What Nigeria is practicing is a government of sorrow for the people who are always cheated out of their dividends of democracy and commonwealth of the country.
Human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, has lamented the terrible state of Nigeria’s democracy, saying that Nigeria’s democracy is actually what he described as “sorrowcracy.”
Sowore said this on Monday in Lagos State while speaking at a symposium organised by the AAC Women Wing, Lagos State Chapter to commemorate 30 years of the watershed June 12, 1993 presidential elections now known as Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
The human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow said that what Nigeria is practicing is a government of sorrow for the people who are always cheated out of their dividends of democracy and commonwealth of the country.
According to him, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer while the only democracy acceptable to Nigerian leaders is the democracy that puts them in power permanently as they care nothing about the people.
He recounted how he alongside other activists stood against the military regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida who annulled the election of MKO Abiola in 1993, saying that they chased the military out of power but those who fought against democracy then were the ones enjoying power in Nigeria now.
He said, “Today is June 12. June 12, 30 years ago, was the time MKO Abiola became the president from the election that was conducted free and fair. Those of us who were in students movement those days did not even participate in the election because the military under Babangida had been head-on in handing over the power.
“When they annulled the election, we took the position that we preferred democracy because we wanted the military out of power. Sadly today, those people who were against democracy, who were against June 12 are the ones in power in Nigeria. Well, maybe the man who rigged himself now into office will say he fought for democracy but the conversation is not about what he did and what he didn't do, because most of them who claimed they were fighting for democracy actually ran away from the fight.
“We were the ones, as young people, who stood and fought the military until the military left power. Babangida dared us and we kicked him out of power. But 30 years later, we cannot say today that we have democracy. What we have now, nobody can define it as democracy. What we have now is "Sorrowcracy". That is, government of sorrow for people who are always cheated out of their dividend of democracy.”
Sowore also lambasted President Bola Tinubu for removing fuel subsidy saying, “Tinubu came, he hasn't lasted for two weeks; two things were of great concern to him: how to punish the poor, and who are the poor? The same people who have always been cheated out of the commonwealth of Nigeria.
“They removed the fuel subsidy and he had the audacity to say that our people have been asked to make sacrifice. How many sacrifices do they make for us, especially when his friends, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer on a daily basis? As far as they are concerned, the only democracy that is acceptable to them is the democracy that puts them in power permanently.”