Change Agents In An Emerging Democratic Process (1)

The restoration of elected democratic rule in Nigeria since 1999 has thrown up a fresh debate about the nature of change in the country’s political process. Understandably, the termination of military dictatorship generated high expectation on the part of the masses of the people who were the main victims of the tyranny under the military. However, the process of the transition to elected democratic rule influenced the quality and direction of change that followed. First, the momentum of the anti-military uprising was determined by the June 12, 1993, presidential polls. That election involved two political parties founded and funded by the dictatorial military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. They were the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC). The SDP candidate, Chief M.K.O. Abiola was heading for victory when the military junta cancelled or annulled the results.

The nation-wide mass revolt that greeted the cancellation did not restore the democratic mandate given to Chief Abiola and the progressive forces. A fascist segment of the military took advantage of the situation and seized power with General Sanni Abacha as the head of state. His regime of tyranny severely damaged the prospects of democratic recovery. But the June 12 movement fought him valiantly until his mysterious death in 1998. The disgraced military found an escape route through a hasty transition programme presided over by General Abdusalami Abubakar. The parties that participated in the process were those favoured by the departing military despots. The 1999 constitution was also a product of the military and its anti-democratic impurities are major impediments to the goals of radical change. In the circumstances, the pro-democracy organizations made the best of the situation by aligning with the approved parties. This was a historic compromise but it was considered as a pragmatic option.

Historians of the era are agreed that of the three parties – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the then All People’s Party (APP) and the then Alliance for Democracy (AD) – the last named was the point aggregation for the bulk of the pro-democracy vanguards. Over the one decade, further alignment has taken place and the mantle of the AD is currently borne by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The party has sustained its electoral supremacy in most areas of the southwestern states. The triumph of the ACN in the State of Osun two years ago is further testimony to its popularity in the region. The election of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the Governor is a vindication of the party’s vision to spread the redemptive benefits of a radical political ideology to the masses of the electorate.

This expectation is anchored on the knowledge that Governor Aregbesola’s political career was nurtured in the milieu of radical, revolutionary engagement. He was trained as a Marxist socialist cadre in the movement of change under the revolutionary mentorship of Comrade Ola Oni (1993 – 1999). Governor Aregbesola was involved in all the barricades of struggle during the June 12 uprising against military terrorism. His leftist ideological credentials are well known and he cannot but be associated with a programme of change in favour of the exploited and oppressed masses. His strategies and tactics for achieving these lofty goals are the subject of this presentation. But first, let us look at what change we are expecting.
 Change Agents In An Emerging Democratic Process (2)  
Change Agents In An Emerging Democratic Process (3)  
Change Agents In An Emerging Democratic Process (4)