Our Reporter, New York
Nigeria-born professor of Social Ethics at the University of Boston, Prof. Nimi Wariboko, has said that a one-party state is not ideal for Nigeria under any circumstances.
The remarks came during an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica.
The author of over forty books was reacting to statements attributed to the former Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, during a memorial lecture in honour of the late elder statesman, Pa. Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, in Port Harcourt. The former president was quoted as saying that “If we must, as a nation, go one-party, then it must be designed and properly planned by experts. But if we come through the back door, through political manipulations, then we are heading to a crisis.”
However, the Director of the African Studies Center at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, pointed out that there cannot be a “properly planned” one-party state because the concept itself does not align with the ideals of a democratic society. He faulted the argument by former President Jonathan that the independence leader of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, instituted a one-party state to stabilize the nation. Prof. Wariboko challenged the historical basis of that assertion, arguing that the late Tanzanian leader’s actions aimed to consolidate his political power, not build the nation, as Dr. Jonathan had suggested.
“For anyone who is truly against a one-party state and supports pluralism, it doesn’t matter whether it was Julius Nyerere who did it or it is Tinubu who is doing it; it will be wrong. There’s no question of properly designing it. You cannot properly design your own oppression. I think that thought is a dangerous one,” Wariboko said.
Speaking further, the professor said that the Nigerian ruling class has never believed in pluralism.
“Their knee-jerk reaction is always a one-party system,” he argued.
“Whether they call it PDP or APC or NCNC or NPN, it’s just one ruling class of the elite that has been looting this country, and they just divided themselves into factions. This movement from one party to another has been going on for a long time.”
He said what President Tinubu is doing right now is simply revealing the true character of the ruling class, which has been there all along.
Professor Wariboko also spoke about the performance of the Tinubu administration as it approaches its two-year mark in office.
“Making policies that cause people to suffer without adequate arrangements for their well-being does not make you a good leader,” the author of the book, “Songs of Childhood: Biafra War Memories,” said in reference to President Tinubu’s government policies.
“The government is asking the people who are suffering from the economic hardship to be patient and that things will get better. But the politicians are not asked to be patient with the way they steal public funds. Any policy of government should care for the vulnerable in the society, but that’s not what the Tinubu government is doing. The government may have great economic thinkers, but Nigerians are worse off today than they were four years ago.”
