"Democrazy" in Nigeria

Democracy has become a buzzword in most “third world” countries except in Nigeria. In the words of Abraham Lincoln as I was thought in high school (secondary school) “democracy means government of the people, by the people and for the people” Democracy means different things to different people. To most people in the West it means respect for the principle of rule of law, respect for basic human rights, but none of this exists in our own lexicon in Nigeria. Our own democracy has been “high jacked” by a few. One does not have to be a rocket-scientist to figure out what a true democracy should look like: respect for the principle of rule of law, free and fair elections, free press and free and independent judiciary. I wouldn’t dwell so much on describing or defining democracy from the “text book” perspective but I’ll focus more on it’s dynamics in Nigeria. I’ll also discuss this from the perspective of an individual who’s seen and continues to hear the pathetic stories emanating from our country.

In principle we’ve got democracy but in practice it’s “democrazy” where everyone is running amok. The polity seems to be “polluted” and stenching with foul odor. We made the transition back to our current fledging “democrazy” in 1999 under the former President Olusegun Obasanjo (a retired military general) after so many years of draconian military rule with high hopes which so far has been dashed by our so-called leaders. In the course of Obasanjo’s presidency, he became power drunk and infected with the same “sit tight” syndrome that’s prevalent among so many African leaders today. Thank goodness Nigerian’s were saved from his botched attempt to amend the constitution and vie for a third term in office while the constitution stipulates clearly a two-term limit of four years for public office holders.

I’ll always go back home to what I perceive to be the main problem that continues to threaten our “democrazy”, which is the dreaded big “C” (Corruption) since it is the root cause of all our problems and everything seems to revolve around it. Here I’ll use our former president to exemplify how this syndrome runs like wild fire in our society. It’s a well known fact that he (Obasanjo) was almost on the verge of bankruptcy when he ascended the highest office in the land but today would arguably qualify as one of the richest people in Nigeria and could possibly make the Forbes list of 20 richest people in the world. It would be pointless to ask how he amassed all this wealth since the answer is glaring like sun light. I always thought that leadership was all about service to the people but our leaders have chosen to serve themselves and their acquaintances.

Our electoral process over the years has been marred by vote buying, rigging and thuggery so much so that Nigerians have coined the word “selection” as what transpires in the Nigerian political terrain. Since our recent transition to “democrazy” in 1999 (10 years ago), I’ll not fail to point out that the Obasanjo and the current Yaradua regimes have made spirited efforts at reforming the system. I’ll use the word “they” hear because we’ve been shackled and manacled by “them” that we are in no position to verify the veracity of their purported claims. First, they claim that our foreign reserves went up because of the cancellation of our foreign debt as result of their negotiations with the Paris Club e.t.c. Yet these same people dip hands into our foreign reserves without due consultation to the people. Second, they also claim to be the “messiahs” that introduced mobile telecommunications (GSM) sometime between the year 2000 and 2001. No doubt about that! This has led to an increase in profits for businesses and also saved people from risking life and limb since they don’t have to travel for trivial issues that they can discuss over the phone. However, I consider these claims to be misconstrued and erroneous, because with or without “them” we would have still had the “GSM thing” since most of poorer neighboring countries had it way before us. Third, they also created the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has undoubtedly helped to curb corruption (minimally) but is largely used as a tool to “witch-hunt” the opposition.

The epileptic power supply that is crippling most businesses, industries and homes nation wide is the big masquerade that they (the crooks and con men we call leaders) have failed to contain so far. Having lived in Nigeria over the past twenty years, I’ll like to assert that our leaders don’t seem to be keen on addressing this problem since some (if not all) of them are making a buck out of it. Nigeria is a country where electricity is a “luxury” and children (even adults) rejoice at the sight of seeing power which in some places lasts for only a few hours per week. Only a few families that are well-off that can afford to buy the scarce diesel (gasoline) for their generators enjoy electricity. With due respect to the Iraqis (because this is not in any way a slight at their country), they might even have better power supply in their war ravaged country than in Nigeria a nation at peace yet at war with its own people. Our leaders can take a cue from a country like the Philippines that fixed its incessant power outages in the early 1990’s. If the Philippines could do it, we can even do better. This leads me to issue of scarcity of petroleum products which ironically is in abundance in Nigeria. If I’m not mistaken, Nigeria is (was) the 6th or 8th largest oil producer in the world. It’s incomprehensible why our people have to queue sometimes for days just to buy petroleum products. This is sheer wickedness and the height of man’s inhumanity to man!

A country where the voices of dissent are silenced is not a democracy. A country where opposition is stifled is not a democracy. A country where the leaders are “selected” and not elected is not a democracy. A country where the leaders take delight in the sufferings of the people is not a democracy. A country where the leaders brazenly trample on the fundamental human rights of its citizens is not a democracy. A country where the leaders “rape” the constitution with uttermost neglect in broad day light is still far from being a true democracy any time soon. This is a far cry from the Nigeria that our fathers (leaders) envisioned when we gained our independence from British through a bloodless revolution. This is the land of the Ziks (Nnamdi Azikiwe), Awolowos (Obafemi Awolowo), Balewas (Tafawa Balewa) who were men of timber and caliber. They would all be rolling in their graves because of the current state of disarray that’s plaguing our present day Nigeria.

The vast majority of Nigerians are fed up with the system and have given up on our so-called democracy. During elections people don’t even bother anymore to cast their votes because they know for a fact that it wouldn’t count. They would rather sit in doors either to avoid being maimed, scarred for life or even killed during elections.

This country belongs to us and not to the “bunch of thugs” that we call our leaders. Nigeria is ours, and the only way electoral violence can be purged from our system is for Nigerians to match in oneness and unison, put their feet’s down and tell our leaders that enough is enough. They can only harm us physically but our spirits will never be broken! As is written in the Holy bible “as I walk through the shadow of death I shall fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff; they comfort me” If we believe this biblical injunction we must therefore face our problems (leaders) head on and claim our rights to paternity back from them.


I’ll therefore say that finding the essence of true democracy in Nigeria would almost be as difficult as solving a jig-saw puzzle but I believe it is do-able. The examples discussed above shows that weak institutions and poor leadership remains the Achilles heels of democracy in Nigeria today. As the saying goes “everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die.” We all know that it’s practically impossible for one to see “God” without dying. We have to face these people swinging and throwing all we’ve got at them with the belief that someday light will overshadow darkness and good will overtake evil. I’ll always remain an unflinching optimist; because we can still emerge from the doldrums if only we believe.