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Sustaining Democracy
All
together Nigeria has been governed by elected civilian leaders for 15 of the
country’s chequered 44 years of existence as a sovereign nation. The country
has had short spells of democracy since 1960 when she was granted independence
by Britain. For the rest of the period, all of 39 years, the people had been
under the dominion of military generals. The scare and the scars of long years
of military rule still haunt our present democracy.In spite of the military, the
greatest drawback to the desire to entrench democracy and democratic practices
till date could be traced to politicians, the segmented and malleable populace
and a motley of interest group leaders who play critical roles even in this
dispensation. Five years into the democracy project, many of the players in the
system and the rest of the society appear not totally convinced that democracy
has come to stay, and so are playing the game of "wait and see". This
attitude is taking a huge toll on the nurturing of our nascent democracy.
The first casualty whenever the military ceased
power in the past had been the parliament - in this case the National and State
Assemblies. This experience has ensured that the legislature remained the most
underdeveloped of the estates of the realm. Our expectation has been that at
every opportunity of civil rule, a large doze of attention will be paid to the
legislature in terms of facilities and structures and moreso in the quality of
lawmakers. Unfortunately, it has not been so in the past five years.
The conduct of our legislators - at the council,
state and national levels - has been, to put it mildly, pathetic. The
legislatures have been rocked by instability, lack of focus and gross
misunderstanding of their place in the matrix of governance. Their
pre-occupation, in the main, had been how to undo their leaders and then
threaten the executive arm of government with impeachment to attract attention
and inducement.
A desire to build a legislature that is credible
and driven by the general good is yet to manifest among a large majority of our
lawmakers. Even the elementary requirements of running functional constituency
offices; helpful and equipped offices at their various Assembly complexes; and
the employment and retention of quality manpower to undertake research and
provide information to enrich our legislators’ contributions to law making,
are routinely subverted by them. Many of our legislators are bench warmers who
do not show any experience or even enthusiasm to contribute to debates. Truancy
is pervasive; and the level of unseriousness mind-boggling.The situation is
better only marginally at the executive arm. Many of the occupants of offices in
that realm brook no opposing views, even when such views are superior. Everyday,
in their conduct and utterances, they display a glaring disregard for the due
process. By their acts, they exhibit great deficiency in their claims to
democratic credentials. To many of these opposition is an anathema. Political
opponents are hounded and driven out of town, in some cases to death, using
state power and the paraphernalia of coercion. It is not unusual for our leaders
to first take action with far-reaching implications and then charge their
relevant officers to look for laws to back them up. In the executive the
temperament for democracy is yet to be imbibed.
So far in this era the judiciary, except for
minor albeit instructive irritations which were decisively dealt with by the
National Judicial Council (NJC), has played a stabilising and commendable role.
Our judges have shown the courage to give judgments especially in political
disputes without fear or favour. There had been exceptions of judges in the
election tribunals who allowed themselves to be contaminated, corrupted and
compromised. Good enough, some of them were caught and punished.
However, in the matter of disposal of election
petitions, the report card has not been very encouraging. The long delays in
concluding cases standing at the tribunals give credence to the truism that
justice delayed is justice denied.
A significant blemish in the record of the
performance of the judiciary under this democracy is the seeming endless time it
takes to abjudicate on election disputes. More than one year since the last
general elections, some of the disputes arising therefrom are yet to be decided.
This is a disservice to democracy.
One of the pillars for the sustenance of
democracy is the assurance of the sanctity of the ballot. Half a decade into our
new democracy not many Nigerians believe that their votes count. Democracy will
not take root and Nigerians will not develop stakeholder mentality as long as
they believe they have no power to determine who governs them. The feeling of
helplessness and alienation among Nigerians has persisted since independence and
appears to be worsening.
It is instructive that at its sober moments the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had admitted that the polls
could be better conducted. Because of this realisation, it has embarked on a
series of measures to ensure that the process is improved significantly. But no
matter what INEC does, it will require the cooperation of politicians, the
vigilance of the voters and the impartiality of the security agencies to protect
the ballot and ensure that the will of the people prevails at elections.
Governance, especially in a democracy is about people and building bridges of
trust between the leaders and the led . Democracy loses meaning and appeal and
suffers a depletion in the ranks of its defenders the moment its operators fail
to cater for the needs of a majority of the people. There is an urgent need for
our democracy, through delivery of dividends, to expand the base for recruiting
adherents and supporters for its own good and survival. When democracy makes a
difference in the lives of Nigerians, the effort to sustain it will enjoy a
massive push.
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