Gen. Eze
Ben Ndu
One of the recipients of President Bola Tinubu’s June 12, National Honours awards, Major General Chris Eze (retd), has said that the present democracy in Nigeria is far from the real democracy they fought for between 1993 and 1998.
Eze, who is an “Apostle of a New Nigeria ” said this while reacting to the national honours bestowed on him and others for their roles in the fight for enthronement of Democratic rule after the June 12, debacle.
He said there was the need for a better society under the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria.
“We need a better society that benefits everyone, not democracy for a few individuals, ” he said.
Eze, who is the current Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Enugu State, expressed happiness for the recognition accorded him by the President.
He however, said he was disappointed in the way things were going under Nigeria’s current democratic experiment.
“I am happy for this personal recognition but Nigeria still has not gotten to where I expected it to be.
“I think what we are having now is not exactly what we struggled for that some people even paid the ultimate prize, ” Eze said.
The retired general turned politician decried the conduct of some elected political representatives, saying that some of their actions is against the tenets of democracy.
“I don’t think that the way we play politics now by narrowing the political space is in the spirit of June 12, which we fought for.
“Look at what the national assembly did with the electoral act; removing forgery of certificates as a ground for disqualification of a candidate from contesting an election, ” he said.
According to him, a certificate suppose to be a proof that somebody attended a particular school or obtained certain qualifications.
He argued that removing the certificate forgery means that no certificate can ever be trusted.
“So, what if somebody comes telling you that he is a professor, and maybe the person has not gone beyond a secondary school.
“A country that does not take forgery seriously is a country that doesn’t want to enjoy any public morality at all; so, I am not happy, ” Eze said.
The ADC chieftain also frowned at the lack of clear separation of powers in the political system, saying it negates the true principles of democracy.
“Again for the judiciary being swallowed up and becoming part of the executive by being subservient to the executive, that is not the democracy we fought for.
“Before you lay your life for a course, you must be fighting for an ideal society; you must have a course you are fighting for.
“So, if you were in my shoes in 1993, when the struggle for democracy was being waged and someone comes now and say let’s fight for democracy the way it was fought then, will you bother, ” Eze said.
It would be recalled that the retired general, then as a Colonel, fought alongside Col. Dangiwa Umar for the enthronement of democracy in 1993.
The duo and other military officers, were then serving at the Nigerian Army Armoured Training School, Bauchi, where Col. Umar was the School Commandant.
Umar was later retired compulsorily by the then Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, for insisting on the enthronement if democracy.
