Democracy & Governance
Which Way Nigeria? -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
Democracy thrives on checks and balances. But in Nigeria there is neither checks nor balances. The legislative arm of the government operates like the rubber stamp to the executive arm. The judicial arm of the government that is supposed to be the bastion of hope for the common has been so compromised that nobody has any trust in the system. The judiciary is noted for controversial judgment without justice, issuing orders that run counter to legal jurisprudence.
When the late music icon and composer Sunny Okosun released his blockbuster album with the above title in 1984, during the Buhari military regime, more than half of the nation’s 200 million people were not yet born. Yet, 40 years after, we are still asking the same question as the nation is moving like a rudderless ship in the high sea. Nigerians are living like a people without sense of history; like a people without values. We are living like a people without care for the future. Nigerians are living like hostages without any hope of freedom in their country. This is quite unfortunate.
As I sat in my home watching the charade of the activities on a day tagged National Democracy Day on June 12, 2024, I kept wondering whether these people really understand what Democracy stands for, more so as those at helm of affairs in the country now were the ones that have made the loudest noise about enthronement of genuine democratic rule in the country in the past and yet they have destroyed the very rubrics of ideals of democracy. As a colleague would put it: they are making mockery of democracy.
The suitability of declaring June 12 the National Democracy Day is highly contentious about. A friend of mine had argued that it is wrong and misleading to recognize one who had worked in his life time to scuttle democratic rule in the country, as the icon of democracy simply because the fellow opportunistically came out to contest an election after using his allies in the government to ban other political gladiators by military fiat. Although, this is not the subject of this essay but it is pertinent to point out here that the major problem of the country is hypocrisy and falsehood. As some scholars have noted, Nigerians have false notion about everything including the practice of democracy.
It is worrisome that after twenty-five years of supposed unbroken democratic rule that the country is yet to come to terms with the tenets of democracy. One of the most popular definition of Democracy by Abraham Lincoln says that democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people. But in Nigeria the democracy is the government of the few for the few and by violence and subversion of the will of the people. In a democracy, sovereignty dwells with the people but in Nigeria the man in Aso Rock Villa reins like the sovereign. In a democracy the people decide who governs them but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case; the people’s will are subverted with impunity, elections in Nigeria being mere perfunctory exercises. Democracy is government by representation but in Nigeria, it is government by selection. Democracy thrives on civil engagement and advocacy but it is never so in Nigeria. Criticisms no matter how constructive is viewed as an attack on the government. In Nigeria civil advocacy is treasonable as dissenting voices are muzzled by force. Civil disobedience is a haram that is punishable by arrest and indefinite detention without trial.
Democracy thrives on checks and balances. But in Nigeria there is neither checks nor balances. The legislative arm of the government operates like the rubber stamp to the executive arm. The judicial arm of the government that is supposed to be the bastion of hope for the common has been so compromised that nobody has any trust in the system. The judiciary is noted for controversial judgment without justice, issuing orders that run counter to legal jurisprudence. And so the judiciary has been used to affirm rigging and illegality perpetuated by those in power. There is rot in the system because the president has been given so much power by constitution. Over 90% of tools of governance is in the exclusive list controlled by the president. So the president decides virtually everything that goes on in the political sphere. Nigeria is said to be a federation but it operates a quasi-unitary system that makes the federating units like mere appendages to the center.
Party system is one of the instrument to seek political office in a Democracy. A political party is an organized group of people with similar political views, values and goals often with common political philosophy and ideology. But Nigerian political parties are an assemblage of power-hungry individuals looking for avenue to satisfy their lust for power. There is absence of political ideology. That is why the politicians keeps defecting from one party to the other. Nyesom Wike is one leg in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and one leg in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of his lust for power. He is able to get away with the anti-party activities because of the entrenched corruption in the system (another feature of Nigeria’s political system), that enable him to amass funds with which to service his said political “structure”.
The result of these is that there is no genuine democracy. There is no good governance as democracy has failed to take root after twenty-five years of practice. And beyond all these is the fact that the people are not able to hold those in power accountable. The people are kept perpetually divided along ethnic and religious line by the unscrupulous politicians that feed fat on the state treasury.
So, as I watched the charade that was the National Democracy Day celebration, I have nothing but pity for my dear country. I wept for a country that has much but have the majority wallow in abject poverty while the few enjoy the wealth of the nation. I lament for a people that reward hypocrisy and mockery of the truth. I lament for a people that celebrate falsehood. But, I mourn the unsung heroes of democracy.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK
