May 29: 26 years of shaky democracy

Nigerian flag

By

Punch Editorial Board

NIGERIA’S Fourth Republic is 26 years old today. Ordinarily, citizens should roll out the drums to celebrate half a century of civil rule, the longest after 64 years of flag independence.

Unfortunately, there are no milestones beyond numbers – 26 years of unbroken democratic rule and seven general elections during which power shifted to the opposition party once. In essence, the Fourth Republic has been characterised by dashed hopes and shattered expectations.

Democracy remains on shaky ground because the pressure groups that fought for it—civil society organisations, various unions, and everyday Nigerians—have largely abandoned their civic duties, leaving politicians to dominate the landscape. In hindsight, all stakeholders must now collaborate to rescue Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy.

Instead of shared prosperity, security, and infrastructural development, Nigerians are confronted with misery, death, and hopelessness.

In 2018, Nigeria surpassed India as the global capital of poverty. The country is more divided than ever, even more so than during the internecine Civil War of 1967–1970.

Meanwhile, a narrow, exclusive band of power holders luxuriate in mind-boggling opulence amidst widespread poverty.

Corruption remains rampant. A former CBN Governor forfeited 753 duplexes to the Federal Government. One governor was jailed in England for looting his state, while another, caught in a similar scandal, was pardoned posthumously. An official in charge of the treasury is accused of stealing N109 billion. The state is unable to hold thieves accountable—a national shame.

Nigeria’s democracy is only on paper as voices of dissent are increasingly being suppressed and choices abridged. As a result, Nigerians are gradually turning their backs on democracy, having seen little benefit from it.

Presidents have shown little empathy, focusing instead on their personal interests. Strangely, they prefer touring foreign countries to visiting the suffering communities within Nigeria. For them, charity begins abroad.

The country has failed spectacularly in security and welfare, the primary purposes of government.

Even with trillions of naira allocated annually for defence, insecurity is inescapable. Boko Haram, which started in 2009, has similar confederates in ISWAP, Ansaru, Fulani herdsmen, bandits, Lakurawa, and Mahmuda. Kidnappers pluck people from the roads and their homes.

All the regions are under siege. The Institute for Security Studies lists Nigeria as the “biggest illicit firearms market” and that it accounts for 70 per cent of the 500 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa.

Yet, the political elite remain stubbornly selfish and short-sighted, excluding the majority from meaningful participation.

They have failed to build a nation or establish the pillars of democracy: strong institutions, free and credible elections, the rule of law, an independent electoral body, a robust party system, separation of powers, and an independent judiciary.

Consequently, democracy and good governance have remained elusive over these two and a half decades.

Elections, which are supposed to be the instruments for selecting competent leaders to deliver good governance at the three tiers of government, replace incompetent ones and rejuvenate democracy have been reduced to a sham by the political elites who mindlessly rig the polls and compromise the electoral body, the people, and other stakeholders for selfish ends.

Subsequently, flawed elections have resulted in low voter turnout during general elections and, inevitably, poor governance.

INEC affirms that voter turnout in general elections has steadily declined since the 2007 elections: from 57.54 per cent in 2007, 53.68 per cent in 2011, 43.65 per cent in 2015, 34.75 per cent in 2019, and 26.72 per cent in 2023, the lowest since the return to democracy in 1999.

The courts have replaced the voters and INEC as the election umpire. Flawed general and off-season elections end in litigation and are procured by the highest bidders. A late Justice of the Supreme Court, Kayode Eso, regretted that the courts are populated by “billionaire judges”.

Nigeria’s political parties lack ideology and integrity. The Fourth Republic has witnessed unprecedented defections by politicians to the ruling party to obscure their corrupt practices and secure their tenures and political fortunes.

In April, the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor, and vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 elections, Ifeanyi Okowa, and all elected and political appointees defected to the APC. They cited the need to belong to the centre as their reason. This is self-serving.

Other states, including Akwa Ibom, are poised to follow Delta’s example. The same troubling trend persists in the National Assembly, with more potential defectors waiting in the wings at the state level.

The separation of powers has suffered a damning setback as the federal and state legislators have become the lackey of the executives.

State governors sponsor and handpick House of Assembly members. Consequently, corruption is rife and good governance has taken the back seat.

Rather than pass critical bills, national and state assembly members are preoccupied with retaining their seats in 2027.

The ruling APC celebrates its capture of the opposition, while the opposition parties focus on shameless defections for personal gain.

With opposition states and NASS members jostling to join the ruling APC, which already controls most seats, the country is dangerously close to becoming a one-party state.

In all this, the people, democracy, and good governance are the real victims. A one-party state, even if undeclared, undermines the diversity essential to Nigeria’s heterogeneous society.

As expected, flawed elections have produced incompetent leaders, resulting in a bleak governance landscape. Every sector is in disarray.

Despite the criticality of electricity to economic development, business growth, and job creation, power supply in the Fourth Republic has been atrocious. The country generates between 3,000MW and 5,000MW, lagging far behind South Africa and Egypt, which generate 58,000MW each.

Insecurity and policy flip-flops have stifled the economy, as the inflation rate stood at 23.7 per cent in April. The cost of living keeps skyrocketing alarmingly as the national currency has suffered unprecedented depreciation in the last two years.

Nigeria’s democracy and governance stand on shaky foundations. The core of the polity—true federalism and restructuring—is weak, keeping democracy and governance in perpetual crisis. The mayhem benefits the degenerate political class.

True federalism and restructuring emplace a productive country as against rent-seeking tiers of government, creativity, innovation, a lean national government, competitiveness, and massive development.

Undoubtedly, true federalism and restructuring powered by strong institutions remain the solutions to strengthening democracy, good governance, Nigeria’s diversity, cohesion, integration, and the economy.

Regrettably, the leaders themselves are democracy’s greatest enemies. Successive presidents have promised to implement true federalism through restructuring, only to renege once in office.

Two years into his tenure, President Bola Tinubu—once a vocal advocate of restructuring and federalism—shows little inclination toward these reforms. The backdoor LG financial autonomy by the pliant Supreme Court adds to the mess.

Therefore, the President must find the courage to implement restructuring and true federalism to place Nigeria’s democracy on a solid foundation.

Having run political parties without clear ideological direction or meaningful impact since independence, it is time for parties to establish academies to define and interrogate their ideologies, delivering substantive politics and good governance to the people.

Beyond the drift toward a one-party state, Nigeria is arguably a poorly governed nation, teetering closer to state failure than success.

Going forward, civil society organisations and unions must return to the forefront to rescue Nigeria’s abandoned and ailing democracy at this critical juncture.

Punch Editorial Board

Punch Nigeria Limited