To: Mr. Jeffery Femi Obasnmi, Akpameri, Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency One
My response to your open letter has nothing to do with your perception of Rt. Hon. Peter Akpatason, or have I come to his defense. I do not wish to be miscontrued. No, he has enough aids under his payroll to do that for. My response basically is occassioned by how you defined democracy, which I find unnerving and can set a very poisonuous precedence in Akoko-Edo politics if not dutifully interrogated.
As a democrat, it was difficult to read your open letter without taking more than just a passing interest in it. Is is intructive never to take any political situation for granted. Your definition of democracy to me is too narrow and binary to scale through scrutiny of interrogation, and I am persuaded to point out the flaws in ‘spirit of alarm, duty and patriotism’ that is accutely misplaced.
First, you claim there are move to “anoint a fifth term candidacy for Hon. Peter Ohiozoje Akpatason from Uneme, Ibillo must be called out for what it is: the creeping of autocracy into the democratic life of our people.”
The statement above suffers a lot of disjointed understanding. First, who are those anointing Akpatason for a fifth term? And what exactly is wrong if it is being done legally? Should we all actually loose sleep because of this unsupported claim? Should the Akoko-Edo people believe in you assumption without proof?
Secondly, ‘creeping of autocracy into the democratic life of our people’ is contextually also disjointed. Is Akpatason going to seize power through a coup d dat to continue in office? Where is the place of autocracy in democracy without coup? I beg to be explained to.
“If democracy means anything, it is the right of the people to choose…” I think you seem to answer exactly what you want or intend to question. The oldest and simplest definition of democracy is the choice of the majority over that of the minority. So if this your self-explanatory definition is what we can take as your democratic manifesto, why should the choice of the people pose a problem, which you termed autocracy? It is contradictory in all ramification, I must confess.
In any democratic venture, it is the right of the people to collectively act in concert, and with resolve, to decide which political path to follow and which candidate to choose. This is one of the principles of democracy. Any attempt to exclude an individual from rightfully participating in a democratic venture based on alarm, ethnicity, so called duty and patriotism is exactly what is defined as tyranny or dictatorship. And this ideology can be found within groups as well as individual. Propagators of such doctrines within the body of democracy are merely disingenuous and are anti-democratic. Nobody should be alienated under any guise from participating in a political contest except through legal means.
It within Akpatason’s right to seek a fifth term, it is within the people’s right to accept or refuse him. What you seem to be propagating, the version of democracy, is unknown anywhere in the world and unprecedented. It has no single relevance for the institution called democracy. We must be seen instilling in our people the imparatives of global approach to democracy. What you are advocating is the dismissal of choices, a posed dilemma that will provide weapons for dictatorship in Akoko-Edo.
Let us not, as it seems in your perception, be seen as terminating democratic choices prematuredly or promoting manifestoes that will abrogate the process itself. You must allow democracy to walk to its logical end without fracturing its movement. Let it not be seen that you want to abandon, and also seek the support of others, to completely abandon the vestiges of ideals of civilized societies where democratic choices must be discounted.
Mr. Jeff, as we normally call you, I write this to you if you assume to possess much of democratic credentials as an experienced politician. If you believe in democracy, are you not supposed to agree with all legal process therein without discrimination, that comes with democratic choices, if they are freely made by delegates or electorates, as the case maybe? Choices remains the bedrock of any democratic venture, and whenever the people make these choices during elections, democracy has been fulfilled.
In democracy, universally acknowledged, the zones of possible choices cannot be limited. The quest to run and run and run for office is open under this contest. To place an ethnic or such bemusing lid on Akpatason’s right to seek more terms beyond what he is about to accomplish come 2027 will lead to something far from democratic norms because it is within his legal right to contest as much as he can since the constitution aids him to do so.
Now, to my recommendations: In democracy, when new elections are set, what the unsatisfied people do anywhere is to form groups to ‘challenge the unjust status quo’ within the limits of legality. They must form alliance of common purpose. In this instance, the unsatisfied group will first act under the party which Akpatason hope to run so that he can be challenged effectively during the primary. If this does not work, they can migrate to an effective and viable opposition and galvanize the people against him during the election proper. Akoko-Edo has a poll of very qualified individuals that can win elections from any political party if they get the support of the majority of the people.
These are processes of playing politics of discontent. They must constitute part of the overtly structured force of opposition. They must juxtapose what they can do differently against what he, Akpatason, has done so far with liberating manifesto of seductive ideals the people can easily key into. Nobody can underestimate the focused energy you and others can muster legally in opposing his bid for fifth term, if truly any, which I personally doubt. You must be able to persuade the electorates away from voting for him again rather than this temperemental resort to sentiments and anti-democratic deductions. It is based on these we are able to dichotomize the liberator from the dictator.
Elempe Dele writes from Akoko-Edo | 23rd October, 2025