Is Nigeria’s democracy developing or receding?

NIGERIANS, known for their tough trait to resist and survive challenges, will once again - in a few months time- go to the polls to elect a civilian president, hoping that the never-ending quadrennial expectations bordering on the solutions to the multiple problems plaguing the country will be adequately addressed.

In view of the country’s nearly 24 years of unbroken civil rule, the questions about the will of the people, their mandates and if the event will ensure that there will be a budding of democracy in the nation’s soil have started to dominate the political space considering how successive governments have grappled with the challenges of upholding the tenets of democracy.

Recall that in 1999, when democracy became Nigeria’s ruling style, it was perceived to be a refreshing change and an auspicious beginning for the citizenry, who have been under the control of the military regime for more than a decade then, at a stretch.

Based on that, there have been noticeable commitments to preserve the democracy of Africa’s most populous country which was seen in the regularity of the election cycle that commenced in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Although the sequence of events had led to four presidents, including the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari, the benefits of a democratic society is still out of reach, according to pundits.

Over two decades of civilian rule, Nigerians are still ethnically polarized; apparently feeding their religious intolerance and are continually confronted with unequal access to basic amenities while the fight to sustaining the country’s democracy lags.

In the face of tough economic times and other numerous challenges facing the nation amid the seventh consecutive general elections, there have been calls through protests and, recently, the rising wave of civic engagements by Nigerians, especially the young ones, who are obviously tired of the aphorism, “suffering and smiling”, one of the late Fela Anikulapokuti’s album, and are seeking an enduring democratic society.

“Today, in Nigeria, people provide shelters, water and security for themselves. The citizens do everything for themselves. What government has done in all of these years has been to milk the poor masses through excruciating taxes and ensure they capitalise on the unfortunate level of poverty and lack in the polity to enrich their friends and cronies to the detriment of the Nigerian people.

“What does government do for us? Has the government been able to provide welfare for its people? What is the whole essence of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy set out in Chapter two of the constitution? We are in a sorry state and can only hope for divine intervention,” Abraham Oviawe, state chairman, Committee for the Defence of Human Right (CDHR),” said.

Oviawe opined that the very core essence of democratic tenets, which resonate around rule of law and protection of rights of the individual have ceased to exist despite being governed by the civilian government.

“If in our democratic tenets these two basic ingredients of any democratic society are not entrenched in our day-to-day activities and leadership as we have moved successively from 1999 till date, then it is as good as taking us back to the days of yore, when life was brutish, nasty and short.

“The quest for democracy was not simply because the military wasn’t providing infrastructure or the economy was totally bad, it was because we needed the enthronement of the rule of law and protection of human rights.

“Even under the civilian rule, there have been huge deprivation; there is no freedom of speech or right to life. We have seen how many activists have been kept behind bars for speaking truth to power; our judiciary is now in the pockets of the executive. Where is separation of powers? Where is the whole essence of checks and balances?

“Unfortunately, we are unable to appreciate whether we are in a democratic rule or in a quasi-military regime in this country. Today, the dividends of democracy are that, every four years, we go to the poll to observe the worst form of elections.

“Every successive leadership or government is expected to enthrone the best rule of law, let the people decide and let the minority have their say. But the reverse has been the case; rather than leadership thinking to enthrone power, our people are impoverished and they only remember us after every four years so as to milk us dry in an attempt to grab power.

“At best, these are the dividends of democracy except for the fact that we no longer have the man in khaki ruling us as president or commander in chief. These are the only dividends I have seen and gotten from what should be a democratic rule but has turned out to be worse than the military regime. We can only aspire and look forward to a better Nigeria.

“Currently, where we are is not near what anybody will see as a very palatable situation. Even though we will not envy military regime, we expect that the democratic rule should be better, productive, practical and reach the people in terms of security, welfare and basic amenities,” Oviawe said.

Speaking on the ethno-religious issues which still hold sway in current day political discourse in Nigeria, Oviawe, who is a legal practitioner, said ethnicity and religion are strategies adopted by elected officials to impoverish the people and hold onto power.

“Ethnicity and religion are the hand tools for the elite to hold onto power. This has become a major tool for dividing this country. We call ourselves Nigerians but in our heart, there is a great dichotomy.

“They consider where it is more favorable, they blow the sentiment of tribalism to enable them hold onto to power to the detriment of the Nigerian people. If we do not nip these issues in the bud, it will soon create a semblance of the Rwanda’s situation.

“The citizens must wake up from their ideological slumber, identify the elites, who are in leadership today, as our common enemy and find a common ground for which we can fraternise and chart a common course for the liberation of this country.

“We wish for a better Nigeria but the elites pay lip service to the growth and development of this country on the strength that they have used tribalism as a weapon for directing the compass of growth and development on the altar of politics.

“We must continue to identify this class of individuals and ensure there is a strong and virile electoral process for which we can show the elite the way out and entrench government who is people-oriented, government who has the character and will to have the people at heart, build this country and turn it into an egalitarian society,” he said.