Democracy creating strong men not institutions — Don

The Vice Chancellor of the Nasarawa State University, Prof. Suleiman Bala Mohammed, has said that the major challenge of democracy in Nigeria is that it is leading to the emergence of strong men rather than strong institutions.

Prof. Mohammed made the observation when he presented a paper at a public function in Nasarawa.

He said,

“Political parties, legislature, judiciary, pressure groups, the press, among others, are leading to the emergence of strong men rather than strong institutions.”

He said the history of democracy in Nigeria had been very turbulent, adding that previous republics: 1960-63 and 1979-83, were overthrown by the military for varied reasons.

Prof. Mohammed said since 1999, the country had sustained democratic rule with numerous challenges, including weak political parties, electoral malpractices, leadership failure, impunity, manipulation of ethnic and religious identities, marginalisation of the people and corruption.

The don said political parties had become instrument for acquiring power by the elite and rarely served the purpose of policy articulation and aggregation.

“They operate with flagrant violation of internal democracy… Electoral malpractices in the form of flawed elections, snatching of ballot boxes, falsification of results perpetrated by parties have undermined the quality of democracy and contributed to the collapse of previous republics,” he said.

He said consolidating democracy would entail provision of democracy dividends, responsible leadership, and respect for rule of law; adding that democracy must ensure development for the system to thrive and flourish.