The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has said democracy has been in recession since President Bola Tinubu took over power two years ago.
Obi said this in response to the speech delivered by the President to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, on Thursday.
According to him, after a comprehensive look at the two-year reign of President Tinubu, it was safe to conclude that a lot is not right in governance and policy delivery of the administration.
The Ex-Anambra State Governor’s response was contained in a Democracy Day message titled:
“Democracy in Decline: Reflecting on Two Years of Tinubu’s Governance.”
Obi rated the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) low in virtually all indices of governance including: corruption, prudence, economy insecurity and politics, during the period under review.
The LP standard bearer noted that a lot is going wrong and called on the President to note that, “Governing by remote is not what Nigerians need, you need to go round and get firsthand.”
He advised the President to stop touring outside Nigeria and use his remaining 2 years to tour the 36 Nigerian states instead.
According to him, “Mr. President you have already made over 30 international trips, spending nearly 150 days abroad. If you tour Nigeria’s 36 states and dedicate just 2 days to tour each state, it would take only 72 days for you to do so, less than half the time you have already spent in other areas of the country on foreign trips. You need to go around the country to see.”
Addressing the challenge of deepening democracy, Obi appealed to President Tinubu, “to emulate late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was honest enough to admit the process that brought him into office was wrong and not sufficiently credible,’ and insisted on rapidly doing what is right to save our democracy.”
Obi recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan saved our nascent democracy by accepting defeat even before the election result, announced in the dark.
“We must end this troubling governance era that is filled with impunity, state capture, and absolute disregard for the rule of law and the checks and balances required of any worthwhile democracy”
Obi added.
The Labour Party, leader expressed regret that, “in our present state, our dear country, Nigeria, cannot be justly classified as a democratic country. The vital indications of democracy are noticeably absent. Some do not even exist.
“Democracy is said to be ‘a government of the people, by the people, and for the people,’ yet none of these three measures exist in our democracy today.
