“Legislators have the first place in the temple of glory; conquerors come behind them” – Voltaire, 1694-1778, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 126 When one of the world’s leading philosophers made that remark in the eighteenth century, democracy was a new idea. What another sage, half a world away, in America, described as “the government of the people, by the people and for the people” was an intoxicating new form of government – promising freedom, prosperity and progress for people worldwide. It appeared self-evident and inevitable for a while – especially after World War II. There was no country called Nigeria, when Voltaire spoke about legislators. He could not have imagined a legislative branch of government, so totally bereft of glory, as we now have in Abuja as our National Assembly, NASS. It would appear that there is nothing questionable that our NASS would not do. FROM OBASANJO TO TINUBU – DECLINE IN SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY “Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few” – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, VBQ p 37 By the middle of the last century, great thinkers have already started to observe the flaws in democracy; that in the hands of politicians, the people were gradually losing their control of their destinies and their lives. Corruption in the three branches – executive, legislative and judiciary – was the rule; not the exception anymore virtually everywhere. But, even people like Shaw could not have imagined a nation, pretending to be democratic, like Nigeria – while its lawmakers and judiciary deliberately remove all the guard rails for good governance in a good democracy. What has happened to Nigeria since 1999 brings to mind the statement, carved in stone, by a Peruvian President. “Traditional democracies will end up in the garbage heap” – Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian President, 1998, VBQ p 37 Exactly a year before the Nigerian military, under General Abubakar Abdulsalami, handed the nation to a retired General Obasanjo, never known to believe in democracy, Fujimori, who had become President of Peru through a free and fair election, had embarked on turning his country into a dictatorship. The first step was to capture the parliament by buying or bullying the elected lawmakers. The second step consisted of weakening the judiciary and to pocket the Chief Justice. Thereafter, Fujimori could do whatever he wanted. He had campaigned as an anti-corruption crusader; and had started by getting several officials, including his immediate predecessor jailed – to loud sound of applause nationwide. By the time he embarked on criminal self-enrichment, there was no opposition left to stop him. Or, so he thought. Wait for how Fujimori ended his life. Obasanjo wasted no time in 1999 to, first, capture the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and then other things. Like Fujimori, when interviewed by Christiana Amankpour of CNN, and asked about his priorities as President, Obasanjo’s reply was: “I will end poverty and fight corruption to a standstill”. History would recall that, during his administration’s eight years in office, poverty was not ended and corruption blossomed. It was under the government that $13-16 billion was allegedly taken from the Sovereign Trust Fund, STF, to increase Nigeria’s power supply to 10,000MW per day. That did not happen also; but, the money allegedly vanished without trace till today. Read my book: PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, and discover how capturing the National Assembly, NASS, has made it possible for that administration to have got away with such monumental mismanagement of public funds and those in that government still walk around free – while self-righteously pointing accusing fingers at others. Yar’Adua and Jonathan, God bless them both, being civilians, made no attempt to subjugate the NASS. To their everlasting glory, they allowed the lawmakers to operate as they should – with very little interference. With the benefit of hindsight, from the standpoint of corruption index, the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administrations represented our finest period since 1999. Was Nigeria totally free of corruption then? No. But, our return to democracy was still relatively fresh. We took for granted their respect for fundamental rights, freedom of the media and virtually non-interference in the affairs of the NASS. Political antagonists drew our collective attention to the alleged corruption in the governments. There was indeed corruption in them. Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, capitalized on the pervasive discontent to launch the CHANGE agenda. We embraced the slogan; and trooped out to vote for Buhari. It was a monumental national blunder; which President Tinubu would later confirm. “I always look very hard at any one who is above suspicion” – Agatha Christie, 1890-1976, VBQ p 238 “I inherited a country near bankruptcy” – President Tinubu, July 2025.
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