June 12: Whither Democracy In Imo State?

COLLINS OPUROZOR

Till this day, the best way humans have learnt to organize society is by creating a system that enables everyone to have a stake in the process of governance. When one man rules, he rules in his interest. That is dictatorship. But when the people rule, they rule in their collective interest. It is democracy. And the entire democratic enterprise, which in modern time has taken the shape and form of representativeness, begins with popular consent, or what a social contract scholar captures as follows: “I hereby authorize and give up the right of governing myself to this man, on the condition that thou give up thy own right and authorize all his actions in a like manner”.

This underscores the importance, even the centrality, of credible elections to the democratic process. A society that manufactures all sorts of legal abracadabra to undermine the sanctity and supremacy of the vote cannot lay claims to democracy. And history is replete with proofs that any regime that comes to power through any other means outside of popular consent which the ballot alone confers must necessarily sustain its power through coercion. The tragedy that now besets Imo State and which today gives us a great opportunity to reflect upon is the reality that democracy in Imo was dragged to the slaughterhouse and murdered with the imposition of Chief Hope Uzodimma on Imo people as our ruler.

In the spirit of remembering the late Chief MKO Abiola in whose memory we mark this day and whose stolen democratic mandate we today celebrate, we must ask ourselves some questions as Imo people: Where is our democracy? What has happened to the mandate which we came out en masse to give Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha? What does the future hold for us in a system where our votes no longer count and where our votes are no longer even counted? Can there be progress, peace and prosperity without justice? All these should should agitate our minds as we think of democracy today.

To be sure, chaos, violence and brigandage are some of the tools invariably associated with anti-democratic forces. When NADECO peacefully struggled for the restoration of Abiola’s presidential mandate, the military junta of Gen. Abacha resorted to violence and state-sanctioned terrorism in order to frame the agitators and have them eliminated. Suddenly, there would be bizarre bombings masterminded by the junta, and the authorities would immediately link them to NADECO just to wipe out the pro-democracy elements. Many of them went into exile. The reign of tyranny is sustained by violence!

Today, Imo State is in tatters under the watch of the unelected Uzodinma. Youth restiveness has got to its apogee occasioned chiefly by unemployment. Insecurity and insecurity-induced crimes have taken over the state. Health prospects are getting poorer, and life expectancy rate has dropped from 57 in 2020 to 53 in 2021. Even when one in every five Imo women is prone to cancer, there is no single cancer-screening center in Imo, and even when one in every eight Imo residents is prone to kidney and heart diseases, there is no nephrologist on the payroll of the government, no cardiologist, no pathologist. 

Businesses have shuttered. Social institutions have been ravaged, infrastructure in shambles and education completely abandoned. The nightmare is not such much that policies have failed in addressing these challenges than that there are no policies in the first place to address them. And any effort by the regime in power to reverse this trend is effectively dubious, or better still, more apparent than real.

The trouble with Imo State is simply a crisis of democracy. A government that came to power through the people will always have the people’s ears, loyalty and support. When there is crisis, the people already know what to do to assist the government. That is the logic of democracy and that explains the predicament of Imo State today. That also explains the near-miracles performed by the Ihedioha Administration in less than seven months. For instance, by having the mandate and support of the youths, professional bodies, social cultural groups, the clergy, the Imo diaspora community and indeed the vast majority of Imo people, confidence was reposed in governance and everyone came out to participate in rebuilding the state. Everyone believed that they had a stake in Imo and a role in making it great. It was a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Diaspora remittances to Imo soared, IGR rose from a paltry N450 million to N1.2 billion, FDI inflows grew astronomically, development taken to the grassroots, crime took a nosedive, insecurity totally absent, and Imo ranked first in transparency and public accountability.

Today, there is in Imo a regime that is completely not just alienated from the people but that is at war with society itself. Recall that all tyrannies are sustained through coercion, and note that the regime in Imo has only one thing to fall back: coercion. When you hear Uzodimma’s constant allegations against the opposition and his threats of arresting and crushing people for the values they uphold, they are just emblematic of a tyranny in full swing. The destruction of democracy in Imo, subjugation of the collective electoral will of Imo people and invalidation of the people’s mandate have left a legacy of agonies in the state, and today with tears in their eyes, Imo people ask the Supreme Court: Where is our Democracy?