By DAYO BENSON, wahab Abdulah  &  BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
As the nation celebrated 13 years of uninterrupted democracy and one year of President  Goodluck Jonathan in office Tuesday, for cross section of Nigerians, it has been mixed feelings on the gains of democracy since the journey began in 1999 and the performance of the present administration so far. Perhaps, what some Nigerians find disturbing is the fact that the political class is already scheming for 2015 when they are yet to feel the impacts of those they elected to power barely a year ago.

In his anniversary’s nationwide broadcast,  President Jonathan used performance index and gave his government pass mark. However lawyers, including three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, hold a contrary opinion.

The summation of their views is that those who are holding political powers are deploying them for personal benefit rather than for the general good of the people. Excerpts:

Governance has been a means of self acquisition — Prof Itse Sagay SAN, constitutional lawyer

The thirteen years of the nation’s democracy, they are all the same thing. The thirteen years has been by one political party, PDP. It has an abysmal failure in all the indices in measurement of a democratic state that is making progress and achieving progress.

If you look at all the indices, going by infrastructure, parameters for development, power, education, health and other various factors, it is a failure. And of course, the area of security, which is the major problem in the country. So in my view, the thirteen years has failed, the party in power has failed the country abysmally and I don’t see any change.

Look at the issue of corruption, it is benumbing, overwhelming. So, the party in power remains at the center automatically. I don’t see any hope of any change; we’ll just continue to deteriorate rapidly as the country has been doing all these thirteen years.

*Profs Sagay, Osibajo and Ozekhome

The scheming for 2015, despite the failure, is as a result of political immaturity. People are not guarded by any code or by any form of restrained control, they see the role of governance as a means of acquisition for themselves so there is a total lack of restrain.

They are thinking of 2015 because the idea of the thought of what has been achieved is not relevant to their reasoning but what they can get. Since being in power involves plundering resources that belong to the people, it becomes a permanent constitution for them. That is where the question of “whose turn will it be?” comes in, so that they can continue plundering this Nigeria and make it dry, this is what they are thinking of.

A person who is working hard will not be thinking of three years ahead. So you see that it has been a situation of “anything goes” that is why they are talking of 2015 despite the fact that nothing has been achieved. What is the present state of affairs in the country? They are not interested in that.

There has been failure of Law and order —  Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN, former Lagos State Attorney General

The truth of the matter is that, at the federal level unfortunately there has not been enough progress. I think, at the federal level, it has been a disappointment from a large number of people in the nation.

One would have expected that the basic infrastructure, power for example, one would have expected that it would have been given greater emphasis. When the Lagos State Government tried it in 1999, to introduce private power, we were only allowed to do the Egbin emergency power. The more important half of it, would have produced 520 megawatts of power then. But this was totally frustrated by the federal government who is yet to add anything to it.

We are in a tough problem which obviously was inflicted upon us and has continued since the taking over of the civilian government in the past thirteen years. That is one.

Second, what is so difficult about building road? What is a single new road, I am not talking of rehabilitation. In the past thirteen years, we have not seen a single new road built by the government of Nigeria. One would have expected a road network would have been built across the states of Nigeria. I have not even seen a single new road.

Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, a major axis into the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, has been abandoned. There is nothing being done. How does anybody who look serious about investment, both local and foreign, not build a proper major outreach to its commercial nerve center?

Corruption of course has skied up because of some individuals. Corruption is absolutely heavy now not like ever before. When Nuhu Ribadu was at the front of fighting corruption in this country, such effort by him was frustrated.

Also on security, it has not been good. You can see there has been security in Lagos, following the very serious approach that the Lagos State Government has taken. When you look at security across the nation, the federal government has failed.

The reason why the federal government has failed in security is because it does not want state community policing, which is the only logical form of policing. I think that when you have a federal government that has full control of the police force, security will not pose a challenge. One of the things you must admit is that you must not have federal controlled police in the entire nation. So the federal government has failed in that area and it is getting worse everyday.

And if you look at it because of the failure of law and order, it is easy to kill people. It is easy to kidnap and there will be no report. Any Nigeria now should simply be anonymous because it is possible for the person to get killed and there won’t be any report, nobody will know what happened and there will be no explanation.

The scheming for 2015 has been a problem over struggle for power. It is a struggle for power for power sake. What one would expect of a positive leadership, from those who aspire to lead, is that they show us a plan and a prospect for the future. Right now, it is just a struggle for power for the sake of power and the familiarity of power, there is actually no desire for the common man.

I think that it is the people of this nation that must change and they must say that they are tired of this kind of political leadership.

We are still at the mercy of political charlatans — Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, Human Right Activist and Constitutional lawyer

The country is tottering on a dangerous journey to no identifiable destination, held in the excruciating grip of maddening terrorists, political buccaneers, historical revisionists, unrepentant 419ners, insatiable petroleum subsidy racketeers, blood-thirsty ethnic militias, warlords and tribal jingoist, extreme religious bigots, economic vampires and imperious social misfits.

I am very sad at the mountainous layers of abject penury and socio-economic deprivation currently ravaging the average Nigerian. The leadership of the country should urgently wake up to the reality that some Nigerians are hell bent on breaking the country up into smithereens on the altar of political; jobbery and power inebriation.

They must be stopped dead on their track. The anti-corruption crusade must be re-invented and re-energized. Corruption has since assumed a frightening monstrous dimension where billions of naira are now freely stolen in broad daylight to the amazement of Nigerians. It has never been so bad and ugly.

Some years ago, some ministers and a senate president were removed from office over corruption allegations involving less than 50 million naira each. Today, inconsequential public officers fleese the country of billions of naira without qualms, without being brought to book.

The leadership of the country appears helpless whilst the anti-corruption agencies appear compromised. We are now a laughing stock in international circles having earlier won the gold, silver and bronze trophies in corruption on the international corruption index.

It is the shame of a beleaguered country a country wobbling on the dangerous precipice of serious crisis of monumental and catastrophic proportions. And to think that politicians are already talking about 2015 when their first unused mandate is still less than one year old! Incredible and ludicrous! How long can we endure this political debauchery and charlatanism?

This administration not interested in Nigerians problems —Ubani

Lagos based lawyer and the in-coming chairman of the NBA, Ikeja branch, Mr. Monday Onyekachi Ubani has said, the present government has not done anything for Nigerians and do not seem interested in making life easier for them

“My assessment of government is that they have not fulfilled their electoral promises. There is nothing government is doing, we have not felt the impact of governance at all. Electricity is worse, nothing is working.”

”All we hear is billions of naira budgeted for projects aimed at providing infrastructure for Nigerians yet no one is feeling or enjoying the dividend of democracy. People are not happy and the government is not bothered.”

Government not willing to improve our economy-Ozoani

A lawyer and Notary Public, Emeka Ozoani said “the government has not done anything and are unwilling to do something to improve the economy of the country. They have no concern about the electorate but only concerned about their pocket.”