Wait a minute, what does all the hullabaloo about the Ekiti and Osun polls being free, peaceful and fair connote? Does the massive deployment of troops and Security men to monitor elections suggest that we are a violent and an incorrigible electorate? Are we by Jove setting a new precedent in democratic practice where the military abandons their traditional role to become election monitors? To applaud the 'militarization' of the democratic space during elections is to sing democracy to an early slumber, yes we are singing democracy a devious lullaby.
Some have said that when the Edo election won by the APC was 'militarized' we were quiet, so we should overlook the Ekiti and the Osun spectacle. Sadly they ignore the fact that our critique of this new practice is neither pro APC nor Anti PDP, it is simply a plus for democracy and a nod for sane democratic ethos.
I must say for the umpteenth time that I am not a member of the APC, I have never been, nor am I a hater of my former Party the PDP. I hate ill-rule, I hate corruption, I hate religious hate, I hate ethnic jingoism, I hate and repudiate the persistent denial of a peoples right to democracy dividends, and I hate do-or-die politics. To condone and excuse the many ills of this chequered system is to sing democracy an intense lullaby.
What is right is right, and wrong, wrong. To excuse the massive deployment of Soldiers to monitor elections is to tell our Children and posterity that we are unripe for true democracy. It is an admission of guilt to wit that our politicians are not service oriented but lucre motivated for which violence and brigandage is veritable.
Curiously, is this new practice peace propelled or channeled at giving one Party the edge over the other?
TO BE CONTD.
Prof. Chris Nwaokobia Jnr.
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