AS the 2007 presidential race gathers momentum, Nigerians have been called upon not to allow former military leaders to hijack the democratic process again in the country.
The call was made by the national president of the Compatriots Peoples Union (CPU), Mr. Seinde Afere-Ajila, in a press statement.
According to him, military men, whether serving or retired, are prone to dictatorship as they do not have in them democratic tenets just like what we have witnessed in the country in the last five years.
Afere-Ajila said the forth-coming political dispensation provides an opportunity for all Nigerians yearning for true democracy to rise up and reject all those pretending to be democrats but who, on getting to power would ride roughshod on everybody with their military jackboots.
According to the union president, what has been happening in the country in the last five years have shown clearly that retired military officers merely covered their uniform with Agbada while seeking office and immediately they get into office, subject the citizens to all manners of suffering and slavery. Afere-Ajila who is the managing director of Sam Law International said unlike retired military men, real democrats in power will always listen to the appeals of their people while taking decisions that will have far reaching consequences on their lives like the issue of oil, and will not quel riots and protests with tanks and guns.
He stated that the country can only develop in an atmosphere of true democracy that guaranteed individual freedom as enshrined in the constitution while the stunted growth we are experiencing at the moment is as a result of the fact that the rule of law is not allowed to take full reign which is characteristic of military rule or dictatorship.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Email this article
