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According to former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s democracy is most threatened by the judiciary.

He was a panellist at a national conference on bolstering Nigerian democracy held Monday in Abuja by the National Peace Committee (NPC), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA).

The politician participated in the discussion of Prof. Bayo Olukoshi’s paper, “Party Politics and Political Integrity: The Role of Political Parties and Opposition in Democracy.”

He maintains that efforts to reduce judicial irresponsibility have failed.

“That must change. The same judiciary that affirmed the primacy of parties in choosing their candidates and leaders now sanctions and indeed promotes the destruction of parties by a few, and in some cases, a single individual with a personal agenda.

“The judiciary also seems to have replaced the voters in choosing our leaders. The involvement of the judiciary in electoral disputes was intended to affirm the choice of voters.

“But the judiciary, even at the highest levels, twists and contorts to find technicalities to deny voters their choice rather than affirming the voters’ choices.

“I know enough of history to understand that when democracy dies, the judiciary and its leadership do not necessarily survive intact.

“The judiciary survived the implosion or death of our First Republic democracy mainly due to the presence of strong independent justices. It wasn’t for want of trying.

“However, as the corruption of every facet of our society deepened, the judiciary soon followed. And it is, perhaps, the most dangerous because there is nowhere else for the aggrieved to turn to,” he said.

He alleged that no one was in place to restrain the other branches of government from going too far.

“If the rot in our judiciary persists without severe consequence for the perpetrators, our parties and our democracy are unlikely to survive.”

Nigerian democracy, he contended, is at a turning point.

“Put simply, it is at the risk of eroding completely. And it is not caused by one single person or one single administration.

“In fact, a number of us have been warning over the years that we may come to this pass if we lose our vigilance and fail to take corrective actions to protect and deepen our democracy,” he said.

No other leader, he claimed, has been as proactive in advancing democracy as he does.

He said “At the risk of sounding modest, I doubt that there are many contemporary senior political leaders who have spoken out and done more to promote democratic governance in our country than me. In addition to public statements and presentations, I brought some actions to our courts which produced landmark judicial decisions intended to uphold democratic principles and practices.

“Some of that effort was thrust upon me by circumstances of political struggles. But much of my effort was because of two things: my participation among other leaders in the struggles to ease the military out of power; and my deep and enduring belief that democracy is the best route to development and unity for our diverse country and peoples.”

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