Former governor of Edo State Adams Oshiomhole and two-time presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore have debated the state and progress of Nigeria’s democracy since 1999.

Speaking at the launch of Senator Abdul Oroh’s new book, Demonstration of Craze: Struggles and Transition to Democracy in Nigeria, Sowore stated that the transition to democracy was hijacked by “charlatans” who have since monopolised power.

He contrasted Nigeria’s democracy with that of the United States and South Africa, stressing the failure to protect fundamental rights.

He said, “There was a mistake we must admit to that we made when democracy came about in 1999. In all fairness, we shouldn’t have allowed charlatans to hijack the democratic process; we did. And we are guilty of where we are today.”

“Abdul’s book title refers to democracy as a ‘demonstration of craze’. But I have always referred to Nigerian democracy as ‘morontocracy’, a democracy hijacked by morons, and that is the result you can get.”

He lamented the ongoing persecution of civil rights activists under the current government, “The government of the day still persecutes us because there is no structure to guarantee fundamental human rights and well-being.”

Also speaking during the launch, Oshiomhole replied Sowore’s scathing remarks.

He said, “It is this same cynicism, doubt, dismissal, sweeping generalisation that misled some who struggled for democracy to say nothing good can come out of the military. They don’t mean it. There would be no election; a rat cannot give birth to a rabbit. There were all kinds of stories. How can the military midwife real democracy? No, it is not possible, because it’s always better to dismiss everything to get louder applause.”

He explained how such dismissal created a vacuum exploited by those who captured power, “Then the bad guys decided, since you guys who fight keep dismissing those who were in charge of the system you want to change, we will go in there. They went in, captured power, changed the culture of power, and changed the rules of the game.”

Oshiomhole cautioned against despair, “When you dismiss in a very sweeping manner that the country is hopeless, the system is impossible, should we begin to cry? No. The gap between where we think we ought to be and where we are should be enough incentive for us not to give up on ourselves.”