Obi: There’s No Democracy in Nigeria, FG Still Hounding Me

•Urges Tinubu to account for fuel subsidy savings

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Former Anambra state Governor and Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, yesterday disputed that Nigeria is practicing democracy, noting that despite the much touted atmosphere of free speech in the country, he is still being hounded by the Bola Tinubu administration.

Speaking on Arise Television, Obi noted that although he has always been wary of assessing the current government, Tinubu has kept his promise to continue where former President Muhammadu Buhari stopped.

“I always don’t want to be involved in assessing this present government because I’ve always remained consistent that he is doing well because what he promised the people is exactly what he’s doing; That he will start and continue from where the previous government stopped. And on that, he’s doing well,” Obi added.

Stressing that inflation and unemployment have been on the upward swing since the Tinubu administration, Obi explained that if there was an improvement, the people of Nigeria will feel it.

“When you talk about improvements, they’re not things you say. They’re things people feel, they’re things people see.  I’ve listened to people say, jobs are being created. Where are the jobs? If you talk about job creation anywhere in the world, you’ll see the signs. If you talk about improvement in education, you’ll see it,” Obi argued.

Obi stated that as a politician, he has made it a point to travel the entire country, stressing that the Tinubu government is not being felt by Nigerians and that Nigerians are yet to see a clear roadmap by the Tinubu administration.

“Let’s include fuel subsidy. When they say there’s huge savings, where is the savings,” he asked.

However THISDAY check show that the enhanced revenue from the removal of fuel Subsidy has been deployed in the budgets for 2024 and 2025  for the federal, States and local governments.

According to Obi, in Abuja, there are over  40,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with no primary health care and primary schools “So, where are you investing the money? he queried .

He added: “There’s no democracy in Nigeria today. Nigeria today is not a democratic country. Let’s stop telling ourselves lies. If you look at all the tenets, look at all the measures of democracy, they don’t exist here.

“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. Today, the government we have is not of the people. It’s not by the people because the people didn’t vote. It wasn’t their vote. I’m not just talking about the presidency.

“I ve just told you that I went to an IDP camp where there were thousands of people, no primary healthcare. They were begging me to have one nurse, which I said I must make sure of. They don’t even have a primary school, which again I told them I will make sure it happens.

“So what are you doing in a country that just spent N21 billion to renovate a house for the vice president, which is not as important. He’s not living there. And you cannot even have a primary school for kids who are going to be leaders of Nigeria tomorrow.  So it is not a democratic country. It’s not for the people. You cannot have a democracy without a functional and effective legislature, which you know we currently don’t have today.

“You cannot have a democracy without an independent judiciary that fights for the common person. I can go on and on. In a democracy, it is clear. There are guidelines, when you are  for people vying for election, like in the Nigerian case, you have to talk about people who must be qualified. They must have primary school, secondary school, university, and must attain a certain age.

“That is not happening today. People are with unverified and  forged certificates all over the place, criminal records and everything, and they’re in charge. So you cannot say that we’re striving to be a democratic country, but the way we are today is not.

“I can tell you that even me is being harassed every day. There’s no freedom of speech.  And I can tell you that there are so many people who have been detained in one place or the other, because they’ve made one statement.”