The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos Central Senatorial candidate in the last elections, Chief Adesunbo Onitiri, has rated democracy in Nigeria very, very poor and low: “Despite 20 years of democracy, Nigeria is still not yet out of the woods and our citizens are the worst for it because of poor leadership.
“Very soon, Nigeria will be celebrating 20 uneventful years of our democracy. As one of those that fought for this fledging democracy, I stand to say boldly that Nigerians are yet to enjoy dividends of democracy because of poor, inefficient, selfish and corrupt leadership hoisted on the country.
“Our citizens are the worst for it. It is sad to observe that we are yet to enjoy basic amenities of life that developed countries enjoy such as uninterrupted electricity supply, potable drinking water, good roads, access to health facilities and good, quality education almost 60 years after independence.”
Onitiri, who sponsored Chief MKO Abiola’s Epetedo declaration in 1994, lamented: “We fought to drive away the military regimes in 1992, 1998, but alas!, the military dropped their khaki and hijacked our struggle in agbada.
“What you don’t have you can never give. The retired military in agbada can never give us dividends of democracy. No wonder you now see rising cases of insurgency, kidnapping, killer-Herdsmen on the rampage, wanton killing of innocent Nigerians and other criminal activities.
“Nigeria needs leaders such as in Dubai, Malaysia, and Singapore. We fervently need leaders that want to genuinely serve the people and not looters and wasters of our commonwealth.”
He admonished elected new leaders not to embark on new projects but strive to complete all the abandoned projects that litter the nooks and crannies of our cities: “All our political structures should be strengthened and the doctrine of separation of power should be reinforced. We need to deemphasise use of money in our politics.”
He emphasized that all political appointmentees’ emoluments should be reduced by half and such savings be spent on empowerment of the youths and women folks: “A country that is so blessed with numerous resources both human and natural should not be left to rot and be ridiculed by developed nations due to lack of good leadership.
“Our destiny is in our hands let us salvage the country together. Let us give our youths chance to govern and turn the country around. Our suffering and poverty is enough.
“Our leaders urgently need to attend to the impending/looming revolution of the unemployed youths by serious empowerment programmes and skill acquisitions, instead of the huge resources wastefully spent on military gadgets and combating insurgency and criminals.
“The situation in Nigeria is getting worse instead of better. The patience of Nigerians has expired and we are sitting on a time bomb that can explode anytime.”