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President now impeaches a Governor – LP leader
Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and former Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, on Monday – yesterday, March 24 – disagreed on whether or not democracy has failed in Nigeria.
Obi and Tambuwal disagreed while featuring in a panel discussion at a Colloquium to mark the 60th birthday of former Imo State Governor, Emeka Ihedioha, with the theme “Democracy: Is it failing in Africa?”
The former LP presidential candidate, who is also a former Anambra State Governor, noted that while some persons laid the foundation for the current democratic rule in the country and built it to an extent, another set of people came and knocked it down.
Obi, while recalling that prior to his impeachment as Governor, President Olusegun Obasanjo made efforts to dissuade the Anambra House of Assembly from sacking him, lamented that today, it is the President that impeaches a State Governor.
He said: “If you look at what Bishop Kukah said, he said it is work in progress. If you look at where we are today; they started in 1999, laid the foundation. Some people came and took it to the decking level.
“Some people were trying to raise it to the first floor when some people came and knocked everything down. That is the situation we are in now. Everything has been knocked down. Nothing works.
“And I am somebody who can say this is exemplary. I became a Governor through the court, when Obasanjo and Atiku were in government. I did not pay the court one Naira. I was sitting in my house when the Court declared me winner. It can’t happen in Nigeria today.
“When I was being impeached, the President sent people to come and intervene on my behalf. Ken Nnamani came begging the House people not to impeach me. Today, the President is the one impeaching the Governor. So, it has collapsed; it has failed. Let’s talk about how we are going to rebuild it.”
However, Tambuwal in his submission insisted that it is not democracy that has failed in Nigeria, but the operators, noting that the success or otherwise of the country’s democracy is a function of those operating.
Tambuwal, while referencing the recent resort to voice vote by the National Assembly to approve emergency rule in Rivers, said it was the operators that flouted the rules.
He stated that democracy is still the best form of government for the country, noting that it is imperative on the operators to make it work.
According to him: Even from the conclusions of Bishop Kukah, he did say that democracy is work in progress, even from our own experience here in Nigeria, from 1999 to today, we have seen how different governments handled similar issues differently. I would like to say that it has to do with the operators of a system at a given time. If they play by the rules, democracy works. If they do otherwise, it will be failing. It falters.”
