Ahead of 2023, Utomi laments politicians' rude behaviors and tells the electorate to vote against bullies

Political scientist, Professor Pat Utomi, has expressed concern over the alleged increase in incivility and intolerance ahead of the 2023 general election.

Utomi, leader of the BIG-TENT coalition of political parties, social movements and civil society organizations for Obi-Datti, said so in Lagos over the weekend.

He argued that the country's democracy was threatened by a growing situation, where opposition parties were being denied public facilities to hold rallies in some states ahead of the upcoming general elections.

According to him, the experience of many, who understand the essence of democracy and are participating in the current elections, suggests a significant level of breakdown of civility, growing fascism and polarization of the country by politicians who do not unwilling or unable to focus on the problem.

Describing Nigerian democracy as the breakdown of civility, Utomi said a situation where some state actors were using public funds to oppress the opposition called for the need to save democracy from its enemies.

According to him, his campaign experience has also witnessed the intimidation of landlords, religious centers and traditional institutions for allowing the opposition to use some of their facilities to hold rallies.

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"My experience with the 2023 campaign, while marked by the sense of hope brought about by the organic push of the Obi/Datti movement, is that there has been a drastic decline in civility on the part of many politicians and a crystallization of cleavage to paint that Nigeria can be pushed into a class war that could destabilize our sub-region and push us into anarchy,” he said.

Utomi, former principal of the Lagos Business School, has called on Nigerians to vote against political parties that intimidate other parties or prevent democracy from working in 2023.

According to him, there is a need for Nigerian citizens to hold those in public office accountable.

The professor said that as a presidential candidate in 2007, he visited every state in the federation campaigning without intimidation, depicting current events as a stark contrast.

"Classic examples include, preventing the opposition from using public places for rallies, destroying opposition posters and billboards, and intimidating landlords into renting buildings for the opposition.

"The experience in Delta has been the most outrageous where even churches and traditional leaders describe the government as so vindictive that they could not risk allowing the opposition to use their facilities.

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"So this compares poorly to my campaign experience in 2007 when an opposition party governor thought our cars couldn't survive the roads and gave us the use of SUVs from the house of the government.

“Or even the experience of the 1960s, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief H.O. to play tennis and have a glass of beer afterwards.

"Unless we can restore our democracy to rational public conversation or what Waziri Ibrahim would call 'politics without bitterness,' the polarization of politics can be everyone's undoing," he said. declared.

According to him, it is therefore important for the Nigerian people to save their country by ensuring that people who lack character are kept out of politics.

Stating that 2023 marks 50 years of active activism since 1973, Utomi said citizens are just beginning to realize their duties, "but I don't think they're doing enough."

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According to him, despite INEC stopping Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) too soon, more than 12 million Nigerians were able to register to contest the elections.

"If INEC hadn't stopped registration, I'm sure we would have gotten about 20 million new voters registered," he said.

Decrying the decline in security, Utomi called for the decentralization of national security.