Democracy: Why We Should Not Ignore Turaki’s Warning

By Emma Agu

Summary:
Turaki’s appeal to Donald Trump is not treasonous but a bold, patriotic
alarm against democratic backsliding in Nigeria. His call underscores the
PDP’s internal crisis and the broader threat to Nigeria’s political stability,
warranting global attention—not condemnation.

If anyone had thought that the newly elected PDP Chairman, Tanimu
Turaki’s invitation to Donald Trump and the international community to
intervene in Nigeria’s disturbing political debacle would go unnoticed or
unchallenged, such a person would be slumbering in dreamland.
If everyone else forgot, certainly it wouldn’t be the members of the
vibrant media team of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Of course, such a
response would be perfectly understandable given that any proposed
action against Nigeria would touch off on his mandate!

Thus, I was not surprised when I read that Bayo Onanuga, the
President’s fearless spokesman had described Turaki’s call as
treasonable. For the avoidance of doubt, at his first meeting after his
election last Saturday, Turaki had asked President Donald Trump to
save Nigeria’s democracy. That invitation was actually a throwback to
Trump’s subsisting threat to send ‘guns-a-blazing’, to stop what he
described as Christian genocide in Nigeria. Trump’s allegation has been
vehemently denied by the Federal Government.
Condemning the invitation to Trump and the United States into what is a
mere intra-party squabble, Onanuga cautioned Turaki to take heed that
‘we would never forget’.
Onanuga would have been failing in his duty if he had not responded to
Turaki’s invitation to Trump. As the President’s apex spokesperson (he
speaks for the President while the information minister speaks for the
government), any statement or action that touches on the nation’s
sovereignty should be within his remit. However, Onanuga’s position
raises a number of posers.
To start with, what was treasonable in Turaki’s call? For another, did
Turaki step out of precedent in calling on Trump to intervene? Is this the

first time that the Nigerian elite is calling on the United States to
intervene, one way or the other, in Nigeria’s internal affairs? By the way,
hasn’t Nigeria intervened in the internal affairs of other countries? Lastly,
is a clarion call to the international community, of which Nigeria is part, to
intervene in redirecting Nigeria’s convoluted democratic path not
preferable to a resort to self-help by the people?
Before answering the above posers, it is important to understand the
background to Turaki’s desperate invocation. Yes! You read me correctly.
There is an active disagreement among leaders of the party who share
divergent views on the direction that the party should follow. At the
centre of the disagreement is the minister of the Federal capital Territory,
Barrister Nyesom Wike who, as a former governor, has been a leading
member of the party until his recent expulsion, at the party’s elective
national convention, last Saturday, for anti-party activities.

Wike has all long insisted that he would back the incumbent President,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in
2027, implying that his party would not field a candidate. If that is not
anti-party, nothing else would qualify as one. The belief is that, despite
pious pronouncements of goodwill towards the party, Wike’s real
intentions have been to either control the party at all levels to achieve his
goal or destabilize it through his surrogates. His suspension, with his
surrogates, is seen as a last-ditch effort to rescue the party from total
collapse and to provide Nigerians with an alternative platform that
parades the organisational capacity, grassroots spread, institutional
memory and possibly, the financial muscle to wrest power from the APC
in 2027.
But it has been a tough battle. And there is a growing concern that what
is playing out dangerously mimics the dark days of the First and Second
Republics. On both occasions, the unguarded desire of the government
in power to emasculate the opposition had sparked a chain of
irreversible events that culminated in military coups. With some officers
already in detention for acts prejudicial to military discipline, it can be
said without any fear of contradiction that the country is now perching
dangerously on the precipice of an implosion.

