A faction of the Ijaw Youths Council, IYC, Worldwide, on Wednesday expressed concern over what it described as ‘traces of military rule’ in Nigeria’s democracy.
The group also cautioned President Bola Tinubu against the incessant militarisation of democratic governance.
According to the IYC, despite the acceptable fact that the day, June 12, 1993, had gone down in history as a day where Nigerians experienced the freest and fairest elections, the over militarisation of the country’s democracy had become worrisome.
The IYC, through its factional national spokesman, Comrade Bedford Berefa, argued that after several years of democratic rule in the county, there are still traces of military rule in governance.
He insisted that there are evident and repeated use of absolute power by the executive arm of government to dominate dissenting voices.
According to the IYC, “Our democracy has been militarised with no consideration for the people, the power of the people has been undermined, the people are no longer the center of government, manipulations and intimidation of the people has become the order of the day.
“There have been constant human rights violations everywhere, particularly in the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta region.
“At the slightest provocation, communities and people are being brutalized. The recent military escapade at the Igbomotoru community in Bayelsa state tells it all.
“Communities are constantly ransacked by the military, and harmless people being killed without justice in an acclaimed practising democracy with no form of investigation done to protect the rights of the people.
“This is a deliberate practice to constantly enslave our people and it can be likened to colonial democracy using poverty like an atomic weapon.
“A democracy where the military is constantly deployed in a democratic election as if the nation is at war is unacceptable! Shockingly, the military is allegedly being used as rigging elements to secure fraudulent win for the highest bidder.
“Also, It is quite appalling that the annual take-home pay of elective political leaders in the National Assembly is worth the 35-year salary of a civil servant. This is an aberration of our democracy. Politics seems more valuable than men and women who put their lives on the line to protect and project the vibrant Nigerian state.”
June 12: There are traces of military rule in Nigeria’s democracy – IYC
