By David Adenekan

“Why Do You Look At The Speck Of Sawdust In Your Brother’s Eye And Pay No Attention To The Plank In Your Own Eye?: A Rejoinder to APC Condemns United States Election Saga”

It is not a hyperbole to say the so called ruling party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress is the shameless association of strange fellows that have lost their bearings and making baseless condemnation of America’s democracy. Is Nigeria not a moribund of democracy when compared with United States? In fact, is it not ironic to say, where is this condemnation coming from? Is Nigeria democracy not a complete shadow of misnomer when we even compare it with third world countries like our neighboring sister country, Republic of Ghana? What an effrontery and insult for APC to condemn America’s democracy!

One, how do you compare United States with a worst than Banana Republic called Nigeria? Did Buhari not incite insurrection that triggered off a post election violence of 2011 general elections when he lost glaringly the presidential election to Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan? Many young adhoc staffs of Independent Elctoral Commission, INEC that were recruited from National Youth Service Corps were murdered in cold blood. Did Buhari ever condemn this senseless and horrific killing of these corp members who were on a national assignment for their father land? Did he at any point up till today issue a condolence message collectively or to any of the family of the victims?

Two, was the presidential elections of both 2015 and 2019 respectfully not rigged for him in the north and some states in southern Nigeria? The mystery surrounding the death of the resident electoral commissioner and members of his family in Kano state at the wake of 2015 general elections still remains unresolved. It was massive rigging and falsification of election results in many part of the Northern states. In many instances, the number of votes cast never tallied with the number of registered voters. Yet, Buhari with well packaged circumstantial conspiracy theories and propaganda with the strong support of some powerful countries in the western world was declared the winner of the presidential election in 2015. I was one of the few individuals who forewarned the looming danger of electing a tribal jingoist and religious bigot as the president of a secular country like Nigeria in 2015 but many political gladiators turned a deaf ear.

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Three, did Buhari not desecrate almost all the democratic institutions in Nigeria? The removal of Chief Justice of the Federation (Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen) without due process and single handedly replaced him with a Sharia law judge was a clear demonstration of fact that Buhari’s is never “A REFORMED DEMOCRAT” but a dictator. What about the unlawful invasion and ransacking of the residents of supreme court judges in the middle of the night without a search warrant? These supreme court judges were unlawfully arrested and incarcerated for days. Is this not impunity of the highest order and a demonstration of “ABSOLUTE NAKED POWER” in a democracy? It was that bad that many rights activists like Comrade Femi Falana was tacitly commending the efforts of Buhari in fighting corruption at the detriment of Rule Of Law. Today, Buhari under the guise of fighting corruption has almost destroyed all of our democratic institutions and yet many are still echoing “SAY BABA”.

In contrast, all of President Donald Trump overtures to the appellate courts and supreme court judges to overturn the 2020 presidential election were repudiated by the judiciary. It should be noted that some of the judges were nominated by President Donald Trump. This is a strong indication of independence of Judiciary and strong democratic institutions.

Four, did Buhari ever honor the call for accountability and transparency by the legislative arms of government? Did he not at many times rebuff the call for the replacement of all the security chiefs in the country because of the alarming rate of insecurities that have claimed thousands of lives and displaced many from their ancestral homes, and how about even dishonoring invitation to appear and address the Congress concerning the security situation and how to go about it?

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Five, the first law of nature is self preservation. However, where is the security of lives and properties in the unabated rising surge of insurgents and criminality all over the land?

Six, where is the guarantee of fundamental human rights as enshrined in the United Nations charter of 1948 under President Mohammed Buhari: a case study of Ibrahim Zakzaky, Omoyele Showore and others? Is it not very fair to say that under General Mohammed Buhari (as prefixed by Punch National Newspaper), the right to peaceful protest has always been matched with military force? The recent Lekki Gate Massacre was a demonstration of this fact.

Suffice to say that all of the Trump’s shenanigans is just a child play compared to the Buhari’s terrorist regime . This is because America’s democratic institutions is strong enough to endure and contain the excesses and arbitrary powers of any president.

Also, after a joint session of the congress of United State, overwhelmingly endorsed the ratification of the electoral college results, a proof to the whole world that nobody, group or institution can overturn the will of the people in America’s democracy, is Trump not shamelessly on his way out of the white house at 12 noon, on the 20th of January, 2021?

Moreover, America democracy is far greater than any “social deviant” in the country. Yes, Trump and his acolytes are the kind of deviants we have in any society and we should not panic because “THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE” will always prevail. “THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE” in America democracy is sacrosanct and the sanctity of America ‘s electoral process cannot be overemphasized.

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Yes and without mincing words, democracy is at work in America. However, is democracy at work in Nigeria? Truth be told.

It is truism to say that America will still remain the template for modern democracy and good governance because of strong democratic institutions. Yes. “No shaking”, America democracy is working!

Kaaba is a divine gift to Arabs and Moslems, Papacy is a gift of nature to Roman Catholic and Christians, to America, Democracy is her own divine endowment, therefore America still remains a shining and leading light of democratic ideals and principles for the rest of the world.

Nigerians should not take the so called ruling party, APC serious because with all of the shenanigans in the country, the leadership of the ruling party ought to bow their heads in shame .

In the final analysis, is the APC condemnation of America democracy not a literature simile of “why do you look at the speck of Sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? What a parallel distinction between American democracy and the so called democracy in Nigeria.

Yes and without a doubt, Nigeria is a moribund of democracy! Truth is bitter.

Only time will tell.

David Adenekan writes from Chicago, Illinois.

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