By-Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. The 25 years of Nigeria’s uninterrupted Democracy is something worth celebrating.
Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999 after sixteen years of military dictatorship under the different military heads of state.
Towards the transition from military to civilian regime under General Abdulsalami Abubakar many political parties were registered but the most popular among them were the People’s Democratic Party -PDP, All People’s Party – APP later changed to ANPP and Alliance for Democracy -AD.
The three Parties dominated the political scene as APP and AD produced governors in different states while PDP produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the President of the country beside governors in some states.
This development provides an opportunity for the PDP to rule the most populous African nation for sixteen years.
Under PDP leadership Nigeria experienced many changes in its economic management as it was terrible for them during the late military head of state General Sani Abacha.
Obasanjo was able to clear all Nigerian foreign debts and he created different poverty alleviation programs that provide monthly stipends for unemployed and less privileged citizens.
After Obasanjo’s tenure of 8 years President Yar’Adua under the same PDP. This man’s short-lived government was adjudged as one of the best governments Nigeria had.
He introduces many policies that change the face of the country’s economy and security situations, one of such a giant initiative is amnesty to the Niger Delta Militants that terrorized Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
The man slashes the pump price of petrol without making noise in addition to police and other civil servants’ salaries increment without waiting for the Labour Unions to agitate for it.
The death of this patriotic leader was a huge loss to Nigeria and its progress and development.
The same PDP continues to rule Nigeria
After the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua his Vice Goodluck Jonathan took over as the President. His tenure was characterised by heavy insecurity and corruption allegations but it was during his time that Nigeria claimed to be the number one economy in Africa despite all the security and corruption challenges.
Towards 2015 Jonathan’s government was in trouble as the major opposition parties in the country allied with factional members of the PDP who called themselves new PDP.
This resistance led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress- APC, the present ruling party in Nigeria.
Buhari’s tenure plus the unexpected economic challenges
Kamal Ibrahim is a political analyst He said Buhari was expected to provide solutions to the major security and economic challenges facing the country at that time but his inability to confront the existing problem proved him to be an incapable leader.
“I once told my students towards the 2023 elections that whoever emerged to be the President of Nigeria among the four major candidates at that time; Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso will perform better than Buhari.
But to my surprise now Tinubu is proving me wrong right from day one in office where he removed the fuel subsidy without studying the situation on the ground ” the analyst said
Back to Buhari’s 8 years in office, there was no major economic development initiated by the former military General
But to be fair to him, he met a devastating security situation in the country and he managed to control it during his first tenure towards his second term Boko Haram subsided but other forms of security threats such as kidnapping for ransom and banditry emerged.
Tinubu’s regime and his economic policies
President Tinubu succeeded the Daura-born General Muhammadu Buhari as the second APC President.His current economic policies of removing fuel subsidies, naira floating and electricity tariff increase are what Nigerians are feeling right now.
Tinubu has a few weeks to celebrate his one year in office but Nigerians seem to be tied with the less than one year administration under the former Lagos State governor.
Dr. Victor Emeka is an independent political researcher. He described the PDP’s 16 years of leadership as the best for Nigerians as no matter how the majority of the citizens can afford food, school fees of their children, and health care as Obasanjo’s government established the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS), Yar’Adua increased salary and initiated amnesty for lasting peace in Niger Delta region while Jurnathon Make Nigeria to be the number one economy in the African continent.
APC’s 9 years of leadership created an unpleasant environment
“When the majority can not eat what do you expect?When the majority lose their means of survival what do you expect? when inflation is increasing every day, what do you expect ?” Victor said.
So to be frank these two parties put Nigeria in a bad shape but APC is the major contributor to Nigeria’s present condition.
Even though what is the most surprising is that the Nigerian politicians are the same, mostly switching from one political party to another.
Within these 25 years, Nigeria can only claim to be under Democratic rule for these years but the progress is not something to write home about.
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