RATHER than priding itself on being the source of sustenance for the nation’s democracy, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is the cause of the nation’s woes, according to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The ACN stated this yesterday in response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s position that the PDP was the reason that the country’s democracy had not failed.
Besides, a former Chief Justice of The Gambia and former chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola has urged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to help solve the country’s problems.
He examined the state of the nation at the second Prof. Alfred Bandele Kasumu (SAN) Annual Lecture held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Wednesday.
Ayoola who was also a former justice of the Supreme Court spoke on the topic “Good Governance in Nigeria! The Role of The Judiciary.”
In a statement issued in Ibadan yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN said if the truth must be told, the PDP was the main problem hindering the growth of democracy in Nigeria, no thanks
to its anti-democratic antics, election manipulation tendencies, lack of respect for the rule of law and total disregard for the nation’s constitution .
“Mr. President, the reason Nigeria’s democracy has survived thus far is not the robustness of the PDP, as you have said, but the determination and courage of the good people of Nigeria, who have resolved to say ‘never again’ to anti-democratic forces, as well as the robust opposition mounted by a few progressive forces.
The statement continued: “Were it left for the PDP, this democracy as we know it would have become history. This is the party that has weakened all the institutions that are indispensable to building a virile democracy, from the judiciary to the legislature.
This is the party that has sought to emasculate the opposition by infiltrating their ranks and coercing them into a fake unity government. This is the party that does not believe in one man, one vote, but will rather engage in do-or-die politics to win at all cost.
“Above all, the PDP is the party that has frittered away the commonwealth since 1999 and failed woefully to deliver the dividends of democracy, thus shaking the belief of an increasing number of our citizens in democracy as a system of governance,” it said.
ACN said the reason the PDP had been subjected to intense criticism by Nigerians, not just the opposition, was that the party (PDP) had failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people in terms of good governance, provision of visionary leadership as well as the basic social amenities that make life more abundant and meaningful.
Justice Ayola said the time had not only come when relevant institutions and stakeholders for good governance must relentlessly wake up leaders to their sovereign responsibilities to the people as contained in the constitution, but in addition, now was the time to hold them accountable for the welfare and well being of the people which was the primary responsibility of government.
As if setting agenda for the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Aloma Murktah, the former Supreme Court Justice said that the time had come for the judiciary to re-discover itself, especially its social responsibility to the people.
According to Ayoola, the judiciary must now seek and ensure the justiciability of chapters two and four of the 1999 Constitution, chapters that in summary cover the demands and needs of the ordinary Nigerian.
He also condemned the docility of most Nigerians who were either not conscious or were timid to seek justice when their rights were infringed upon. He noted that the common thing was to say, “I hand him over to God to judge.”
The former ICPC chairman said the legal profession had enormous role to play in ensuring that the rights and needs of Nigerians as provided for in chapters two and four of the constitution formed part and parcel of government policies.
Again, as if setting agenda for the new NBA President Okechukwu Wali (SAN), Ayoola challenged him to re-direct the legal profession from the culture of material acquisition and re-focus it along the part of social justice for the attainment of the rights and need of the people.
He gave kudos to the late Gani Fawehinmi, who he said used the legal profession as a means of seeking social justice for the common man.
