Image: Vanguard.
Landlords in Lagos are refusing to rent their houses out to the Labour Party, LP to use as party offices and campaign posters are destroyed within minutes, according to Prof. Pat Utomi, the renowned political economist.
Citing Prof.Utomi's interview with The Niche, an online news platform, the Vanguard reports that he described the development as "fascism" and attempts by "the oppressors" to stifle democracy and erode the legitimacy of the democratic process.
He said, “In Lagos State, you cannot put up a poster. If you want to rent a house, for Labour Party, the landlord will say he doesn’t want APC people to come and burn down his house. You put up posters, they are torn within minutes.
“What kind of democracy is this? This is fascism that we are introducing into Nigeria. And I anticipated it. Did I write about it in a book that came out a couple of years ago – Why Not? It was about citizenship, state capture, creeping fascism, and the criminal hijack of politics in Nigeria.
“So, you get these kinds of conditions that are all targeted at stifling democracy and then you get the actors conducting themselves in manners where you see an erosion of the legitimacy of the process,” he said.
The economist said the emergence of Peter Obi on Nigeria's political scene re-ignited the interest of people, especially the youths in Nigeria's democratic process. “Until the Peter Obi phenomenon bust onto the scene, people were less and less interested in democracy in Nigeria.
"You can follow the afro barometer measures, longitudinal year on year. After 1999 when there was excitement for democracy, it has been down progressively. Fewer and fewer people were voting.
“But when the END SARS generation, young people decided that they were going to use democracy to change this horrid condition that we are living in, registration went up.
"Despite the things that may or may not have happened in INEC, we got nearly 13 million new voters registered. That is a phenomenal leap from a declining process.
“People want to use this democracy and now these people, the oppressors, seem committed to doing everything to prevent the people from having their will.
"So, 2023 is about how the will of the people can triumph, how a country whose population has a median age of 18 can have a small group of people in their 70s and 80s, less than three percent of the population, hold their knees on the neck of the people,” Prof. Utomi said.
He said the Delta state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa accepting to be running mate to a Northerner makes him a moral cripple.
Utomi also condemned the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for pushing a presidential candidate whom he said is unwell, describing it as a double moral tragedy.
Politics and Opinion.
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