Save Nigeria Democracy Forum

STEMING THE TIDE OF VOTER APATHY

The poor voter turnout at the local government election in Lagos southwestern Nigeria which held 12/07/2025 has further confirmed and reinforced the urgent need to halt the steady decline in voter turnout in Nigeria.

Democratic practice without the people’s participation is dead on arrival. The ugly development calls for an aggressive orientation of the people.

According to Franz Fanon, “To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for everything, and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people”.

Having said that, we at Save Democracy in Nigeria Forum (SDNF) are quick to add that the pervading insipid and unenthusiastic attitude to the polity by most Nigerians is highly condemnable if not a shame.

Let all be reminded that it has been observed that right without responsibility is a social sin. Political apathy is in conflict with and contradictory to the principles that deliver democratic dividends.

The inescapable fact is that political apathy amounts to the individual shooting themselves in the foot.

ELECTION MATTERS

Public administration may appear ordinary and easy but in reality this notion is wrong. Effective public administration requires committed, selfless and dynamic men and women, often referred to statesmen.

These are the leaders with the capacity to deploy the common wealth for the common good. In Nigeria as in most parts of the world, such personalities are few and far between.

Election thus provide the electorate the opportunity to vote into office the men and women that over time have demonstrated the attributes that stand them out and commit the allocation of the common resources to their hands.

Election is therefore a serious responsibility on the citizens and to treat it with levity is the highest form of irresponsibility. Let us emphasize that politics is like the rain and just as no one can be shielded or immune from the consequences of rainfall, so much can no person, politically active or inactive avoid and be shielded from the terrible consequences of bad governance or otherwise. It’s wise to vote.

Those who out of despair and despondency refuse to vote do incalculable harm to the polity while those who say: Leave politics to the politicians, live in self-delusion as politics without the people is a farce.

As local government elections in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria are held tomorrow 12/07/2025, we at Save Democracy in Nigeria Forum (SDNF) solemnly appeal to all Lagosians to turn out en masse to cast their vote.

DEMOCRACY DAY MESSAGE

Yet again Nigeria celebrate Democracy Day. This is a day to commemorate the return of democratic rule to Nigeria after a hard fought battle with the military strongmen who staged a comeback to power starting with the Major General Muhammadu Buhari who truncated the government of President Shehu Shagari in 1983 then General Ibrahim Babangida who callously annulled the June 12, 1993 election that was fairly won by Chief Moshood Abiola.

This wickedness further culminated in the brutal regime of General Sani Abacha. Looking back at the events that forced the military to make a hasty retreat to the barracks, one cannot but agree that this day calls for celebrations.

However while Nigerians pop champagne, we at Save Democracy in Nigeria Forum (SDNF) make haste to reiterate that the government of the people by the people for the people cannot thrive without the full participation of the people.

The people must of necessity assert their dominance on the polity for democracy to function properly and deliver to them the much anticipated dividends of democracy. It’s an illusion for the people to fold their hands in utter helplessness and expect that the government will, among competing interests accord priority to theirs.

It doesn’t happen like that anywhere. Democratic benefits are derived by continuous agitation, a committed struggle among which voting at election comes top. Despair, grumbling, grumpiness and fence – sitting don not help anybody but rather aggravate an already bad situation. Political apathy incapacitates the system.

We employ the people to muster the courage to exercise the role incumbent on them in a democratic system. Happy Democracy Day

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NIGERIANS SPEAK OUT

Every national entity requires talent and skill to make progress, but the people who lack the capacity to resist oppression suffer stunted growth and stagnation.

Where public officials – customs, police, immigration, Nigeria Port Authority officials etc. collect tips in the office, it may be overlooked and allowed to pass.

However when the same public officials increase price of their service astronomically and compel compliance sighting the high cost of living in Nigeria, then the issue has gone beyond tips to bribery and corruption. This must be resisted by the victim.

We at Save Democracy in Nigeria Forum (SDNF) have often admonished Nigerians that, to look up to the sky in utter helplessness when faced with any form of impunity is a curious failing.

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is now a member of the national Assembly, Mr Festus Keyomu is a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria while the indefatigable Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the Senior Advocate of the Masses (may God bless his soul) has gone to the great beyond.

We have observed lately that the civil servants in Nigeria at all cadres have received regular promotion. This in itself should be a sufficient incentive as it’s the case around the world. This country is not meant for only a few number of privileged persons alone.

The economic situation in the country is harsh enough already. The citizens in Nigeria need to gather their strength, speak out and fight for themselves and we can assure them that they will not die, instead they and ultimately Nigeria will be the better for it.

