Frontline lawyer identifies danger signals to democracy in Nigeria

Frontline lawyer identifies danger signals to democracy in Nigeria
Tony Ekata, Benin City

The recurrent crisis in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, the 2011 post-presidential election crisis, the Niger Delta crises, corruption and the Boko Haram terror offensive are some of the danger signals threatening Nigeria’s democracy.

Frontline lawyer and President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Joseph Daudu, made this submission in Benin City at the 7th annual conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

Daudu said the casual way the authorities handle serious crises accounts for the recurrence of such crises. He cited the prompt way culprits of the riots in London about two months ago were tried and sentenced while perpetrators of more heinous violence and wastage of lives and property over the years are yet to be prosecuted in Nigeria.

Corruption

The NBA President, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said corruption was a fundamental danger signal to the country’s democracy.

“All that needs to be said here is that the greatest danger to the Nigeria project, and by extension our democracy, is corruption. Available research shows that ethnicity, religious differences and other divisive factors are merely factors to facilitate corruption”, Daudu posited.

He therefore charged Nigerian leadership to recognise that the responsibility imposed by their positions is sacred and must be guided by the dictates of truth, honesty, sincerity and the fear of God, and urged the people to be the barometer of the leadership.

Geography, power and politics

Also speaking at the conference, Ambassador Dipo Fafowora, a former Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, decried the use by various ethnic groups of existing political platforms to promote their ethnic interests in Nigeria.

He said the quest for tribal benefits results in massive public corruption and the desire to keep a ruling group in power for as long as possible, using violent means if necessary.

National interest

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who was one of the guest speakers at the forum, implored editors to exercise responsibility and think of national interest in their choice of stories.

Speaking in the same vein, Information Minister, Mr Labaran Maku, said Nigerians should learn to put the stability of the nation ahead of personal quest for power.

Tribute to the media

In a glowing tribute to the media, Maku said Nigerians were yet to adequately acknowledge the role of the media in championing the drive for independence and serving as the leading light in the sustenance of democracy.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, who chaired the discussion session on Danger Signals to Nigeria’s Democracy, called for a stakeholders’ engagement on the Freedom of Information law, as the law, according to him, offers a panacea against corruption and abuse of power.

Host Governor, Adams Oshiomole, urged the media not to join in celebrating criminals and ex-convicts. He advised editors to guard against planted stories that are intended to either glorify the sponsors of such stories or disparage their opponents.

Minimum wage

On the controversial minimum wage debate, Oshiomole said it smacked of hypocrisy for some state governors to argue that they could not pay the uniform minimum wage fixed by the federal government because of their lean resources whereas they have no problems receiving uniform salaries fixed by the same central authority.

“If the salaries of governors and other public officials fixed at the centre are acceptable to them, why should different standards apply for other workers?” Oshiomole queried.

The Edo State Governor, who has commenced the payment of the minimum wage in his state, said it amounted to duplicity for some governors to be disobeying the minimum wage law while expecting their citizens to obey the laws of the land.

He said the failure to pay showed the extent to which some people could go to obtain power since they found it expedient not to oppose the minimum wage bill before the elections only to express their objections after the electorate, including workers, had voted them into power.

The annual conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors is designed to engage public officials on critical national issues.

Iheanacho