Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has warned that Nigeria’s widening gulf between the rich and poor is pushing the country towards a social crisis.

The former Cross River State governor said rising poverty and hardship, amid the ostentatious lifestyle of the wealthy and political class, could eventually threaten the peace and security of the country.

“There was a time when I used to be in the National Economic Intelligence Committee and Professor Aluko used to say, proverbially, that a time is coming in this country when the rich won’t sleep because the poor have not eaten,” he said during an interview. "I think the time is coming.”

He expressed regret that despite Nigeria’s enormous human and material resources, successive governments had failed to improve the welfare of the people or tackle unemployment, poor healthcare, inadequate electricity and decaying infrastructure.

“Nigeria is exceedingly blessed,” Duke said. “It’s sad. It’s painful that we are where we are.”

He argued that civilian democracy has become too expensive without delivering corresponding benefits to citizens. According to him, the country’s performance since the return to civilian rule in 1999 should be judged by the condition of ordinary Nigerians rather than the number of years democracy has survived.

“If we focus on the well-being of the people, what we term democracy dividends, how much has been delivered?” he asked.

“We’re still having the same problems we had 27 years ago. It’s getting worse. The number of children out of school has not improved; it’s deteriorating. The healthcare system is not improving; it’s deteriorating. Infrastructure deficiency over the last 27 years—are we better off? The question is: are we better off today than we were in 1999? Hardly so. Hardly so.”

Duke said the problems that confronted Nigeria before 1999 remained largely unresolved because there was no coherent strategy for addressing them.

“The problems that existed before 1999—electrification, unemployment—those things are still there.

“And I don’t see a structured approach towards dealing with these issues. This is my frustration, because there’s no problem we cannot resolve. We’re not a unique country,” he said.

The former governor also blamed the worsening situation on weak democratic institutions, disputed elections and the failure of the political elite to provide responsible leadership.

He said many Nigerians had lost confidence in elections because they believed the declared results did not always reflect the choices made by voters.

“The opposition is terribly weakened and self-centred. Democracy is also in danger.

“The results you get from the polls often don’t reflect the views of the people. So, there’s a disenchantment with the system, both by the contestants and the public. Most people don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t count.”

Duke said political leaders who did not consider themselves accountable to voters could easily ignore the needs and suffering of the people.

“Because your vote doesn’t matter, there’s a tendency to take people for a ride and disregard what is required by the people,” he said.

He described Nigeria’s democratic practice as a pretence, alleging that the legislature and judiciary had failed to provide effective checks on executive power.

“We don’t have a democracy. We are pretending to be a democracy. And the checks and balances from the National Assembly—you know there’s no check; there’s no balance,” he said

He accused the country’s elite of abandoning politics to people who regarded public office as a permanent means of livelihood.

“It’s a failure of the elite more than anything else,” he said. “We’re elites; we’re enlightened people. But we abdicated our leadership to those whom we should be leading.

“Politics is no longer a vocation. It’s an occupation for those people. And you can’t get them out.” (The Sun)