Nigeria is not yet a full democracy … We are a dwindling kakistocracy. A government of the corrupt, by the corrupt for the corrupt. Where people are not driven by ideological interests but rather by their own self interests. A system where politicians change political parties as often as Beyonce changes clothes … provided it aligns with their wallets!
And we can see this already …
In the few days after the APC Presidential victory there have been several mock burial processions signalling the death of PDP. And some PDP members are reacting by jumping ship to APC afraid to be buried alive or left behind.
But in doing so they are creating the very same thing we fought for 16 years to overturn … another one party system but under a new name … Remember that same shit different toilet thing?
If we are to indeed have a true democracy we would need PDP to survive this 2015 beating. Because democracies succeed when there is a strong opposing party to keep the ruling party in check … to criticize them when they fall out of line, to breathe down their neck, to subconsciously remind them that they can always be voted out! That tension is what keeps democracies alive.
So let’s celebrate the APC victory, but let us not bury PDP in the excitement …. because we need them alive to bring out the best in APC!
Okechukwu Ofili is an author, speaker, and blogger and a The Trent Elite Voice. Follow him on twitter, Facebook or subscribe to his blog for more honest talk and as @ofilispeaks on instagram for more sketches! To bring Ofili to your school or organization as a speaker simply go here. His third book How Intelligence Kills was published in December 2013, order it at http://bit.ly/intelligencekills.