Respect Democracy, Deputy Speaker Tells Politicans

Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Leyii Kwanee has called on the political class in Nigeria to show more respect to rules vital for stable democratic practices and imbibe democracy in their actions rather than pay lip service to it.

Hon. Kwanee made the call at the Port Harcourt International Airport yesterday, shortly on arrival from Abuja where he had attended a conference on “Emerging Democracies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”

While noting that many of the players in the political turf in Nigeria pay lip service to issues of democracy whereas their actions are anti-democratic, he cited instances of disrespect for democracy.

Such instances, he said, include the issue of the Nigeria Governors Forum election won by the Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, lack of internal democracy in parties, flagrant disrespect for the right of expression of others, gross violation of human rights and the rule of law as well as disrespect for the ballot papers.

Kwanee,who is also chairman of the Parliamentary Exchange and Mentorship Programme of the Pan-African Parliament, said that many of the political elites pride themselves as democrats while they are not.

He decried the lack of proper and genuine development of democracy in the country despite 14 years of the present democratic dispensation.

Kwanee, who represents Khana Constituency 11 in the state  House of Assembly, urged politicians to internalize democratic values such as tolerance of opposing views and recognition of opposition as vital ingredients of democracy.

He called for a platform where the political class will meet and assess the spate of progress in imbibing political values, attitudes and actions, adding that “with such platform, the polity will not be overheated unnecessarily and regularly as is the case now”.

The Deputy Speaker commended the organizers of the conference, describing it as timely, saying that as a participant, he learnt a lot and will put some of the things learnt into practice, while urging his co-participants to do the same in order to change the nation’s political landscape.