By Wale Ojo-Lanre Esq
It is both tragic and ironic that individuals who once stood as obstacles to Nigeria’s democratic evolution have gone on to bask in the very dividends of the system they undermined.
History is not forgetful.
Among the dramatis personae of Nigeria’s democratic sabotage stands a figure whose legacy remains deeply controversial—one of those who played ignoble roles in truncating the emergence of Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola as the duly elected President of Nigeria. June 12 was not just an election; it was the clearest expression of the Nigerian people’s collective will. To stand against it was to stand against democracy itself.
Yet, here we are.
In a nation where accountability is often selective and memory dangerously short, such individuals have not only escaped the full weight of moral judgment but have risen to occupy exalted positions—including long tenures in the Senate. This contradiction captures the Nigerian paradox: where yesterday’s democratic saboteurs rebrand as today’s statesmen.
Even more troubling is the audacity with which some of these figures now pontificate about good governance—an ideal they neither exemplified in office nor defended when it mattered most.
Let us not forget.
This is the same political tendency that once argued that telecommunications were not meant for the masses—a position that history, innovation, and the digital revolution have since utterly discredited. Today, mobile phones sit in the hands of millions of Nigerians, empowering traders, students, artisans, and entrepreneurs alike. Technology has democratized access in ways their narrow vision could never have imagined.
Nigeria, therefore, finds itself in a peculiar situation: those who resisted progress now attempt to lecture the nation on it.
But facts remain stubborn.
Leadership is not defined by longevity in office, but by impact, vision, and fidelity to the people’s will. Titles do not erase history. Neither does time absolve actions that undermined the collective destiny of a nation.
It is time Nigerians become more discerning—less sentimental, more historical in judgment.
Democracy is not just about participation; it is about memory, accountability, and truth.
And until we begin to interrogate the past with honesty, we risk recycling the very forces that once stood against our collective progress.