RASCALITY AND RADICALISM
The democratic process in Nigeria since independence repeatedly suffers from the crisis of stability sometimes near the point of collapse and disintegration.
Recent developments across the nation have glaringly demonstrated that the democratic credentials of most political players in the present dispensation is a sham. Take the recent case of the River State governor's I'll advised action of going ahead to conduct local government election contrary to the courts pronouncement.
This authoritarian disposition by a supposedly custodian of democracy has removed from a lot of people the sympathy they used to have for Governor Sim Fubara in his unending battles with his former godfather, Nyosom Wike.
It's unfortunate that politicians in Nigeria in their desperation for power and position mess up the system and expect the judiciary to do miracle and clean it up. We at Save Nigeria Democracy Forum make bold to inform politicians in Nigeria that there is a clear line of difference between radicalism and schoolboy stubbornness. Political rascality is unbecoming of statesmen in Nigeria

BEWARE OF NAPOLEONS
The collapsed part of the national grid that supplies electricity to the northern part of Nigeria has been fixed and electricity restored there after weeks of power outage. This havoc was the handiwork of insurgents, the Nigeria public was informed.
We at Save Nigeria Democracy Forum express our sympathy with our fellow compatriots across the Niger over the ugly incident. Our hearts bleed whenever the reports of the sordid acts perpetrated by strongmen that have of recent emerged and spread across northern Nigeria, are reeled out by the media organizations.
Strongmen always leave in their trail killings and destruction. Wherever they have emerged the story is the same wether in the Niger Delta, South East Nigeria, Liberia's time of Charles Taylor and Yomi Johnson, Sierra Leone at the time of Corporal Fodeh Sankoh, Sudan at time of John Garang or in any part of the wide world, it's the same tale of cruelty to the victims.
In this unfortunate development, let it be remembered that those who support Napoleon will have Napoleons rise in their midst to make life miserable for them. A people that discountenance this age old dictum, do so to their own peril.

A CASE FOR THE LITIGANT
(CONCLUSION)
Again, let’s state it emphatically here that to be litigious is a factor of the democracy consciousness of the individual. Thus, to ask an opponent in a disputed contest to go to court should not be seen as a convenient avenue to consolidate a “stolen mandate” through a compromised court process.
It’s the only peaceful option open to the sore loser as the next line of action may be to take the law into their own hands, which is undemocratic and unconstitutional.
As the Presidential Election Tribunal commences proceedings at the Appeal Court Monday 8/05/2023, it’s apposite to sound a note of caution here that when a matter is before a court, it’s sub judice, a criminal infraction for any individual to make any statements on the issue under consideration.
The type of sentiment that we expect from concern Nigerians at a time as this is that God should give the justices of the Appeal and Supreme Courts the wisdom to consider the case carefully and deliver justice to the deserving party.
In addition, the litigants, their followers and members of the public at a time as this, need urgently to adopt a spirit of sportsmanship, the principle of compromise and the attitude of conciliation, that all may be well with Nigeria during and after a trying times as these. May God bless Nigeria.
Written by Comrade Akido Agenro for Save Nigeria Democracy Forum

A CASE FOR THE LITIGANT
(Part 1)
A good number of Nigerians are regrettably an incorrigible lot. The other day the literary icon and Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole, Soyinka took time to admonish the public on the need to refrain from wittingly or unwittingly making unguarded utterances with regards to the judiciary which are fascist in form and have threatening and intimidating interpretations.
We have observed that many people making a statement categorically and unequivocally indicating that the courts in Nigeria that are saddled with the task of settlement of the dispute arising from the recently concluded election do the right thing by upturning the election results in their own favour.
The lines usually run like this: Nigerians expect the court to restore confidence in the judiciary by doing the needful.
This is preposterous and highly objectionable. Much as we appreciate the fact that a loss at a keenly contested election as in any contest where the stakes are high, can be painful more so when the vanquished opponents feel cheated out, the way out of the morass is not to coerce and arm-twist the justices into getting a favourable virdict.

The outburst by Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, the running mate to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) appealing to the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) to refrain from swearing in the president elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu betrays his ignorance of the succession process.
The succession procedure from one government to another or from one administration to another commences with the presidential elections, as in the case under consideration, followed by the emergence of a declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and concluded by the swearing in of the president elect by the CJN.
If for some strange reason the occupant of the office fails to perform this duty incumbent on him by the Constitution, he stands the risk of impeachment by the National Assembly via a vote of no confidence being passed on him.
It’s only by a court's pronouncements that the programme of succession can be halted or cancelled, in which case another election has to be organised and concluded within a reasonable time otherwise the incumbent administration continues in office with its inherent constitutional crisis.
Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed's utterances is not only curious but q***r being the first of its kind in the chequered history of Nigeria, where elections are more often than not turbulent and characterised by controversy.
We appeal to Nigeria politicians to exercise self restraints and decorum even in the face of bitterness, provocation or frustration. May God bless Nigeria.