Former Lagos state Lead Representative and minister, Babatunde Fashola, has depicted Nigeria’s democracy as being heralded by autocracy, and not from the free will of the citizens.
Fashola spoke at The Platform Nigeria, a programme hosted by a Lagos based church, Covenant Nation, to commemorate Democracy Day.
Themed ‘Democracy and Free Market’, Fashola likewise noted that the current privatization of most businesses in the nation was heralded by the military through Decree No., 25 of 1988 later amended in 1999, known as the Privatization and Commercialization Decree.
Fashola who did not give further subtleties of his position said Nigerians did not take part in the election that led to the emergence of the nation’s first democratic president.
“I will start my speech by talking about June 12. June 12 was like any other day until 1993 because of the way people voted, and what happened. And that was an election that transcended all of our default lines and areas of division.
“Suddenly, it became an election that people wanted to give everything to save. Lives were lost. Even the elites of Nigeria decided that it was an election that we were to pay any price for, and many did pay the price.
“The hope that that election promised was heralded by symbols. Late Abiola was the elixir that kept the quest and the agitation for the actualisation of June 12 alive.
“Clearly, the reason we are converging here today did not evolve from free will. It emerged from a dictatorial arena. Our democratic experience was midwife by dictatorship, not by something we participated in by our own free will. Dictatorial actions led to the emergence of what we converge to celebrate 25 years later.
“But there is a coincidence. It is that as we talk of democracy and the idea of a free market, Nigeria’s free market was also started by the military.
“That might surprise some of us. And I make the point that there is a decree called decree no 25 of 1988 later amended in 1999 known as the privatization and commercialization decree. That is the place that our journey to a free market started from,” he said.