The only way out is a virile opposition. But virtually all the opposition
parties are afflicted by one destabilizing virus or the other. To make
matters worse, agencies of government that ought to mediate these
crises seem to be either heavily compromised or comatose. With judicial,
executive and other institutional bodies stacked heavily against those
who wanted to keep the PDP alive, it is not surprising that Turaki, in his
first public speech, called global attention to the dangerous situation in
Nigeria.
Turaki’s concerns are not without justification. First, should democracy
fail in Nigeria, it will be a very unfortunate drawback to the sustenance of
democracy in Africa. If such a failure is accompanied with the ever-
looming religious and ethnic conflict, the attendant refugee implosion
and economic paralysis would travel beyond the West African sub-
region. Such a prospect would also impact adversely on the global
community. It is in this context that Turaki’s call should be regarded, not
as a treasonable act as Onanuga has alleged, but as a genuine, patriotic
and timely plea, to the global community, to avert the clear and present
danger.
There are parallels in this regard. Prior to the collapse of the Second
Republic, one of Nigeria’s most celebrated sages, Obafemi Awolowo’s
warning that the ship of state was heading towards a rock was
dismissed as the sour grapes by a bitter loser. Similarly, the collapse of
the First Republic was also preceded by warnings that the actions of the
ruling party in the Western region could throw the country into an
irreversible cauldron. It was ignored. A state of emergency was declared
in the West. The rest, as they say, is history.
In Rivers State where a state of emergency was declared by President
Tinubu, and democratic institutions suspended for six months, ostensibly
to satisfy Nyesom Wike, all appears to be quiet. The suit instituted by
governors of PDP states challenging the declaration of the state of
emergency has not been heard by the Supreme Court. In popular
parlance, it has gone into voice mail. All appears to be quiet on the
home front. Everywhere is peaceful. But some say, it is the peace of the
graveyard. As we all know, that is not a healthy situation. That is why
Turaki is shouting from the roof tops.

Bible to come to Macedonia and save the people, Turaki is asking Trump
to come over to Nigeria and save democracy.
Back to the treason allegation against Turaki. By calling on Trump, the
United States and other developed countries to help us to avert the
collapse of democracy, nothing in his entreaty differed from the call by
Vice President Shettima on the United States, to collaborate with Nigeria
to stamp out insecurity. The only difference is that while Shettima
focused on insecurity, Turaki focused on democracy. I also see no
difference between those who passionately enlist the support of the
United States and other countries in combating hunger, disease,
illiteracy and poverty and Turaki’s call for support to save democracy
from the depredations of political bandits and autocrats masquerading
as liberal democrats. If anything, it goes without saying that the more the
democratic space, the greater the rate of development and by the same
token, the less dependence on foreign aid.
While I am not in a position to predict how the PDP leadership saga will
end, I am inclined to commend Turaki for stepping out boldly,
unambiguously and patriotically in his very first encounter with the public
after his election. Already, many commentators are applauding his
maiden outing as evidence that the PDP is on the path to reclaiming its
lost reputation as a formidable opposition platform that Nigerians can
look up to as they navigate their way out of the present travails.
It is for the above reasons that the members of the Bala Mohammed-led
PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF), the Board of Trustees led by former
Senate President, Dr. Adolphus Wabara, party elders such as Prof Jerry
Gana and Olabode George, among others, deserve commendation for
their effort. Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde whose hosting of
the convention left nothing to chance also deserves applause for his
tenacity and consistency. Not left out is the chairman of the National
Convention Organising Committee (NCOC) Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of
Adamawa State. His last minute opposition to the suspension of Wike
and others should not deny him the accolades he deserves for mounting
such a superlative convention. Against all odds. The same goes for
Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang as well as the dynamic Dauda
Lawal, Governor of Zamfara State, whose inspirational and focused
leadership has defied unprecedented insecurity and elite sabotage, to

deliver laudable milestones across all benchmarks in infrastructure,
education, people empowerment, health and social services.
Finally, rather than denigrate Turaki’s patriotic entreaty as a call to arms
against Nigeria which he did not, it should be seen as the timely warning
of a patriot against an impending catastrophe; an admonition to those
who think that they are strong enough to ride the back of the tiger to
remember that the only place to end up is the tiger’s bowels; that
democracy only thrives where the freedom of speech and association
are guaranteed. That is why his call should not be ignored.