saying this is our country. Though it takes a while to go from just being a country to being a nation, nationhood is different from just being a country. We have existed perpetually as a country.
I was having a discussion with some of my friends, and I said to them that by the time the British left this country, there were two evils left behind, and these two evils have made it absolutely impossible to turn from just being a mere country to being a nation. These evils are tribalism and religious bigotry.
Listen to any discussion in any part of the country; if it’s not based on religion, it will be on tribalism.
These are things that have affected the growth of this country and its leaders. Politicians must learn to acquire those thoughts so that we can grow and move away from a mere country into a full-fledged nationhood.
At what point did we get it wrong?
Right from the beginning, look at the constitution of this country. I retired as a Commodore, like a General in the military, and I have been in the civilian domain, and the constitution we have is like a constitution for a typical military organisation. You know, in the military, you have one boss; once the boss decides, an order is issued. You know the consequences if you fall out of line. So, what is the difference between what you are running and the military? There is only one boss. Here, we have a president. Every resource from any part, the financial values, are taken to Abuja, and every month they are shared based on the local government.
In the last 25 years, do you know where we are now? We are nose-diving to the bottom of the sea; nothing is exciting. People are hungry and are therefore angry.
In the last 25 years, we have had an uninterrupted transition of power, which has not translated into good governance. Does this mean the politicians have failed the nation?
Human beings are human beings. You have the good, the bad, and the ugly. I told you also that democracy and development, both economically and materially, are not a 100-meter dash race. It takes time. First, the electoral process adopted was absolute nonsense. Remember when we started? People would come around after you voted at your polling station, and they would carry the votes by hand to the collation centre. If you had gotten 250 at your polling unit, by the time it got to the collation centre, they had added nine.
If we had adopted a proper methodology, a procedure that removes interference, people would know because the power comes from the base, from the people, and then those contesting would go all out to campaign for the people.
But when former President Muhammadu Buhari came up with this new system, I said, I thank God I am seeing a new Nigeria being born, that the power from the people would now be respected. That is why every four years you go back to renew your mandate from the people. If you have done well, they will tell you. If you haven’t done well, they will jettison you. I was so happy that we were closing the doors of the ragamuffins, the liars, through the introduction of the electronic system.
The INEC Chairman made a broadcast before the 2023 general election that we had done a dry run on the nation and the system has proven solid, that the right people would be those who really won the election. You know what happened? On D-day, we heard that there was a glitch in the system, and therefore we were going to revert to the manual system. It’s shameful.
So, what more can we do to improve the electoral system because, at every election, INEC would claim that there would be an improvement on the system so that the people that would emerge as winners of the election would be credible people who are ready to serve?
Why do you think we did a somersault by reverting to the old manual system, the corrupted system, the rotten system? The Nigerian electorate is larger than those of us who are card-carrying members of any political party. And what has been the bane of our lack of development? The power of the people that should be the basis on which this country can go from just a country to a nation is still missing. This also boils down to the way and manner in which our politicians emerged.
But do we have to do away with party politics, as some Nigerians would want to say that the politicians have failed the country?
What do we do? What is democracy? It is called the government of the people, for the people, and by the people. Power should come from the base. The essence of any political party is to unite the people. In South Africa, nobody contests any election; it is the political party that people vote for. It is after they have voted, and if that party wins the majority in that area, the party would now meet and nominate who should go there, including their president. In fact, it could be cheaper if we studied that system in South Africa.
But how do we strengthen our party politics based on what is available now?
Management, justice, fairness, and equity. A political party must be such that there is debate on every issue.
I believe that we must restructure this country. In other words, we need to revisit the constitution of the country. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was bold enough to organise the National Conference, and the report was delivered to him, but till now, it has not been implemented. We must devolve power to the states and local governments. This country is too big for one man to be the chief executive. Devolve power to the states, and there is no state in this country that doesn’t have enough resources to keep their people afloat.
Still talking about party politics, there is also the question of ideology. You see politicians jumping from one party to another after holding several party positions in the previous party; how do we address this?
There is no group where we don’t have differences of opinion. It means the person can’t be trusted. Because we are a developing country, ideologies are yet to be part of what we are looking for.
Looking back, what would you consider the darkest moment of this democracy in the last 25 years—something that could have truncated this democracy?
On the national plate, none. On our own side (PDP), people manipulated the system to suit them, and we have seen the damage that caused us. The Democratic Dispensation has a tripod; it stands on a three-legged body, and a three-legged body is a perpetually stable platform. If you remove one of the three legs, you will start to wobble. If you removed the second leg, you would either crash out or you would never be stable. So, the most sensible thing to do is to make sure that the three-legged body remains. And what are these three legs? Justice, fairness, and equity. If those issues are written in your constitution and you want to start manipulating them to suit you, you are trying to tamper with one of the three legs. It won’t be long before you see yourself on the ground.
What is really wrong with our democracy?
What is defective, which I can defend and fight for, is the constitution we are running now, which is completely military in nature, and it is bad for this system.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
