As religion and ethnicity continue to dominate the campaigns, barely five months to the 2023 general election, Rev Chris Okotie has declared that Aboriginal Democracy,if adopted, would eliminate these divisive tendencies from our polity.
Okotie, who is spearheading a campaign for restructuring of the federation, said during the week that,it is regrettable that despite the complex problems plaguing the nation, religion and ethnicity continue to define the political debates in the current electioneering campaigns.
The former Presidential candidate spoke through his media adviser, Ladi Ayodeji, while reviewing the process leading to the February,2023 general election.
He said, it is preposterous to expect any miracle from the next President who is elected under a faulty political system like we now operate.
He argued that candidates in this election are playing the traditional ethnic and religious card to win the support of the electorate instead of backing the call for a restructured federation, which would eliminate all the fault lines that compel those jostling for political offices to be shooting tribal and religious arrows to win election.
‘That is why I have said repeatedly that the present transition programme is a journey in futility,’ Okotie explained.
He is insisting that only an interim government would be able to midwife the Aboriginal Democracy, which is really an indigenous,home-grown system of government, suitable for our peculiar cultural, and political circumstances.
He concluded that we appear not to realize that the apparent inability of the past governments since 1999 to meet the expectations of Nigerians, is because of the Presidential system we are practicing, which he said,is an aberration.
